Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2019

The Aesthetic Spirit of “Cherishing the Human” in Chinese Poetics

(Abstract)

Li Tiandao

Chinese poetics features an aesthetic of “cherishing the human”. In Chinese poetic tradition, poetry creation sets “human” in the center: it speaks out what is “being intent” (zhi) on the mind, expresses the poet’s affections (qing). These two aspects are the gist of Chinese poetic creation. What is “being intent” is, in some sense, identical to the poet’s “disposition and affection” (xingqing). To express “what is intently on the mind” and “affections or emotions” is to express one’s “personal innate sensibility” (xingling). Qing, zhi and xingling are necessarily exclusive to a poet as reflections of his or her personalities and idiosyncrasies. Such a principle of “cherishing the human”in Chinese poetics is in accordance with the tendency to emphasize “human value” in Chinese aesthetics.