A detail from “The Eighteen Scholars,” a painting by the Song artist Liu Songnian (c. 1155–1218), reveals the aesthetic taste of the ancient Chinese. Photo: FILE

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During the Song Dynasty, the aesthetic appreciation of historical epigraphs began to play an important part in people’s cultural lives. The enjoyment of the past through the admiration of historical objects began to be regarded as guya (gu means “ancient” or “age-old;” ya means “grace” or “elegance”) from the perspective of formal aesthetics.

 

Meaning of guya
Wang Guowei (1877–1927), the great scholar of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, proposed a theory on guya in his article, “On the Position of Guya in Aesthetics.” In this article, Wang asserted that Western aesthetics is divided into two categories, youmei (the beautiful) and chonggao (the sublime). Considering that there are certain objects in China that cannot be fully understood by Western aesthetics, Wang offered guya as an aesthetic category in contrast with the beautiful and the sublime. He characterized guya in terms of its basic traits: as a kind of artistic creation, guya is produced not by a genius but by ancient craftsmen, and is thus distinct from the beautiful and the sublime. The works produced by ancient craftsmen, which were practically useful and aesthetically appealing, could be considered as objects with guya aesthetics.

Wang proposed guya as a secondary aesthetic category complementing a primary category comprised of the beautiful and the sublime. What is expressed naturally in the primary form will produce an aesthetic object of either the beautiful or the sublime, and what is skillfully represented in the secondary form will produce an aesthetic object of guya. The essence of guya emerges naturally from human effort (e.g. learning, imitating and refining) instead of from innate talent.

Artificial objects are everywhere in daily life, but most of them are viewed as objects of practical use. In contrast, the aesthetic value of antiques is the factor that is usually most appreciated. For example, blue-and-white porcelain (a Chinese white porcelain decorated under glaze with blue pigment) of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) is best known for its rarity and beauty in modern times. However, during the Yuan era, when people were using the blue-and-white porcelain bowls as dinnerware, they might have seldom noticed that the style of the bowl was one of the most representative types of Chinese porcelain. In other words, Yuan blue-and-white porcelain might have served as no more than dinnerware and other items of daily necessity during the Yuan Dynasty. It is time that transforms the object from an item of daily necessity to an aesthetic object. In this way, guya is a type of aesthetic experience that is based on time and history.

Based on the above analysis, guya can be simply interpreted as the sense of fascination experienced when considering tangible cultural heritage. It should be noted that the character ya was interchangeable with another character xia in ancient China. To some extent, ya is closely associated with huaxia, a historical idea that represents the Chinese nation and civilization. Therefore, this means that only civilized, refined and mainstream tastes could be considered as ya. Guya represents the traditional main values of China. A taste that is associated with unofficial history and not widely accepted, by contrast, doesn’t belong to guya.

 

The rise of  guya
China has a long tradition of venerating the past as the ultimate source of cultural authority. History provides enduring spiritual support and emotional consolation. This is why the ancient Chinese always attributed the most profound wisdom to the remotest past. This respect towards the past laid the foundations of Chinese aesthetics.

In terms of jinshixue, Chinese historians often connect the social changes between the Tang (618–907) and Song dynasties with the origins of guya. During this period, the selection process for civil service candidates had changed greatly. The imperial examination system was established during the Sui Dynasty (581–618), but it wasn’t widely utilized as the major path of office until the Song era. The system provided many intellectuals with opportunities of moving from a low social status to political prominence, thereby encouraging more individuals to engage in academic life. This change also helped to shape China’s intellectual and cultural life. Neo-Confucianism began to rise during the Song era. It was not only a philosophical movement but also a political one, based on the need to restore Confucian ways and apply Confucian norms to the political and social life of a new dynasty. In order to support their new ideas, Song intellectuals claimed that the truth of the sages was to be found in antiquity. They used new archaeological findings as evidence to assert their ideas. This led to the rise of jinshixue, which was originally used to correct mistakes and reinterpret classic works according to historical inscriptions. For the Song people, elegance had nothing to do with material wealth but spiritual and intellectual depth, and these were derived from the past not the present. This historical change made guya an important aesthetic concept in traditional Chinese culture.

Which objects could be classified as guya in imperial China? A Ming scholar of gewuxue (study of physics) named Cao Zhao gave an answer. Cao divided the objects of guya into 13 categories, including bronze ware (the most important), paintings, writings, inscriptions, musical instruments, inkstones, pottery and lacquerware. The other five categories were known as rare artworks, golden and iron objects, silk textiles, extraordinary woodwork and stones.

 

Appreciation of antiques
People usually appreciate objects by noticing their material property and appearance. In ancient China, however, the value of objects might have laid more in their symbolic meaning and philosophical implications than their practical or aesthetic significance.

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BCE), Confucius proposed an idea about objects—Qi Yi Cang Li (literally ritual is hidden in objects). Ritual (li) is central to Confucian ethics and political philosophy, often associated with natural and social order. Confucius believed that objects (particularly objects used in cults, rituals and sacred ceremonies) were the tangible symbols of the order of the universe, leading the way to Heaven. This idea reflects the significance of objects in ancient Chinese culture.

Liangzhu is considered one of the most important Neolithic jade cultures in China, dating back to 4,000 years ago. The Liangzhu people used jade bi (jade carved in the form of a flat disk with a hole in the centre) and jade cong (a hollow cylinder or truncated cone enclosed in a rectangular body) as ceremonial utensils during sacrifices to Heaven and Earth. The round body of bi and the rectangular body of cong imply the ancient belief that Heaven is round and the Earth is square. These ritual utensils were neither practically useful in daily life, nor did they merely serve as aesthetic objects. They reflected the ideas and beliefs of traditional cosmology in China at the time.

 

The article was edited and translated from Guangming Daily. Liu Chengji is a professor from Beijing Normal University.

edited by REN GUANHONG