Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2019 

Transcendence and Worldliness in Zong Baihua’s Aesthetic Thought

(Abstract)

Gu Chunfang

Zong Baihua establishes a unique  set of theory of Chinese art and aesthetics, which consciously positioned aesthetics and the concrete ideas in art along with the idea of life consciousness in Chinese philosophy on the backdrop of the outlook on life and the world, thereby affirming the value of Chinese aesthetics at multiple levels of humanities, universal significance and futurology. This paper, by analyzing the “self-sufficiency versus transcendence”, “nature versus art”, “transcending the dichotomy” and “from infinity to the finite”, finds that Zong affirms the transcendence and enlightenment through the pondering of art and life, and it further argues that he returns to worldly life after having achieved spiritual transcendence, calling for an active commitment to serve the people. Zong Baihua’s aesthetic ideas are  of great value and significance to the theoretical study of aesthetics and art, especially in the historical context dominated by western philosophies and aesthetics.