| Summary: | 博士 === 玄奘大學 === 中國語文學系碩博士班 === 105 === People from the same hometown share a special bond, and the hometown is always a special place where ethics and morality give birth to the human quality of gentleness and honesty. From the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese occupation, Taiwan Retrocession to the present, the Hsinchu Poetry Society has always persisted Even as today's Hsinchu poetic circles are being swept into the trends of the current era, the Hsinchu Poetry Society, a traditional poetry society with more than 150 years of activities in the Hsinchu area, has remained standing through the times. It is the legend of poetry and also the pride of Hsinchu. Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, the flourish in education and culture in Hsinchu is evident in the more than 230 successful candidates in the highest Jinshi imperial exams, provincial exams and county exams. On July 7, 1857 during the reign Emperor Xianfeng, Zheng Jingnan gathered friends to a ceremonial worship of Kuixing and formed the Sheng Shing Poetry Society. He invited his grandfather Zheng Yongxi to head the Si Sheng, and this is the earliest recorded name in the literature on Hsinchu's history.
In 1863 during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, the Hsinchu Society was established, followed by the Mei Society. The Hsinchu Society was a group of complacent imperial Exam candidates who gathered at the Bei-Guo Garden while the Mei Society was mostly a group of unnamed scholars who gathered at the Qian Garden. The popularity of poems paralleled the multitude of poets. The trend spread all over Taiwan, and during that time, there was the saying that "they are just inside and outside the mansion as these two poetic societies competed each other intensely in writing poems ".
In 1886 during the reign of Guangxu Emperor in the Qing Dynasty, the outspoken and elegant literary talent Cai Qi-Yun from Yuan-Li moved to Hsinchu. He saw the legion of poetic talents in Hsinchu, and invited noted poets such as Chen Junzhi, Chen Chaolong, Zheng Pengyun and Zheng Jiazhen to merge the Hsinchu Society, the Mei Society and other poetry societies in Hsinchu into the Chu-Mei Poetry Society, which once again revitalizing the trend.
Amidst the vicissitudes of life during the Japanese invasion, many poets either escaped from Taiwan to mainland China or secluded themselves, yet during that period, a myriad of schools of thoughts among traditional Han poetry societies were miraculously contending with each other throughout Taiwan.
From the Qing Dynasty to the present, the Hsinchu Society has always played an important role in preserving the local language and legacy of Chinese poetics. However, today, things and values of society change with the passage of time and changes in social values, the role of traditional poetry society and poetics is declining and facing severe challenges. Fortunately, with the proposition and effort of the senior members, the Hsinchu Society is once again infused with new blood, and is re-organized and registered in accordance to the provisions of the Civil Associations Act. Throughout this time, the Hsinchu Society has upheld its centuries of original purpose to teach gentle and honest poetry and has been promoting and teaching the legacy of classical poetics, native language and rhyme. Moreover, the Society assumes the mission of passing on cultural legacies, and hopes to fulfill the capability and obligations of a scholar to his hometown. The road of poetics is more than the reappearing of sunbeam at dawn; it stirs in people a true sense of innocence and love for the native soil
This paper aims to examine the progress and development of traditional and contemporary poetry societies in Hsinchu for future studies.
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