Abstract: During the pre-Qin period, there is the political idea “to revere the past and despise the present”Confucius claims “love of the ancient”; the philosophers have the argument of whether “following examples of the ancients”. All these are the opposite side of “despising the present”. The criticism of the idea “to revere the past and despise the present” has ultimately evolved to “political reform” policies. In Han Dynasty, respecting Confucian classics won the day, and “to revere the past” has its text form. “To revere the past and despise the present” has become a social concept and extend to literary field. Heng Tan and Wang Chong’s criticism of “revering the past and despising the present” is to rectify the social morality. They criticized “revering the past and despising the present” in literature appreciation which is advocated by contemporary writers. Cao Pi criticized “revering the past and despising the present” to develop contemporary literary and established “Seven Scholars of Jian’ an” as classics. Ge Hong criticized “revering the past and despising the present” from the perspective of literary development rule to publicize the literature development view. The criticism of “revering the past and despising the present” in each era will undoubtedly bring contemporary literary classics and thus form the history of literary. To “revere the past” has obtained its reasonable and legitimate position in the literary history form. It has become a rule to elaborate the past and outline the present as previous works were narrated or even upheld in Book of Song-Biography of Xie Lingyun by Shen Yue; The Literary Mind and Carving of Dragons-Time Sequence by Liu Xie; Shih-Pin Prefaces by Zheng Rong. “Revering the past and despising the present” in literature appreciation has transformed into “understanding the text” and “to become a bosom friend of the writer” in order to grasp the true meaning of the work. Thus, the literary development has entered a phase of not only inherit the “traditional rule” but also create “today’s tune”.

Key words: revering the past and despising the present, literature appreciation concept, literary history form