On The Theory Of "Lightness"

Dan,is an aesthetic category that deserves greater attention In Chinese traditional art aesthetics. From the philosophy source of The Taoist, Dan can be comprehended as tasteless, inaction,and self-contented,which corresponds to the three ways of understanding the Aesthetic meaning of Dan: as the theory of style, as creation theory and as the theory of realm. In addition to this, there are The advanced soup has no taste in Confucianism and No decoration is not worth the blame in Zhou Yi can be considered also as the source. Their three formed a cross relationship in the development of the Aesthetic meaning of Dan.Dan is as a negative criticism in Wei, Jin and six Dynasties, which is a turning point from philosophy to aesthetics. the Aesthetic meaning of Dan was extended in Middle Tang. As the theory of style, it was the simple style that contain sustenance, also it was the implicit style. By the theory of outer dry but inside moist, Su shi integrated the two above, then ping-dan became a popular style in Song Dynasty. As the creation theory, the subject’s freedom of expression was regarded as the premise of creation, but crafts also be highly respected in Middle Tang. In the Song, Su shi with the advantages of himself in literary field, set up a new critical standard that ping-dan was superior to skills for painting and calligraphy field. As the theory of realm, chong-dan was created by Wang wei and summarized by Si kong-tu in Middle-Late Tang, which echoed in Li xue ages in Song Dynasty.Huang tingjian thought that ping-dan and arrogant were opposite, he connected the Aesthetic meaning of Dan with noble personality. When in Ming and Qing Dynasty, the Aesthetic meaning of Dan was summarized and perfected by Dong qichang and Wang shizhen, at the same time, it was criticized for that Dan is regarded as skills.This study is based on a framework of the theory of style, creation and of realm, which is conducive to the study of the different sides of the theory; moreover, this study tracks the development of this theory Combined with the background of history of thought and culture, which can be expected to show the richness of this theory in a more comprehensive.