Compilations of regional literature in the Ming Dynasty increased dramatically in quantity and significant improvements were made in the quality of compilation and engraving. This marked the initial construction of a national and regional literary history, making it a valuable literary and cultural phenomenon for research. The evaluative framework of regional literature compilations in the Ming Dynasty encompasses not only praise for the editors’ talent and compilation skills, and praise for the textual value, but also judgements about the compilation content and format. Despite some shortcomings in certain regional literature compilations of the Ming Dynasty, they are far from sufficient to overshadow their brilliance. These collections provide valuable data and experience for the compilation of regional literature compilations in the Qing Dynasty and nationwide regional literature compilations and profoundly influence the formation of literary evaluative systems in later generations.
Lingling Gu is a lecturer at the College of Humanities, Hangzhou Normal University. After obtaining her Master's degree in Chinese Classical Literature from Shandong University, Lingling Gu received her Doctorate in Ancient Chinese Literature at Zhejiang University. From 2021 to 2022, she spent a year as a visiting scholar at Harvard University to learn advanced research methods in digital humanities and literature. In August 2023, she began her role as a lecturer at the College of Humanities, Hangzhou Normal University. Her research interest lies in the study of Chinese regional literature. E-mail: gulingling12345@163.com