The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition

Preface to the First Edition

vii Preface to the First Edition What I mean by “Chinese aesthetics” in this volume is Confucian-based traditional Chinese aesthetics. Because of the length and depth of its sociohistorical foundations, and due to its rich development through the continual absorption and assimilation of various other schools of thought, Confucianism has formed the mainstay of Chinese culture, as I have demonstrated elsewhere. This book considers the same phenomenon from the point of view of aesthetics. This work was completed at the Institute of East Asian Philosophies in Singapore . Earlier versions of Chapters 3, 4, and 5 were published in my book Zou wo ziji de lu but have been extensively rewritten and expanded here. I would like to thank here, for their assistance on numerous occasions, the Institute’s director, Professor Wu Deyao, and assistant director, Mrs. Jeannie Toong; fellow scholars Gu Zhengmei, PhD, and Mr. Li Zhonghua; and, in the library, Head Librarian Li Jinsheng, and Miss Pan Lilian. Alas! Green trees, red flowers, the Lion City like a painting; New acquaintances, old friends—amity rises to the clouds; The time of separation draws near—how can one not be reluctant to part? —Li Zehou, Hunan, 1988 [This page intentionally left blank.] ...