Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2019

The Connotations of Zhong as a Meta-category in Pre-Qin Chinese Aesthetics

(Abstract)

Huang Shiming

This paper employs a semantic approach to examine the change of the connotations of zhong (the balanced mean),a meta-category of Chinese aesthetics emerged in pre-Qin period. It can be found that shizhong (maintaining the Mean within the flow of time)expresses the essential connotation for the category of zhong. The aesthetic realm of zhong could be achieved through the cultivation of guarding ren (benevolence) to secure zhong, practicing yi (righteousness) to attaining shizhong, regulating zhong through li (rituals), and using zhi (wisdom) to secure the balanced mean, etc. Shizhong not only emphasizes the integration of the past and present, but also accentuates the holistic harmony of the balanced part and the whole.