Abstract: The statement that poetry is the expression of aspirations is the first ontological definition of poetry in China, and therefore its significance should be understood in its ontological perspective. The paper explores the historical context for the generation of the statement in three respects, namely, the maturing of the artistic trinity of poetry, music and dance, the establishment of the ancient politics-education system, and the establishment of the system of ethics. As a classical theory, this statement is inherited by the gentry scholars' poem writing during the Spring and Autumn period, and promoted by the hundred schools of scholars. "Aspiration" is the classical property of The Book of Poetry. The paper also discusses the extension of this statement to the notions of the six types of musical language use, and the six types of poetic styles and methods of expression. It argues that On Music is the continuation of the statement.

Key words: poetry as an expression of aspirations, ontology of poetry, pre-Qin poetics, poetics of the hundred school philosophers