A Study On The Development Of "Sensation" Theory

"Ganwu" also known as" interaction between spirits and objects" is one of the core theories of Chinese Literary Theory. It studies the spirit-object relationship between aesthetic subject and object, and illustrates the resources of emotion in creation process."Ganwu" is supported by both the contents concerning "Ganwu" in Yue Ji, and the view that man is a replication of the heaven which is demonstrated by Dong Zhongshu’s "Interaction of Heaven and Man" theory in a logical deduction way. Besides, both "Interaction of Heaven and Man" theory dating back to the Warring States and the traditional "Yin-Yang Five Elements" theory have internal connections with "Ganwu". With the development of Nature-Advocating Aesthetics, and the contributions made by Lu Ji, Liu Xie, Zhong Rong towards "Ganwu ", the theoretical framework of "Ganwu" theory became basically mature in Wei, Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. After Wei, Jin and the Southern and Northern dynasties,"Ganwu" theory continued to evolve and develop. During the middle and late Tang Dynasty, many critics turned to explore relationship between feeling and setting, which lasted until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. With the promotion of poetry’s creation and criticism, the practical relationship between feeling and setting gradually replaced the speculation in "Ganwu" theory. Inheriting Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties’theories which claimed that mind and matter shared the same origin and were blended together, Wang Fu-chih hualed back the relationship between feeling and setting to the frame of the traditional "Ganwu" theory and proposed pattern of appreciating Xing which went from spirits to objects. In Ming Dynasty’s Li Xue, Ancient literature and Xin-Xue, clear trajectory ofthe historical changes of "Ganwu" theory can be found. For some reasons, after entering the modern society,"Ganwu" theory was misread, however, with the efforts of some scholars, such as Zhu Guangqian, Zong Baihua, WangYuanh.ua,"Ganwu" theory still got development. No matter in China or in the west, theories concerning literary creation all stress the interaction between the subject and the object. But the differences of them are the attitudes towards master-slave relationship between the subject and obeject and the way in which mind feels the objects.Inspired by the Chinese classic philosophy, especially Lao-Zhuang philosophy, phenomenological aesthetics regards the aesthetic objects as vivid and thoughtful subjects. In this sense, Chinese "Ganwu " theory is not only a bridge of Chinese classic philosophy and poetics but also a joint point for exchanges and dialogue between Chinese aesthetics and Western aesthetics.