Abstract: Yuan Shouding is most famous for being good at divination and administration of officials.His literature thoughts have been mentioned in several influential literature research works，but nowadays some scholars have studied his assertion on literature. However，Yuan Shouding’s viewpoint of eightpart essay is ignored by researchers. As presented in Shi Wen Li Ce he criticized the unhealthy trend of scholarism at his time and held that the orthodox status and educational function of eightpart essay should be accepted，and that the writing style of elegance and straightforwardness should be advocated with emphasis on quality of the essay and integrity of the writer and natural discourse structure。

Key words: Yuan Shouding, Shi Wen Li Ce, eightpart essay