Abstract: Shen Congwen's consciousness about the difference and complementarity between pictures and words finds expression in his Xiangxing Shujian (The Complete Works of Shen Congwen) and Xiangxing Sanji (Random Sketches on a Trip to Hu'nan). Shen thinks that it is much more difficult to express his intuitional experience by words than by painting, though, for him, painting is still powerless in this regard. Shen just made do with words. So he tried to describe the intact image of Xiangxi (West Hu'nan) by juxtaposing words and painting simultaneously and by balancing what is classic and what is modern. In fact, that kind of image of Xiangxi can only be found indistinctly in the crack between various visual regulations and the representation system.

Key words: Shen Congwen, intuitional experience, visual regulation, language-picture relationship, consciousness of picturesqueness