Political Competition, Literary Contest, and Reception of the Palace Style: Xu Ling’s Criticism of Wei Shou’s Poetry

This study re-examines the literary rivalry between Xu Ling 徐陵 (507–583) of Liang and Wei Shou 魏收 (507–572) of Northern Qi through a political lens. Analyzing Wei’s “A Beautiful Woman” (Meinü pian 美女篇) poems alongside southern counterparts, it argues that Wei deliberately embraced classical allegorism and didacticism to construct Northern cultural legitimacy, contrasting with Xu Ling’s ornate palace-style aesthetics. While Xu’s dismissal of Wei’s anthology reflected southern literary supremacy, Wei’s works embodied a strategic northern archaism that prioritized political utility over aesthetic refinement. The paper further contextualizes this conflict within broader North–South diplomatic tensions, musical traditions, and Tang historiography’s moral judgment of Wei Shou. Ultimately, it reveals how the northern political agenda, literary culture, and the contemporary reflection of the southern poetic style influenced Wei Shou’s study of the southern palace-style poetry.