Li Zhi is an important thinker in the history of China, and his thoughts are mainly reflected in his anthology "Burning Books" and "Continued Burning Books". At the same time, Li Zhi also has a considerable position in the history of literature. From the perspective of prose history, his articles are quite pioneering and innovative, and have unique literary value. Li Zhi's prose pays attention to expressing his own views and personal feelings, and has the characteristics of strong argumentation and lively form. Based on Li Zhi's prose works, this paper shows Li Zhi's progressive, critical and logical prose with diverse styles and superb artistic skills.

This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is the introduction, which summarizes the present situation of Li Zhi's prose research and defines the starting point and method of this paper. The second part to the fifth part discusses his prose works from four aspects:

First, Li Zhi's prose emotion theory. Starting with the wisdom, thoughts and emotions embodied in Li Zhi's prose, this paper makes a comprehensive and internal grasp of its content. Li Zhi's prose shows sincere feelings and profound thoughts, which are important factors to attract readers.

The artistic theory of Li Zhi's prose. This paper focuses on the formal analysis of Li Zhi's prose from two aspects: various rhetorical means and logical argumentation means. Li Zhi's prose is vivid in form and rigorous in argumentation, which is inseparable from his flexible use of various rhetorical devices, dialectical methods and logical methods.

Thirdly, the language style of Li Zhi's prose. This paper summarizes the language style characteristics of Li Zhi's prose from the two characteristics of boldness and freedom. The language of Li Zhi's articles is always free and casual, and spoken English is widely used in orthodox prose style. This free and casual language style complements Li Zhi's style of freely expressing personal views and truly presenting personal feelings, which is an important aspect of Li Zhi's prose style.

Fourthly, the origin of Li Zhi's prose. From the origin, Li Zhi's prose is in the same strain as that of the pre-Qin philosophers. At the same time, Li Zhi's prose was influenced by Su Shi's theory of "nature". From the development point of view, Li Zhi's prose played a leading role in the new changes of prose in the late Ming Dynasty. Li Zhi's "childlike innocence" theory influenced the literary trend of thought in the late Ming Dynasty, and his prose practice influenced the rise of prose in the late Ming Dynasty.