Evolution Of The Concept Of "Esthetic Sense" In Chinese Modern Esthetics

The Esthetics which is quoted from the west has already taken root in the fertile soil of China for more than one century. A lot of western esthetic works have already translated into Chinese. However, the translated works were scarce at the beginning. So were the books which are published at first. Now the enthusiasm to Esthetics is raised one after another. Does it have something with China's philosophy and esthetics thought except the charm of discipline itself? As the foundation of disciplines, how do some of the most basic concepts evolve and what are the contributions to the evolution of the development of Aesthetics? This article will discuss the evolution of Esthetics during the 20th century in China from the conceptual angle.This article chooses "Esthetic Sense" and is divided into four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the definition and nature of "Esthetic Sense" in western and Chinese classical esthetic thoughts. The second chapter diachronically describes the definition of "Esthetic Sense" given by Chinese scholars and its usage in the 20th century. It is also the key part. The third chapter makes a transversally comparison between the meaning and the nature of "Esthetic Sense". The last chapter briefly analyzes the reason of the concept's evolution."Esthetic Sense" is a complex glossary. As the foundational concept of Esthetics, it does not have a widely accepted definition. Most elaborations of "Esthetic Sense" have contemporary features or are classified. The definitions are different from different angels such as Artistic, Psychology and Philosophy. However, the description of the nature and the state of "Esthetic Sense" is a process which enriches gradually. And of course this is also related to the stress of scholars' research fields and the change of the discipline's development direction.