Abstract: Dao and wen are two core categories in Chinese aesthetic tradition. The mainstream description of the relationship between these two categories was that "wen is the vehicle for Dao". In the strict sense, this view was not an aesthetic thought per se, because it reduced wen to a tool and thus obscured the inherent aesthetic relationship between wen and Dao. Perhaps Liu Xie's under-researched idea of "the wen of Dao" (the pattern of Dao) provided a more persuasive description to this relationship. This article re-evaluates the significance of the discourse on wen as an aesthetic category from the perspectives of history, philosophy, aesthetics and semiotics, examines the origin of wen and its connections with Chinese aesthetics, and explores the internal relationship between wen and Dao, thus reinterpreting and re-conceptualizing the nature and function of both concepts. "The pattern of Dao" is a form of immanent transcendence and humanized nature resulting from the integration of wen and Dao. It is both a signifier of experience and a signified of transcendence. The interaction between wen and Dao has deeply influenced Chinese thought on philosophy and aesthetics, rendering Chinese literature and art distinct from other cultural traditions.

Key words: wen, Dao, the pattern of Dao, Chinese aesthetics, modern poetics, philosophy of language