Emotional Regime of the Shishuo Xinyu

Abstract

Through compiling all anecdotes that reference emotional expressions from Liu Yiqing’s Shishuo xinyu, I will reveal the principles of an emotional regime (i.e. the rules and rituals of proper emotional expression). This ranking of different emotional expressions within an evaluative hierarchy is best explained in the balancing of two principles: emotional detachment and naturalness. Emotional detachment was the highest ideal, but when this was not possible, the regime required the expression of natural emotions, that is, emotions stirred by natural objects and limited to natural levels. Because the understanding of emotions is gender specific, the paper concludes with an examination of how this emotional regime applied to women.