The Wenyuan Yinghua (Chinese: 文苑英華), sometimes translated as Finest Blossoms in the Garden of Literature, is an anthology of poetry, odes, songs and writings from the Liang dynasty to the Five Dynasties era.

Wenyuan Yinghua is a showreel of literature from around the Song dynasty. The book was initially compiled by a team of officers including Song Bai (宋白), Hu Meng (扈蒙), Xu Xuan (徐鉉) under an imperial order from 982 to 986 during the Northern Song dynasty. Southern Song scholar Zhou Bida printed the book at last in 1204, while four extensive alterations and countless minor revisions were put forth in the extent of the past 200 years. Wenyuan Yinghua is divided into 1,000 volumes and 38 genera by sections with 19,102 pieces of works written by about 2,200 authors; much of the crucial compilation of the writings came from the Tang dynasty scholars. It is considered one of the Four Great Books of Song.^[1]

Despite this, Wenyuan Yinghua has a massive amount of valuable content regarding Chinese history and literature; this work has been mostly neglected by scholars in both the East and West since the book was composed and printed. It has an extensive association with other Tang and Song Chinese literary anthologies.^[2]

The compilation started in the early years of the Song dynasty. The ruling family of Song, the Zhao family, seized power to the throne by conducting a coup d'état on the former Zhou dynasty. Song faces threats from the north and south in its early years. The founding emperor of Song wants to secure his place and increase the legitimacy of his reign by leaving a mark in literature. Thus, he started the compilation of Wenyuan Yinghua.^[3]

The compilers, led by Zhou Bida, come from all over China. Among the leading officials of the project, Xu Xuan comes from Guiji. He newly surrendered to Song after the fall of Nan Tang, where he was a court poet there. Wu Shu came from Danyang, and Lü Wenzhong was born in Xin'an, Hebei. The whole picture is that the emperor wants every talent in every background and birth to attribute to the compilation.^[4]

The compilation of Wenyuan Yinghua lasted for several emperors in Song, during which emperors had a significant impact on the selection of work. Emperor Taizong of Song enlisted several Song poems he preferred in Wenyuan Yinghua. He also appointed the chief editor personally to make sure only the literature work of the best quality is composed. Emperor Zhenzong showed a similar attitude toward the work.

This influence from emperors made Wenyuan Yinghua biased towards emphasizing the importance of the emperor and the good deed they have done, acting as propaganda to justify the right of imperial autocracy.^[5]

Wenyuan Yinghua includes literature of all forms, including poems, lyrics, and articles. These writings cover a wide range of topics, from the story of a heroic act to the poet's philosophical emotion about an object.

The literature of Wenyuan Yinghua served educational purposes for future scholars. The compilation aimed to find a place in the history of literature. Thus, many renowned and famous works of that time are included. The work is an encyclopedia of literature; imperial scholars can look into the compilation to find the work they want. Although the compilation stayed distanced from the general population, the work included in the compilation continues to be popular. The lyrics and poems written by poets such as Su Shi and Du Fu are still well known in present-day as they put out a voice for the commons and sympathize with their pain and hardness.

The story of Mulan was one of the works collected in Wenyuan Yinghua about a girl going to war against the Huns. It was immediately recognized by scholars at the time and has long been considered a masterpiece of North Dynasty poems. It was just like other numerous famous narrative poems that appeared in Wenyuan Yinghua until Disney made it a buzz by producing the animation "Mulan." "Mulan" was officially released in 1998 and immediately became a hit throughout the world. It had become a cultural symbol for China that projected the optimism and bravery of Chinese women.

When composing "Mulan," the directors changed the context of the animation to make the plot more dramatic. However, the core structure of the story stayed the same as it was originally composed by a Northern Dynasty poet and collected in Wenyuan Yinghua. The value conveyed by the act of a woman riding to war, conducting Jeanne d'Arc acts guiding soldiers to victory under all the opposition of her family is still heroic to this day. The act of defiance reminded people of the value of women's rights in the age dynasties. Thanks to Wenyuan Yinghua, this spirit can be passed on to future generations and eventually influence the world.

Mulan acts as a messenger that penetrates all cultural barriers and biases. Although few know the source of the piece in the west, Chinese poems with Wenyuan Yinghua as an example prove that it contains vast amazing stories and lyrics that can still have meaning to modern-day people. They're yet to be explored and researched.^[10]

Wenyuan Yinghua, as collected literature of refined works, generated huge value for future Chinese writers and scholars. It brought convenience for later scholars to understand the writings and literature of that period. A lot of the later collection of poetry and songs, such as the Complete Tang Poems, also uses work from Wenyuan Yinghua.

Scholars widely refer to the works when they try to compose an analysis or judgment of Song and Tang. Famous scholars like Zhu Xi and Fang Songqing quoted the pieces and left comments. Wenyuan Yinghua is also one of the sources of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries composed in the Qing dynasty.

Wenyuan Yinghua influences the circle of Han culture, namely countries such as Japan and Korea. Wenyuan Yinghua was spread to these countries through cultural exchange by the "Imperial embassy to China" (put wiki link). Copies of the original version of Wenyuan Yinghua are preserved in several Japanese monasteries today and act as valuable sources for Japanese scholars researching that part of history.^[2]