This term is a Confucian statement about the relationship between literature

and ideas. Wen (文) refers to literary creations and works, while dao (道) refers to

the ideas conveyed by literary works. Writers and philosophers in ancient China

explicated these ideas as Confucian thought and ethics. Han Yu (leader of the mid-

Tang-dynasty movement advocating the prose style of the Qin and Han dynasties)

and some others proposed that the purpose of writings should be in line with the

classics of the ancient sages as well as promote them. Zhou Dunyi, a neo-Confucian

philosopher of the Song Dynasty, expounded the principle of literature serving

as a vehicle of ideas. He concluded that literature was like a vehicle while ideas

were like goods loaded on it, and that literature was nothing but a means and a

vehicle to convey Confucian ideas. This theory was valuable because it stressed

the social role of literature and emphasized that writers should know what they

were writing about to ensure that their works conveyed correct ideas. However,

it underestimated the aesthetic value of literature and later met opposition from

thinkers and writers who emphasized the value of literature per se.