Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2021

An Extra-territorial Journey of “Vividness of Qiyun”—Nationality and Universality of Art and Aesthetic Concepts

(Abstract)

Liu Xuguang

In his translation of Hegel’s Aesthetics, Zhu Guangqian used the ancient Chinese aesthetic and artistic concept of “vividness of qiyun” to translate Hegel’s relevant terms. The translation is in a sense loyal, while being constrained in deepening the explanation of the connotation of the vividness of qiyun. This case shows that such aesthetic and artistic concepts as the vividness of qiyun have a dual connotation, i.e., the national and universal characters of the concept. Between these two characters, there is an intrinsic connection that allows cross-cultural emotional experiences and aesthetics to produce empathic communication and understanding, but only through a path that leads from universal experience to “common sense”, then to the common ground gained through understanding, to the experiential unity, and finally to the continuity of the experiential unity in the history of effects.