This article compares Diliucaizishu Xixiangji criticism in the Qing dynasty and the Joseon dynasty. The literati of the Qing and the Joseon wrote commentaries on Jin Shengtan’s Diliucaizishu Xixiangji, and their commentaries differ in their intentions and methods.
The reviewers of the Qing wrote their commentaries to provide the unspecified readers with an accurate explanation on Xixiangji. On the other hand, reviewers of Joseon valued personal appreciations of Xixiangji and wrote them down to share them with their acquaintances.
In terms of the critical method, the Qing’s reviewers mainly focused on revealing how beautiful and excellent the expressions of the lines and the lyrics are, while the Joseon’s reviewers mainly used the methods of evaluating or analyzing the words and actions of the characters in the same way as when they evaluated people in the real world.
In addition, while the Qing’s reviewers often viewed a passage in connection with the whole work or the other part of the work and criticized it in terms of narrative structure, the Joseon’s reviewers often viewed a scene independently and wrote personal impression on it.