Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2022 

On Xing and Passion

(Abstract)

Peng Feng

“Xing” has two interpretations in Chinese aesthetics, one as a rhetorical technique and the other as a state of being. The passion-oriented Western aesthetics, represented by Du Bois’ theory, believes that art can stimulate passion, enliven the life force, and thus release the dullness of existence. In Chinese aesthetics, the theory of “xing” as a state of being is similar to this passionate aesthetics, which also believes that poetry and other art forms can inspire, motivate, and sublimate the human spirit in general, so that people can escape from the lethargic and obscene situation and return to their original state of existence. Both Chinese and Western aesthetics emphasize that “xing” and passion cannot be explained according to reason and rules, and to understand them, one can only resort to feeling, not to analysis.