Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2025

The Formation of the Unity of Opposites of the Sublime and the Beautiful and Its Modern Transition

(Abstract)

Gao Jianping

Sublime is a pivotal aesthetic concept that is in a dialectical unity with beauty. This relationship has followed distinct developmental trajectories in the West and China. In the Western context, the concept of sublime has successively associated with style, ethics and nature. In China, the analogous concept is intertwined with the cosmological view of the complementary and harmonious interplay of yin and yang. In contemporary society, the concept of sublime holds significance in the appreciation of both natural and artistic beauty. More notably, it has undergone a re-ethicalization in modern times marked by its penetration into social life.