Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2022 

Towards a Mutual Interpretation of the Chinese “Xing” and the Western “Metaphor”

(Abstract)

Tao Shuiping

“Xing” and “metaphor” are marked as important core category of characteristics of Chinese and Western poetry and poetics, respectively. The comparison between “xing” and “metaphor” has remained as an unsolved academic difficulty lasting for over a century until now. We should adopt “bridging” research approach of mutual interpretation between China and the West in the comparative study of “xing” and “metaphor,” and make breakthroughs in seven aspects: connotation, cultural origin, theoretical basis of philosophy, ways of thinking and mental processes, linguistic expression and rhetoric, poetic function and aesthetic effect, and aesthetic meaning and goal pursuit.