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    Studies of China's Independent Knowledge System of Literary Theory
  • Studies of China's Independent Knowledge System of Literary Theory
    Gu Pengfei
    2026, 46(2): 1-15.
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    Cultural memory, as a stratified construction of memory place, memory time, memory identity and memory classics, provides the basic impetus for the formation of a “Chinese paradigm” in contemporary literary hermeneutics. For over a century, contemporary Chinese literary hermeneutics, in the process of drawing on cultural memory to construct itself, has successively formed three interpretive paradigms, that is, the “aesthetic interpretation” paradigm, which formed during the identity shift of ancient Chinese literary hermeneutics from nationality to modernity; the “public interpretation” paradigm, which formed through the identity transformation of Western literary hermeneutics from Westernness to Chineseness; and the “practical interpretation” paradigm, which formed by the critical turn of Marxist literary hermeneutics from universal principles to concrete practice. These three interpretive paradigms constitute a deconstruction of the “universalist” paradigm of contemporary Western literary hermeneutics and represent the localized development of world literary hermeneutics “in China”. They signify the process in which the “Chinese paradigm” of contemporary literary hermeneutics constructs its dual identity as both “Chinese literary hermeneutics” and “world literary hermeneutics”, which moves toward universality through particularity.
  • Studies of China's Independent Knowledge System of Literary Theory
    Lai Rui
    2026, 46(2): 16-25.
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    Aofuhebian (Aufheben), now commonly rendered in Chinese as yangqi, is a core category of dialectics. In 1928, the Creation Society introduced this concept into the “debate on revolutionary literature,” which served as a major approach of Marxist literary theory and drove the paradigm shift of Chinese literary discourse. From the perspective of literary history, its dialectical logic of negation broke from the stereotype of linear evolutionism, providing a philosophical basis for revolutionary writers to sublate May Fourth New Literature. In terms of class consciousness, it functioned as a theoretical weapon against bourgeois literary views and anchored the proletarian writing stance of revolutionary literature. Such an attempt to translate philosophical conceptualization into practical guidelines for writing marked the strong self-consciousness among early left-wing critics in constructing a localized theory. However, the intense polemics with Lu Xun simplified its profound theoretical implications into a strategy of struggle. In terms of theory, dialectical sublation was replaced by mechanical negation. In creative practice, this appeared as the formulaic pattern of “revolution plus romance.” The tension between theoretical transplantation and practical alienation constitutes a symptom of early Chinese Marxist literary theory. Re-examining early cases where theory, criticism, and creation were intertwined can provide profound insights for the construction of contemporary literary theory.
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
    Tao Dongfeng, Fan Yunxia
    2026, 46(2): 26-41.
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    In the late 1970s to early 1980s, with the advent of reform and opening up, popular music, which had remained dormant for three decades, began to revive and became a pioneer in the first wave of popular culture in mainland China. Guangdong played the role of a forerunner and pathfinder in this process. As a form of mass entertainment culture with distinctive local features in Guangdong, music teahouses offer an exemplary case for exploring the relationships among administrators, the market, performers, and audiences/listeners as consumers in the construction of the field of popular culture during the transitional period. Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, this article analyzes music teahouses as a field of cultural practice by examining administrators, businesspeople, performers, and consumers, as well as their mutual relationships. It further discusses how their cooperation and negotiation shaped and constructed music teahouses.
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
    Cao Qinghua
    2026, 46(2): 42-49.
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    Existing research on Lu Xun's Old Stories Retold has mainly focused on two aspects: what is written and how it is written. Little attention has been paid to the analysis of the denotation and connotation of linguistic representation, which is the medium of narrative, in Lu Xun's writing in Old Stories Retold. “Gathering Ferns” portrays Boyi and Shuqi as two “stupid ox” figures who believe in and practice the denotative meanings of ancient Chinese books, and are thus caught in a double dilemma of language and body. Old Stories Retold also seeks to reveal the formalized features of the denotative meanings in the linguistic representation of the “rich and powerful” and the “clever people”. The connection between denotation and connotation is not affected by change in time and space, or in social position and identity. Lu Xun also directly uncovers the false mask of the denotative linguistic representation of “rich and powerful” and the “clever people” through the mouths of the fools from his book. Most protagonists of Old Stories Retold, including Nüwa, Yi, Yu, Heiseren, Meijianchi, and Mozi, bear the task of resisting meaning through action. They do not speak of the names of things, but act upon them. The resistance of meaning is also manifested in Lu Xun's prediction and analysis of the possible destiny of his own writings in the future meaning production.
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
    He Weihua
    2026, 46(2): 50-58.
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    With his militant stance towards industrial civilization and mass culture, as well as his adherence to and promotion of elite culture, F. R. Leavis has become a pivotal figure in the tradition of British cultural criticism. However, as the editor-in-chief of the literary journal Scrutiny, Leavis wrote a large number of influential literary critical articles, many of which remain illuminating for contemporary literary criticism, yet they have not received sufficient attention in Chinese academia. In terms of literary criticism, Leavis opposed the application of theories in a rigid manner, emphasizing the critic's “sensibility” and unique gifts, as well as the importance of “close reading” of the text. Morality also occupies a central place in his work, but Leavis has his own understanding of it. In his view, morality is not about constraining vibrant human nature, but about stimulating, celebrating, and affirming the vitality of life. Meanwhile, through the journal Scrutiny, Leavis spared no effort in promoting his critical principles, cultivating discerning critics and positioning them as a pivotal force within cultural life.
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
    Huang Ruoze
    2026, 46(2): 59-69.
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    Rickshaws originated in Meiji Japan, spread across Asian countries, and became especially popular in modern China. They were not only a classic theme in Chinese literary history but also had a great impact on lifestyles and social transformations since the modern era. As an industrial product, an occupational identity and a way of life, the rickshaw constitutes a key entry point for re-examining transnational experiences. Its emergence was shaped by unequal and incompatible conceptual frameworks between East and West. This invention was mediated through conceptual translations, travel writings and literary works, showing observers' admiration for power and assuagement of suffering, praise of civilization and concealment of moral tensions, as well as fascination with cultural spectacle and oppression of coercive power. The representations of rickshaws in Eastern and Western writings are marked by sharp differences and contradictions, reflecting the interplay and tensions between national progress and global currents. By adopting a more inclusive and critical translingual perspective and drawing on diverse primary sources, this essay reconstructs the global trajectory of rickshaws, compares Eastern and Western writings on a broader basis, and seeks to build a dynamic discourse that directly engages with historical conflicts and confrontations.
  • Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
    Xi Weixuan, He Sijin
    2026, 46(2): 70-84.
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    Beginning with Human Acts, South Korean author Han Kang underwent what could be described as a “mid-career transformation” in her literary practice, as “mourning” has become one of the central concerns in her recent works. The novel We Do Not Part can be regarded as the culmination of Han Kang's poetics of mourning. Taking the Jeju April 3 Incident as its subject, the novel not only engages with the intertextual relationship between literature and South Korea's discourse of transitional justice since the 1990s, but also attempts to transcend the principle of segregated mourning in contemporary political practice, as well as the “forward-looking” cultural memory paradigm that has shaped the transitional justice movement in the global context. Han Kang's insistence on “not parting” signifies a refusal to internalize the Other through what has been theorized as “successful mourning.” Instead, it enacts an ethical responsibility to uphold the irreducible singularity of the Other, and invokes a conception of justice that exceeds utilitarian calculation, thereby gesturing toward an alternative “politics of mourning.” Formally, Han Kang adopts an intermedial method, drawing on the photographic notion of “punctum” to open up the historical context of the April 3 Incident. In doing so, the novel offers a critical reflection on American Cold War hegemony. This not only endows mourning with ethical reflection and historical critique, but also grants it the affective and intellectual resources to rethink justice and reimagine internationalist solidarity in the post-Cold War era.
  • Issue in Focus: Studies of Song Literature
  • Issue in Focus: Studies of Song Literature
    Zhao Hongxiang
    2026, 46(2): 85-95.
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    The evolution of titles in traditional Chinese prose often reflects the functional differentiation and generic formation of literary forms. In the Song dynasty, “records of shrine halls (citang ji)”, which had appeared only sporadically as titles in Tang inscriptions, developed into a commemorative prose genre with relatively stable naming convention and a clearly defined orientation. This transformation was not merely a change in nomenclature, but a shift from stele inscription to written record, shaped by both changes in the Tang-Song systems of sacrifice to former worthies and the growing genre consciousness of literati writers. As local sacrificial practices deepened in the Song dynasty, “Records of Shrine Halls” gradually broke away from the conventional stele style that emphasized recording merit in stone, and instead established a mode of writing centered on worthy figures, aiming to understand the person in relation to his age. Through exemplary works by Fan Zhongyan, Zhu Xi, and others, “Records of Shrine Halls”, outside official biographies and epigraphic inscriptions, provided a relatively independent avenue for biographical writing. It not only advanced interpretations of the Confucian ideal personality but also, through repeated rhetorical practice, consolidated a basic orientation and common mode of expression by which Song literati evaluated historical figures and discussed intellectual lineage.
  • Issue in Focus: Studies of Song Literature
    Wang Xiaoyi
    2026, 46(2): 96-105.
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    The term “changeable states” refers to anomalous states arising from transformation. The Song-dynasty poets cultivated a distinctive aesthetic and literary interest in natural objects, their processes of change, and their philosophical implications. Building on the experience of pre-Song literati, they integrated Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist approaches to observing nature with the method of perceiving things through change and “exploring principles in living beings.” In doing so, they reconstructed logic and generated meaning by explaining the “changeable states” of nature as the normal manifestation of heavenly principle. Through diverse perspectives and creative strategies, the Song poets broke through classical paradigms and conventional boundaries of traditional nature aesthetics. They internalized the creative agency of nature and the infinity of “changeable states” into their own inexhaustible artistic spirit and creativity, establishing a dynamic relationship in which object and self, human culture and nature, become mutually subjective and enter into equal dialogue. They also explored viable ways to realize the oneness of Heaven and humanity in the realm of art and literature. This rational, tolerant, congenial, and open nature aesthetics of “changeable states” and its poetic practice reflect the inner trajectory of the transformation from Tang to Song poetics, opening a new landscape of nature writing marked by the “Song-dynasty tone.”
  • Issue in Focus: Studies of Song Literature
    Yao Hua
    2026, 46(2): 106-115.
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    A substantial part of Lu You's poetry, composed in the rural setting of Shanyin, features rich soundscapes that offer insight into the poet's spatial imagination and local identity from an auditory perspective. The presence or absence of specific sounds, such as urban clamor or bells and drums, marks the distinction between rural and urban space. Through evocations of “the sounds of rivers and lakes” and “the sounds of peace and prosperity,” Shanyin is portrayed as an idealized space of reclusion and pastoral vision. Moreover, by incorporating auditory imagery associated with borderlands and imbuing natural sounds such as wind and rain with martial associations, Lu You reconfigures the Jiangnan countryside as a frontier battlefield, reshaping perceptions of time and space through sound. The sound of reading, in turn, reflects the poet's literati identity and transforms his dwelling in Shanyin into a spiritual space. Those polyphonic soundscapes serve as auditory projections of the poet's multifaceted identities. Lu You's auditory writing inherits conventionalized rhetoric from the poetic tradition, resonates with cultural imaginaries and collective identities associated with specific sonic symbols, while also revealing personal auditory associations and emotional projections. The diffuse, temporal, and non-figurative qualities of auditory experience further shape the poet's construction of Shanyin as a space.
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
    Zhou Caishu, Dominic Mclver Lopes
    2026, 46(2): 116-126.
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    In this interview, Professor Dominic Lopes provides in-depth philosophical and historical insights on a range of topics, including aesthetics, the philosophy of art, media and digital art, the cross-cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western aesthetics, as well as the relationship between an academic career and social transformation. First, Lopes introduces contemporary Western aesthetics as a discipline. Drawing on his monographs Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters and Beyond Art, he discusses the role of aesthetics in social practice, the buck passing theory, and the new definition of a “work of art”. Second, in response to the development of new media and digital art, Lopes corrects three mistakes in traditional thinking about media, and encourages a broader consideration of categories like general media, the narrative medium, and the imagistic medium. He also explains the similarities and differences between computer art, digital art, AI art, and generative art, and he advocates for the label “computer art,” as argued in his book A Philosophy of Computer Art. Third, the interview discusses “emotion” in European philosophy, “rasa theory” in Indian philosophy, and “emotion ontology” in Chinese philosophy, exploring the possibility and potential for better mutual appreciation between aesthetic scenes in China and the West. Finally, the Chinese “aesthetic fever” and the differences between the Chinese and Western aesthetics scenes in the 1980s are examined. Based on Lopes's academic career, he responds to the role of intellectuals and their social responsibilities.
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
    Chen Shihua, Wei Buwen
    2026, 46(2): 127-136.
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    As a genre of literature, “transnational literature” has begun to attract global attention since the 1990s. Narrowly defined, “transnational literature” refers to works created by “transnational writers” in a non-native language. In a broader sense, it encompasses works produced by “transnational writers” that draw on their own experiences of “transgression”, exhibiting distinct “transgressivity” shaped by unique contexts of creation. This characteristic is reflected in the two aspects of “linguistic transgression” and “cultural transgression”. “Linguistic transgression” not only encompasses the fundamental form of creating works entirely in a non-native language, but also involves various forms such as mixing different languages within literary texts and character dialogues, as well as combining multiple linguistic elements to create novel hybrid languages. “Cultural transgression” not only includes presenting transcultural experiences in different ways, but also includes other aspects such as “transgression” of nation, race, class and gender. “Transnational literature” and the concept of “transgression” in literature enrich the literary genres and the themes of literary creation, while also offering new perspectives for literary research.
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
    Wang Shujiao
    2026, 46(2): 137-146.
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    As a fundamental concept and central principle in the early Romantic aesthetic system, “love” is an important medium for achieving wholeness and universal harmony, which embodies the metaphysical longing for unity. This paper analyzes the multiple functions of “love” from four perspectives: the personal, the interpersonal, the human-cosmic, and the metaphysical. In addition, this essay traces how early Romantic thought on “love” promotes the modern semantic configuration of “love” through engagement with the theory of “love” in the Platonic-Christian system. Furthermore, it demonstrates the mystical connotation of “love” by analyzing the adaptive reception of Jakob Böhme by the early Romantics.
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
    Diego Gullotta, Lin Lili
    2026, 46(2): 147-159.
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    Engaging with the historical and social context of late nineteenth-century post-unification Italy, this article offers a re-interpretation of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio through the lens of hybrid materiality. Collodi's text blends multiple elements from such genres as novel, fairy tale, and myth, while Pinocchio himself traverses the boundaries between plant and animal. The hybridity of both the character and the narrative challenges the social order being constructed by the emerging Italian nation-state. Within the context of the rapid development of Italy's educational and cultural industries after unification, Pinocchio, as an uncanny and bio-rebellious figure, embodies the internal fissures and dissonance of Italian modernity. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben's notion of “vivir desvivíendose” as well as Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of “body without organs,” this article interprets Pinocchio as a desiring and disorganized body propelled by an excess of vitality. Within this theoretical framework, Pinocchio ceases to function as an allegorical figure of moral transformation, but rather becomes an emblem of radical potentiality that resists the normative teleology of development and unsettles the established boundaries of species, genre, and subjectivity.
  • Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
    Bing Ma
    2026, 46(2): 160-167.
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    Targeting Sigmund Freud and mimicking his theoretical methods, Luce Irigaray has deconstructed the unified gender discourse system that uses male as its core parameter, and reconstructed the male-female physiological anatomy. She has proposed and re-affirmed the diversified “style of women.” As a major figure in postmodern feminist theory, Irigaray's constant transgression against the sexual “taboos” has deconstructed and reconstructed the unitary structure into an equal and complementary dual structure. Her work signifies the maturity in the construction of feminist theories since the 1980s. However, she is also aware of the shortcomings of her theoretical system, devoting herself to self-improvement and deepening of her theory for 60 years. In her twilight years, Irigaray makes a shift to the three-dimensional vision across regions, cultures and groups, carrying out the triple self-transgression writing experiments that pertain to arguments and documents, language styles, and genres. Luce Irigaray's career has proved that one of the basic driving forces for the construction of theoretical (ideological) system is the self-transgression of thoughts and styles, as well as the reflexive transgression of methods and paradigms.
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Luo Shijin
    2026, 46(2): 168-180.
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    From the outbreak of the September 18th Incident to the conclusion of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945, this period marked a pivotal chapter in both modern Chinese history and modern Chinese literary history. Literary societies emerged as crucial platforms through which intellectuals and patriots mobilized cultural forces for national salvation and sought paths to redemption. Founded by An Ruoding and fellow intellectuals, Spirit-Forging Society (Zhuhun Xueshe) occupies a significant place in the landscape of modern literary associations. The society's members contributed a substantial body of poetry, much of it published in Great Hero Spirit Weekly, which serves as a representative corpus for examining late modern classical poetics. Poems themed on the “Great Hero Spirit” were largely composed in response to contemporary events, bearing a distinctly time-bound character. They exemplify a unique mode of “painstaking poetic creation.” As “sorrowful calls” and “solemn bugle blasts,” these works evolved into some of the most enduring and impassioned poetic voices of the era. The ethical vision of poetic justice advocated by the Spirit-Forging poets, together with their embodiment of an iron-willed ethos of life, deservers full empathy and critical recognition.
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Ren Tianxiao
    2026, 46(2): 181-190.
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    The recognition of Liu Yin's literary identity reflected the gradual establishment of the academic system and revealed the political tendency of the Yuan dynasty. The cabinet literati generally regarded Liu Yin (1249-1293) as the first in the literary field, owing to the profound historical destiny of Zhongzhou (the central region of ancient China, including present-day Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong) and the awe-inspiring righteousness in this poems that transcended personal gains or loss. By integrating the evaluative criteria of poetry, historical context, and personal character, they sought to construct a refined cultural tradition for the Yuan dynasty through writings imbued with qi (vital force). Liu Yin's writings embodied the processes of “Delight in the Contemplation of Things” and “From Extensive Learning to Essential Mastery,” which not only overcame the rhetorical shortcomings since the Song and Jin dynasties but also departed from the Song Neo-Confucian view that literature was dependent on Daoism. Drawing on extensive knowledge from the four categories of the classics and history, he used literary composition to express personal conduct and integrity, thereby initiating the literary atmosphere of “refined reality and moderation” in the early Yuan dynasty.
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Xu Jiang
    2026, 46(2): 191-199.
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    Wang Shizhen's critique of qu (songs) is primarily found in his Rambles in the Garden of Art. Previous scholarship has largely assessed his contributions and limitations from the perspective of drama studies, paying comparatively little attention to his poetic standpoint and his discussion centering on Southern qu. Wang's criticism is characterized by a distinct consciousness of revering Southern qu, which is articulated through his views on genre evolution, aesthetic orientation, and comparative analysis between Northern and Southern qu. First, by outlining the evolution of genres from shi (classic poetry), sao (sao-style poetry), and yuefu (Music Bureau poetry), to Tang jueju (quatrains), Song ci (song lyrics poetry), Northern qu (songs in a drama), and Southern qu, Wang established the orthodox poetic status of Southern qu. Second, his critiques emphasized li (ornate beauty), revealing a pronounced pursuit of stylistic refinement and elaboration. Third, with regard to music, rhyme, and diction, Wang consistently demonstrated a preference for Southern over Northern qu. Notably, his perspective on Southern qu was not only underlined by a deep background in ci studies, but his ci criticism also was actively engaged in the construction of critical discourses on qu in the late Ming dynasty. Furthermore, Wang's aesthetic view of Southern qu significantly influenced theorists such as Wang Jide and Wang Zhideng, playwrights including Liang Chenyu, Shi Shaoshen, and Zhang Fengyi, and anthologists such as Wei Zhigao and Zhang Qi. In sum, the ci and qu criticism in Wang Shizhen's Rambles in the Garden of Art functioned as a pivotal banner promoting the ornate and graceful style of qu in the late Ming dynasty, laying a theoretical foundation for the development of graceful and magnificent qualities of sanqu (non-dramatic song) and chuanqi (romantic drama) during this period.
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Li Xiaoping
    2026, 46(2): 200-210.
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    In Chinese classical poetics, the core category of “scene” is often understood as the product of a poet's “empathy” with, or “projection” of emotion onto, external things. However, Wang Fuzhi's (1619—1692) depiction of “sad emotion in a joyful scene” and the contemporary German aesthetician Gernot Bhme's discovery of “experience of contrast” challenge the plausibility of projection theory at the level of experience. “Projection theory” is based on the presupposition that the “thing” is a pre-existing and objectively real entity. Wang Fuzhi and Gernot Bhme show that this understanding of the “thing” ignores “hiddenness” or “transparency.” This blind spot is formed because, within an epistemological or subject-centered perspective and a dualistic paradigm marked by the opposition between subject and object and the distinction between things and the self, people examine things under the authority of the thinking subject. This is the fundamental crux of projection theory. Wang Fuzhi emphasizes that the poetic “scene” is “a thing of Heaven” and “the incipience of things,” while Bhme proposes to view the “thing” as “atmosphere.” Both theories aim to reveal that “scene” and “thing” are not ready-made entities that can be fully grasped at a glance. Rather, their fundamental mode of presence lies in their own “speaking” and “overflowing.”
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Zhao Lisha
    2026, 46(2): 211-223.
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    The “Two Jingjie Concepts” in Poetry Remarks in the Human World appears prominently in both the manuscript and the article in National Essence Journal, but disappeared from the published article in Shengjing Times many years later. This textual variation reflects Wang Guowei's ideological shifts and cognitive transformation. This article investigates the reasons for the disappearance of the “Two Jingjie Concepts”by comparing the similarities and differences among the relevant “Jingjie” entries in the three versions personally written and selected by Wang Guowei over the years. It further examines Wang Guowei's aesthetic construction under the influence of diverse epistemologies in the East and the West, and reflects on the development trajectories of Chinese and Western cultures that have their own strengths and limitations and should complement and learn from one another.
  • Theoretical Studies of Ancient Literary Theory and Literature
    Lü Dong, Zhang Qingchen
    2026, 46(2): 224-226.
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