Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture

Elegant Subtlety

This term refers to the subtle elegance of literary and artistic works. It was originally used to depict a person’s mien and manner. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the propriety inherent in a person was valued, whereas during the previous Han Dynasty, a person’s external appearance was stressed. Later on, this concept was incorporated into the …

Phoenix

Fenghuang (凤凰 phoenix) is a legendary divine bird and the king of all birds. Feng (凤) is male, and huang (凰) is female. Beginning in the Qin and Han dynasties, emperors were referred to as long (龙dragons) while queens and royal concubines were called feng (凤phoenix), so fenghuang came to mean women only. The description of the phoenix as a spe…

Charm of Spontaneity

This term means poetry creation should present the unembellished beauty of nature and the genuine sentiments of human beings. The original meaning of yingzhi (英旨) is good taste. Used as a literary term, however, it refers to charming content and aesthetic conception in poetry. In The Critique of Poetry, Zhong Rong（？-518？） of the Southern Dynas…

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: The purposes of the Project are to select the concepts in Chinese culture and thought that reflect the characteristics of the country's traditional culture and the Chinese people's way of thinking, and that embody the core values of China.
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