Wang Guowei Research Articles

Inheritance, Swerving, Tuning and Complementing: The Flux of Qu Yuan's Cultural Image in the Han Dynasty

Abstract: The study of Qu Yuan has always been a key topic in Chuci, and since Wang Guowei's study in 1906, Qu Yuan's image and works has been continuously excavated in different periods. Being widely eulogized at that time, the discussion and compilation of Qu Yuan's cultural image by the rulers and scholars of the two Han Dynasty gave Qu Yuan a unique cultural connotation, and they jointly compiled a unique "Qu Yuan" belonging to the Han Dynasty. Against the background of the emergence of a new era of cultural study, the reinterpretation of the cultural image of historical figures in ancient China can contribute to the restoration of a more authentic history and culture. Hence, analyzing the flux of the cultural image of "Qu Yuan" in the two Han dynasty can clarify the cultural concepts promoted in different eras of the Han Dynasty and the overall historical tendency of its development.

중일(中日) 근대문예론의 형성과 그 이동(異同)에 관한 소고(小考)

This paper attempts to compare the literary theory of Tsubouchi Shoyo(坪內逍遙), which was developed from the 'arts-the arts' examined throughout Wang Guowei's(王國維) literary theory, and Wang Guei's literary theory, which was established as the early modern Japanese literary theory. As Tsubouchi Shoyo's first statement, 'Novels are art(美術)' in 『Shosetsu Shinzui(小說神髓)』 opened the chapter of modern Japanese literary theory, this paper aims to explore Wang Guowei's literary theories in relation to the formation of modern literary theory in China. Therefore, in the case of the formation of Japanese modern art theory, Tsubouchi Shoyo's use of Western literary theory and logic in his own way within the magnetic field of pragmatic thought and literary dance theory that spread throughout Japanese society in the 1880s, while building a literary theory that incorporated the discourse of the Japanese art world at the time, was used as a guide to examine the formation of Chinese modern art theory and Wang Guowei's literary theory treatise. This was further utilized to examine the shifts in the theses that were common to their literary theories. In fact, the formation environment of Sino-Japanese modern literary theory was different in terms of its reception and paragraph situation according to the way the two countries experienced modern East Asia, but there are also similar points. It is also true that Wang Guowei's and Tsubouchi Shoyo's views and arguments on the literary arts developed in very different ways after they published their literary theory works and related papers, depending on their respective life trajectories and the circumstances of their respective countries. Nevertheless, neither Tsubouchi Shoyo nor Wang Guowei built a separate literary theory that completely excluded the dominant discourse in the academic and literary circles of their time. Rather, Wang Guowei, who studied a wide range of disciplines, including mathematics and natural sciences, could be said to have been more attuned to and thought about the axioms of modern China's time and built his literary theories in response to them.

Analyzing the Thought of Aesthetic Education in Wang Guowei’s on the Purpose of Education

Analyzing the Thought of Aesthetic Education in Wang Guowei’s on the Purpose of Education

일본 『小說神髓』의 논지를 통해 본 중국 신소설 담론 상의 문예론 형성 고찰

This article examines the formation of literary theory in Chinese new novel discourse through the 『Shosetsu Shinzui(小說神髓)』 thesis of Tsubouchi Shoyo(坪内逍遥) of Japan. To this end, this paper focuses on 『Shosetsu Shinzui』's ｢Introduction to Novel(小說總論)｣ and ｢Novel's Benefits(小說の裨益)｣, which are the core of literary theory, and discusses the following two issues. First, Shoyo's “Introduction to Novel” and Chinese scholars' discussion on the true meaning of novel, and second, the modern interpretation of novel=art and novel's benefits. Specifically, This article examines the arguments raised by Tsubouchi Shoyo in Introduction to Novel regarding the purpose and efficacy of art, including its main theme, and the related arguments of Chinese commentators such as Lishaojushi(蠡勺居士)·Liang Qichao(梁啓超)·Wang Guowei(王國維)·Huang Moxi(黃摩西)·Xu Nianci(徐念慈)-on the novel True Meaning(本義). In other words, this article examines the formation of literary theory in Chinese new novel discourse, starting with Lishaojushi's discourse on the novel's true meaning and then examining the subsequent development of the discussion on the novel's true meaning. Next, in relation to the issue of the utilitarianism of novels raised by Tsubouchi Shoyo in ｢Novel's Benefits｣, the relevant discourses in the Chinese new novel discourse are examined, and the juxtaposition of views on benefits by Shoyo and Chinese commentators is scrutinized.

Dual evidence: a perspective on the methodology of reading clinical materials— a concurrent commentary on "après-coup"

By drawing on the "dual evidence" approach proposed by the famous Chinese archaeologist Wang Guowei, this article distinguishes between two types of material in the psychoanalytic clinic: the life history material of the analysand, centred on the repressed material; and the transference material, centred on the transference relationship between the analyst and the analysand. Second, by examining Freud's concept of après-coup (deferred action), and in particular by clearing out its "aprèscoup modification" effect, this article highlights the fact that the first kind of material, whilst becoming more complete as the analysis progresses, is distorted in certain places by the processing of fantasy and the après-coup effect. This is why there is a corroborative relationship between the first and the second type of material which is incomplete but relatively "true" because it can only repeat a certain part of the Oedipus complex.

The Translation Strategies of Ancient Official Titles in Biography of Wang Guowei from the Perspective of Cultural Schema

Please refer to the URL that includes this article for the abstract.

The theory of Chinese narrative prose in the early twentieth century.

The subject of the study is critical articles by Chinese writers and literary theorists of the early twentieth century. They are dedicated to ways of transforming traditional literature. The object of the study is the evolution of the views of Wang Guowei, Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Yu Dafu, who in the process of creating modern Chinese literature (Xiandai Wenxue) set tasks for the national intelligentsia. The article proves that the interpretation of the main constants of modern Chinese literature was based on the ideas of Western, primarily German and English literary criticism and aesthetics. The article pays special attention to the discussion between Lu Xun and Hu Shi on the issue of the ideological position of writers, and Yu Dafu's articles on the role of the reception of Western aesthetics. The research methodology is based on the theoretical principles of historical-literary, historical-cultural, historical-functional, comparative-historical analysis. Elements of intertextual and receptive approaches are used. The main conclusion of the study is that the transition from the literary language of classical Confucian monuments (wenyan) to the spoken language (baihua) has become an important vector for Chinese literary theorists. However, their views on the future of modern national literature differed. Lu Xun insisted that the future of literature depended on the class affiliation of the literati. Yu Dafu believed that writers should use the experience of the best prose writers of classical literature in Western countries, and also take into account the literary inclinations of readers. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian Sinology, a comparative analysis of critical articles by prominent Chinese writers and literary theorists becomes the object of study.

The Contextual Model for Poem Translations and Criticisms: An Enlightenment from Wang Guowei’s Realm of Poetic World

ABSTRACT Combining the poet’s cultivated character, tones and rhythms, and spirit in Wang Guowei’s poetic realm theories with the viewpoints of poem compositions in Shi Sou, the article proposes the four essential elements, cultivated character, genre, tones and rhythms, and style, in poem translations, and argues that the translator should find the poet who has similar cultivated characters with him to translate, and meters and rhythms of translated poems should show the emotions and meanings of the original, and the styles of the translated poems should agree with those of the original ones. The article, therefore, constructs a contextual model integrating the context of situation consisting of the genre (field), tones (meters) and rhythms (mode), and style (tenor) into the context of culture containing the cultivated character and puts forth the principles for poem translations and criticisms.

La Stimmung du paysage dans l’esthétique allemande et les concepts esthétiques chez Wang Fuzhi et Wang Guowei

This article examines the concept of qingjing (sentiment-landscape) and its related aesthetic notions, such as qingjing (sentiment-scene) and yijing (idea-scene) in Wang Fuzhi’s and Wang Guowei’s aesthetic theories. We will compare these categories of aesthetics with the German aesthetic notion of Stimmung from the early Romanticism to Schopenhauer and investigate into parallel evolutions and influence studies. Although Goethe, Schiller, and Schopenhauer do not belong to the group of German Romantics, their conception of Stimmung and the spiritual eye draw on aesthetics of German Romanticism. Wang Fuzhi’s conception of qingjing is still inscribed into Chinese classical thought, such as Daoist cosmology based on the original Breath and the epistemology of Indian Buddhism, such as pramāṇa (measure). We will compare the parallelism in thought evolution regarding Wang Fuzhi’s theory of qingjing and the German concept of Stimmung, both as a crystallization and intertwinement of indissociable sentiment and landscape. Many German writers proclaim that landscape is the projection of subjective emotions from inside to outside, so it can be understood as an externalization of Stimmung. According to Wang Fuzhi, sentiment unfolds as landscape, and landscape, driven by a vital impulse, is truly endowed with emotion. There is still a dichotomy between subject and object related to Stimmung, but this is not the case for qingjing. Moreover, we will also investigate the direct influence of Stimmung on Wang Guowei’s conception of qingjing and jingjie, since Wang Guowei has already been influenced by the aesthetics of German Romanticism and Idealism, especially the notion of Stimmung. This influence also contributes to Wang Guowei’s deviation from Wang Fuzhi’s aesthetic theory.

Critique of Wang Guoweis Gu Ya Theory and the Establishment of Veneration of Antiquity

Wang Guoweis Gu Ya theory is considered one of the most influential aesthetic theories in modern China but has not been taken seriously in western scholarship. In this theory, Wang Guowei tries to oppose Kant's theory of genius by claiming that everyone should be able to create beauty. Wang Guowei focuses heavily on the Chinese literati instead of the whole population to which Kant refers. I found the Gu Ya theory implausible for either the Chinese literati or the peasants because the two points that Wang Guowei provides, the first form and the markedness, would be considered inadequate to prove his arguments. Besides that, one reason the Gu Ya theory fails to achieve its goal is the ignorance of the veneration of antiquity, which is significant in Chinese aesthetic appreciation. We must find solutions to either solve or refine the Gu Ya theory in order to accelerate the development of Chinese aesthetics. I firstly criticized and corrected the ambiguity of Wang Guoweis the first form and the misunderstanding of the concepts of marked and unmarked in Chinese literature. Then, I established the veneration of antiquity as my aesthetic theory that fits the Chinese literati. In the end, I posted a thought about Wang Guoweis idea of wu ren in his Gu Ya theory because he does not clarify and fails to build a connection with Kants theory.

Reinterpretation on Wang Guowei’s Youmei and Hongzhuang

In Wang Guowei’s famous poetics work, Ren Jian Ci Hua (人间词话) (1908), he distinguished two categories of Chinese classical aesthetics—youmei (优美), or the beautiful, and hongzhuang (宏壮), or the magnificent, which appeared in the fourth paragraph that Wuwozhijing (无我之境) (worlds without I) can be obtained in the tranquility of nature. Generally regarded as the last master of Chinese Classical Poetics, Wang Guowei had tried to take Chinese traditional poetics discourse and to combine it with the connotation of Western aesthetic theory, rather than simply using Western classical poetics theory to interpret and judge Chinese classical literature or theories.

The Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan Province). Volume 1: Discovery and Transmission

The Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan Province). Volume 1: Discovery and Transmission

Wang Guowei's Aesthetics in Transcultural Perspective: "Jingjie" and "Atmosphere"

Wang Guowei's Aesthetics in Transcultural Perspective: "Jingjie" and "Atmosphere"

On the Knowledge Paradigm of the History Writing of Ancient Chinese Drama

Compared with the discussion of "Rewriting the history of literature", the discussion of "Rewriting the history of drama" has not caused such an upsurge and response. On the one hand, it may be because the subject of drama history has been incorporated into the discussion framework of literary history since Wang Guowei founded it. The construction of the subject of drama history in China also has a literary tendency, and the concept that drama history writing is independent and different from literary history writing has not been fully established. On the other hand, this may also reflect the difficulties and difficulties in the field of drama research and drama history research. The so-called "repeat" is not repetition, but rethinking and new creation, which is a new understanding and interpretation of the history. And development of drama on the basis of the development of theater, a new structure, which of course includes specific results and contents, but first of all, it is carried out under a clear academic concept and guiding ideology. Since the 1980s is indeed an era of ideological pluralism, throughout the development of contemporary literature and art we have experienced several stages of political discourse, artistic discourse, cultural discourse, the latter is the reflection, subversion and development of the former. The road is getting wider and wider, the vision is getting wider and wider, from the negation, beyond the non-academic return to art to the pursuit of a cultural understanding and causes, not only to make the discipline move towards the "broadband" era, but also to make the research understanding of the subject close to nature, close to the essence.

A Study on the Theory of Ethical Literary Criticism

A Study on the Theory of Ethical Literary Criticism

RETRACTED: The method of emotional education in music teaching

Wang Guowei, a famous scholar and thinker in our country, thinks that “aesthetic education harmonizes people's feelings in the process of emotional music education, so as to achieve the perfect domain”, “aesthetic education is also emotional education”. Therefore, in the process of music education, emotional education plays an important role in middle school music teaching, and it is also the highest and most beautiful realm in the process of music education in music teaching. Music teachers should be good at using appropriate teaching methods and means. In the process of music education, they should lead students into the emotional world, knock on their hearts with the beauty of music, and touch their heartstrings. Only when students' hearts are close to music in the process of music education, can they truly experience the charm of music and realize the true meaning of music in the process of music education. Only in this way can music classes be effectively implemented The purpose of classroom emotion teaching.

A Study on the Acceptance of Western Aesthetics in Modern China -Focused on Wang Guowei-

A Study on the Acceptance of Western Aesthetics in Modern China -Focused on Wang Guowei-

Studies and Pedigrees of Shangshu in China in the First Half of the 20th Century (1900–1949)

By the 20thcentury, Shangshu studieshad divided into three main schools: scholars of the traditional school whose research methods remains traditional ways took Zhang Taiyan as the center of this group. The “Xin-zheng” school, Wang Guowei as the central figure of it, attached great importance to the unearthed literature. The “Ku-shih-pien” school centered on Gu Jiegang, which examined the authenticity of ancient Chinese historical documents and used modern subject knowledge to interpret the text of Shangshu, achieved great results. In addition, scholars from Anhui, Sichuan, Hunan and other places also contributed. On the one hand, on the basis of fully absorbing the outstanding achievement of predecessors, systematic studies of Shangshu have been launched in different schools. At the same time, the debates between them also have further promoted the research progress. On the other hand, the contribution of the Shangshu research in modern times lies more in that has brought together a large number of outstanding scholars and has covered many different fields and academic ideas. For this reasons, it sets a perfect example for the research of the newly unearthed bamboo and silks documents and extraterritorial literature.

Philosophical-aesthetic reflection in China in the century: Wang Guowei and Zong Baihua

  This article is dedicated to examination of the philosophical-aesthetic reflection in China in the XX century, and the impact of European aesthetics upon the development and transformation of the traditional Chinese aesthetics. The article employs the method of historical and cultural with elements of structural analysis of aesthetic text of the modern Chinese philosophers. In the XX century, a number of Chinese thinkers made attempts of reforming the traditional Chinese aesthetics, complementing it with the viewpoint of European philosophy. The article examines the paramount aesthetic thoughts of the modern Chinese philosophers Wang Guowei and Zong Baihua, and determines the impact of European philosophy upon them. The scientific novelty of this study lies in assessing the impact of the concepts of European aesthetics upon self-reflection and development of Chinese aesthetics in the context of cross-cultural problematic. It is demonstrated that Chinese modern aesthetics in many ways retains its connection with the tradition, which determines its specificity and imparts peculiar semantic symbolism. The conclusion is made that in the XX century, Chinese philosophers sought to complement the existing traditional Chinese reflection on art, which is based mostly on the ideas of Taoism and Buddhism, with what can be referred to as the Western viewpoint, associated with a scientific approach and scientific interpretation. Another vector in the area of humanistic understanding of the phenomenon of art was related to the attempts of interpretation of the European aesthetic thought from through the prism of Chinese traditional philosophy. The philosopher Wang Guowei tried to incorporate the European aesthetics into the scientific problematic of China. The philosopher Zong Baihua wanted to synthesize the Chinese and European aesthetic theories, and create what he believed is the modern Chinese aesthetics.  

Manifold and splendid: 120 Years of research on the oracle bone inscriptions and Shang history

It has been 120 years since the discovery of the oracle bones in 1899, which not only confirmed the existence of the Shang dynasty, but also provided first-hand materials for the study of history of the Shang. In this article, the author divides the 120 years of Shang history into three stages by looking at important discoveries in oracle-bone materials and their compilation. In the first phase, from 1899 to 1927, the oracle bones used were all non-scientific excavated materials, represented by Sun Yirang, Wang Guowei, and Luo Zhenyu. In the second stage, from 1928 to 1977, the oracle bone material entered the scientific discovery stage, represented by Dong Zuobin, Hu Houxuan, and Guo Moruo. In the third stage, from 1978 to the present, the study of the history of the Shang dynasty made considerable progress with the publication of the oracle bones collection and the improvement of recording methods, represented by the works of Qiu Xigui and Li Xueqin.