Yao Nai I lived in Maxi (now Yaowangji on the south bank of Qianqiao River in Zongyang), and his fifth ancestor Yao moved to Tongcheng in Jingtai. For Yao Nai, his family has lived in Tongcheng County for more than 300 years. Nai was born in an official and scholarly family at the south gate of Tongcheng. His ancestors were the chief secretary of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty, and Yao was the magistrate of Jiangzhou, with the title of deputy envoy, both of which were contained in Biography of Officials in the Ming Dynasty. High-impedance Wen Ran, Kangxi was then the minister of punishments; Great-grandfather, once a magistrate of Luotian County, Hubei Province, was virtuous and clean, and both died in famous temples. Fan Yao, a scholar and later editor of imperial academy, wrote Poems of Ji Quail Hall, which is well versed in the history of Confucian classics and has a deep affinity with Liu Dakui, one of the founders of Tongcheng School, so that Yao Nai can learn Confucian classics from his uncle and literature from Liu Dakui. His grandfather Kong Ying died at the age of 26, and his father Shu was a civilian all his life. Yao Nai's family had declined when he was born, and he loved learning when he was young. His uncle Fan Yao gave him classics and learned ancient Chinese from Liu Dakui. Liu Dakui paid special attention to Yao Nai, saying that he was "crowned when he was young, and he had died" and "waited for his son later". After fifteen years of Qianlong (1750), he was a scholar at the age of 20, and made five attempts to do this, all of which failed in Sun Shan. It was not until the 28th year of Qianlong (1763) that he made his sixth attempt at the age of 30 that he was awarded the Jishi Shu. Three years later, the museum changed its owner and returned to the Ministry of War. Director of the etiquette department of the Ministry of Rites. Later, he took the provincial examinations in Shandong and Hunan, served as the deputy examiner, and will try the position of the examiner and the secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Punishment. In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), the Qing court opened the Siku Quanshu Library, and Yao Nai was recommended to be the editor of the library. This post should have been held by Hanlin, and Du Nai, Xiuning Dai Dongyuan, Da Chun and Shexian Cheng Jinfang were elected without exception. When Sikuquanshu was finished, I knelt down for support and went home. I didn't enter the official career. I was 44 years old. Yu Minzhong and Liang Guozhi, college students, have successively appointed high-ranking officials, but they were both dismissed. I said, "The ancient gentleman was just an official, so he could apply his ambition to the times and help others." Otherwise, it is better to "advance and retreat calmly, so as not to lose face."

Since the forty-second year of Qianlong, Yao Nai has given lectures in Yangzhou Meihua Academy, Anqing Jingfu Academy, Shexian Ziyang Academy and Nanjing Zhongshan Academy, and devoted himself to education. His disciples are all over the southern provinces. Among them, Fang, Liu Kai, Li Zongchuan and others are the most famous. Shang Yuan Mei Zongliang and Guan Tong; Yixing Wu Dexuan; Yang Zhaoluo; Yao Chun of Louxian County; Xincheng Lu Jiugao and his nephew Chen Yongguang. These students are all scholars who abide by the teacher's theory and Tongcheng family law, which has played a great role in the spread of Tongcheng School. Tongcheng School ancient prose spread from Bao Fang to Zhenchuan, then to Liu Dakui in Yi Tong, and then to Yao Nai. Therefore, there is a saying that "Tongcheng family law stands here, the wind is flowing, the Antarctic is Gui Xiang, and the north is Zhao Yan". Zhou Shuchang of Licheng said: "The article in the world is in Tongcheng!"

In the 15th year of Jiaqing (18 15), 85-year-old Yao Nai died in Nanjing Zhongshan Academy and was buried in Zongyang. Yao Nai, founder Fang Bao and Liu Dakui are also called "Three Ancestors of Tongcheng". On the basis of Fang and Liu, he advocated the combination of "reason", "examination" and "ci" The so-called "righteousness" is Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism; "Textual research" is the textual research of ancient documents, meanings and characters; "Zhang Ci" means to pay attention to literary talent when writing articles. These propositions enrich the content of prose writing, which is the supplement and development of the theory of "righteousness and law" in the other party's aesthetics. It is proposed that "masculine" and "feminine" should be used to distinguish the style of the article. "Masculinity" is bold and unconstrained, while "femininity" is graceful and restrained. The two styles cooperate and adjust with each other, resulting in a variety of styles. At the same time, Liu Dakui's thought of "imitating the past" was developed, and "spirit, reason, qi, taste, form, rhyme, sound and color" were put forward as the eight main points of the article. To learn from the ancients, we must first master shape (shape, rhyme, sound and color), and then attach importance to god (spirit, reason, qi and taste) in order to reach a high level. Tongcheng School's ancient prose arrived in Yao Nai and formed a complete theoretical system. Yao Nai wrote the Complete Works of Xi Baoxuan, and the compilation of ancient characters was popular for a while, which effectively expanded the influence of Tongcheng School. Another important contribution of Nye to traditional literary theory is his original theory of "rigidity and softness of yin and yang", which is a major breakthrough in the aesthetic theory and stylistic features of China's ancient prose. He believes that "the way of heaven and earth is just the rigidity and softness of yin and yang." The screenwriter is an elite of heaven and earth, and yin and yang are also soft. "The change of yin and yang is the expression of the author's personality, temperament and morality. On the basis of inheriting the literary thoughts of predecessors, Nai explained the source of article style and the style characteristics of prose with the philosophical concept of rigidity and softness of yin and yang, which contained simple materialism and dialectical thought.

Yao Nai took the study of Confucianism in Song Dynasty as the foundation of his scholarship, so sinologists who criticized textual research abandoned books and pursued the end; However, he did not abandon the expertise of Han Confucianism in Confucian classics. Yao Nai's literary style is simple and profound, especially close to Ouyang Xiu and Ceng Gong. His thesis is rooted in morality, but from Confucian classics. When it is shallow and profound, some ancient people have never mentioned it, while others think that the word is closer to the square and the reason is deeper than Liu "(Biography of Wen Yuan and Yao Nai, Draft of Qing History). His prose "takes qi as rhyme" (Fang Zongcheng's preface to Tongcheng Lu Wen) has formed a pedantic, profound, three-sigh, intriguing and endless style. Zhang Taiyan, a modern scholar, called it "gold" and Liu called it "",and they all praised his style of writing, which was verve, simple and meaningful. In his early years, Yao Nai imitated the "Seven Scholars" of Ming Dynasty to learn Tang poetry, and in his later years, he also adopted the poet of Song Dynasty, with high style and meaning. At that time, he seemed to be a master, so later generations called it "precious and profound poetry, which is authentic enough" (inscription of Cheng Bingjian's Collection of Celebrities in the National Dynasty). Yao Nai's calligraphy attainments are profound. Bao promoted Deng, Liu Shi 'an and Yao Nai to be the top calligraphers in Qing Dynasty, and listed Yao Nai's cursive script as a wonderful work. Therefore, Yao Nai's literary beauty is not unique, and his calligraphy is also very important to the world. Nai is the author of Nine Classics (19), Supplementary Notes to Three Biographies (3), Laozi (1), Zhuangzi (10), Collected Works of Xi Baoxuan (16) and Hou Wenji. Climbing Mount Tai is Yao Nai's masterpiece, which mainly depicts the magnificent scenery of the first snow in Mount Tai. Writing characteristics: First of all, in chronological order, taking the trail as a clue, the author described the process of visiting Mount Tai and the scenery he saw in turn, with appropriate tailoring and clear details. Tongcheng school advocates "elegance and cleanliness" and opposes "superfluous words", which can be seen from here.