# aesthetic concept By [pitaya](https://paragraph.com/@pitaya) · 2022-09-22 --- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/86415966c6119596eec2aa793aa5aba4c1d2e850759714de9d6983ea815bdd1c.png) According to Zong Baihua, the two senses of beauty or ideals of beauty have a history of development and change in the history of Chinese aesthetics. In the pre-Qin period, we can know from the solemn, neat and finely carved graphic patterns of the bronze wares of the three generations that the beauty of "wrong color and gold engraving" was very popular at that time. The extreme masterpieces of this aesthetic style may be the Epang Palace and the Qin Mausoleum. The former is "within 200 li beside Xianyang, there are 270 palaces and halls, the compound roads are connected with the corridors, the curtains and drums are filled with beauties, and the case offices do not move." The latter is "traversing and administering Mount Li. And all over the world, the world moved to send more than 700,000 people, went through three springs, lowered copper and led to coffins, palaces, hundreds of officials, and strange objects, all from Zang Qing." "Combining gold stones, smelting copper, and lacquering the inside, and lacquering the outside. It is covered with pearls and jade, and decorated with emeralds." \[Illustration\] This ethos of pursuing the beauty of "wrong colors and engraving gold" is, on the one hand, closely related to the material productivity of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Improvement has a great relationship, and on the other hand, it is related to the aesthetic taste of the ruling class. At this time, a splendid building boom emerged, not only for shelter from wind and rain, but also for the pursuit of admirable beauty, which has increasingly become an important need and interest of the nobility. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/66a532298aaabf89b3ec7d22ff48416ec4b4dc02b33807bd72ff84c51b07ee98.png) An era has its dominant aesthetic concept, but under the dominant aesthetic concept, there are always other different viewpoints. In the pre-Qin era, there were many thinkers who opposed the aesthetic concept of "wrong color and gold engraving". Mozi advocated the idea of ​​"non-music" and opposed all kinds of art and decoration that waste money and labor. He believed that excessive luxury should not be pursued in food, clothing, housing, and transportation. The function of a house is to live in, not to admire, and the function of clothes is to protect the body from the cold, not visual pleasure. . The palaces and pavilions of the slave-owners and nobles were carved with beams and painted buildings, their costumes were splendid and literary, and their boats and cars were exquisitely carved. A more influential voice of opposition came from Taoism. Starting from his theory of "wuwei", Laozi put forward the view that "five colors make people blind, and five sounds make people deaf", and advocates the ideal of "seeing the simple and being simple, and reducing selfishness and desires". Zhuangzi inherited the tradition of Laozi, emphasizing "no self", "no merit" and "no name" in life, so he put forward the concept of "xinzhai" and "sitting and forgetting". Eliminating wisdom is the same as Datong, which is called sitting and forgetting.” It means that people should get rid of all kinds of desires and demands, eliminate all kinds of utilitarian considerations, and achieve the state of "no self". From this, we can roughly see that Taoist aesthetics rejects the beauty of "wrong color and gold engraving", while the states of "naturalness", "inaction" and "blandness" they advocate are for another kind of beauty. ——The beauty of the "first hibiscus"-has laid an important philosophical foundation. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c982f377c27884e0e8a6019b8259de2e12247c00c4c3844362466bbbf1ea4406.png)  The aesthetic fashion in the Wei and Jin Dynasties was to face nature, move towards nature, and return to nature became a common pursuit, so the aesthetic style had undergone tremendous changes. Mr. Zong believes that although the Wei and Jin period was the most chaotic period in Chinese politics, it was the most free, liberating, most intelligent, and most passionate era in the history of the spirit, and therefore an era full of artistic spirit. . The words of Wang Xizhi's father and son, the paintings of Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei, the sculptures of Dai Kui and Dai Yong, Ji Kang's Guangling San (qin music), the poems of Cao Zhi, Ruan Ji, Tao Qian, Xie Lingyun, Bao Zhao, Xie Tiao, Li Daoyuan, Yang Xuanzhi's writings on landscapes, the majestic statues in Yungang and Longmen, and the beautiful monasteries in Luoyang and the Southern Dynasties are all radiant and unparalleled before, laying the foundation and trend of future generations of literature and art. --- *Originally published on [pitaya](https://paragraph.com/@pitaya/aesthetic-concept)*