Abstract: In his Tastes of Poetry, Zhong Rong (468-518) put Tao Yuanming to the middle grade, which caused much objection from later critics. Wang Shizhen (1526-90) thought that Tao should be put to the top grade, although he had not done any theoretical analysis or produced any evidence from research literature. The recent research on Tastes of Poetry found that Zhong Rong had put Tao Yuanming into the rank of top grade poets, as quoted from Taiping Yulan. The entailed debate evolves round such issues as whether the critics had been reading the original Tastes of Poetry and whether Zhong Rong's way of ranking should become a point of departure in academic debate. The editions, exemplifications in the book, ideas and criteria of poetry as well as the reception of Tao Yuanming have all been the issues in the debate. This paper tries to delineate this academic case and hopes to disclose some features in the modern transformation of Chinese traditional academic tradition.

Key words: Zhong Rong, Tastes of Poetry, Tao Yuanming, ranking of Tao Yuanming poetry, academic transformation