Dao and the Basic Principles of Chinese Aesthetics

Abstract

The core of Chinese culture is Dao, which is mainly manifested as the metaphysical Dao, the operation of Dao, the Dao of individual things, and the discourse of Dao. The conceptual content of Dao originated from celestial observation by setting up a pole to measure shadows in ancient times and was closely connected with the beauty of rituals and art from the very beginning. The beauty of ancient rituals, that of the courts in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, and the aesthetic system centered on scholars after the Qin and Han dynasties all revolve around the concept of Dao. Chinese Dao has formed the void-substance, correlation, master-subordinate, and totality way of thinking and principles of Chinese culture, which also run through all aspects of Chinese aesthetics.

Keywords

Dao / Chinese aesthetics / astronomy / taiji

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