Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2022

Qihua and Atmosphere: A Comparison and Dialogue between Chinese and Western Aesthetics

(Abstract)

Liu Yiqing

The theory of qihua occupies an important position in Chinese philosophy, and has influenced the development trend of Chinese aesthetics, forming a unique aesthetics of qihua. Atmospheric aesthetics has emerged in the West in recent times, emphasizing the uncertainty and fluidity of atmosphere, which is similar to the concept of qi in Chinese philosophy. The aesthetics of qihua excludes the compulsion of judgment based on taste and emphasizes the cultivation of life experience, while atmospheric aesthetics is based on bodily perception, presents ambiguity and movement, and tries to construct a perceptual existence of the unity of subject and object. This allows for the possibility of a deeper cross-cultural dialogue between the two kinds of aesthetics.