This concept refers to the act of borrowing physical imagery to subtly convey the author’s personal message. It was a means of creating prose and poetry in ancient China. Xiang (象) can indicate either a physical image or more broadly any real or fictitious thing in the world. Yi (意) means “authorial intent” or “an author’s personal feelings and thoughts.” All this can be traced back to The Book of Changes, Zhuangzi, and The Book of Songs. In the former, hexagrams are used to symbolize various things, phenomena and events, as well as corresponding cognition, volition and feelings, thus creating symbolic devices. In the latter, real or fictitious objects and scenery are used to express feelings, thus creating analogy and association. Analogy here involves the use of a single image to show an explicit message; to adopt an image is to convey a message. Association, however, embeds an intricate and nuanced message in less defined objects and scenery; in this case there is no clear correspondence between an image and a message. In a sense, association can be likened to symbolism or metaphor. Although analogy and association, too, use imagery to convey meaning, they do so either because the author must be ambiguous if he wants to fully express himself or because he must be indirect in order to avoid embarrassment. The use of imagery to express meaning, on the other hand, aims to reveal wide-ranging sensations, feelings and sudden enlightenment through a rich reserve of imagery. It has remained a constant means of creating classic Chinese poetry, but it also indicates the spirit of ancient Chinese poets in daring to be innovative.

“An Ode to the Moon-shaped Fan” by Jiang Yan conveys the poet’s personal message through the image painted by Ban Jieyu on a moon-shaped fan, whereas Ban Jieyu’s original poem expresses her feelings directly through that fan as an image. Shi Jiaoran: Poetic Styles

In poetic creation, analogy means comparing the appearances of things, while association means grasping the essence of things. Meaning is what underlies the appearance.  Shi Jiaoran: Poetic Styles