The Expressive Spirit of Traditional Chinese Aesthetics

The term “expression” mentioned here is an abbreviated term for “expressionism,” which refers to the expression of the subject’s spirit. It is an opposite concept to “reproductionism,” which focuses on the “reproduction” of external objects. The aesthetic spirit of ancient Chinese literature and art, which mainly focuses on lyrically expressing emotions, is the spirit of subjective expression. This is in sharp contrast to the objective reproduction spirit of Western classical literature and art, which centers on imitating external objects.