On The Origin Of "Wen Qi"

The Traditional theory of "WenQi" which is provided by philosophy of "Qi" with cultural soil on breeding and growth is an important part in the system of Chinese ancient literary theory system. In the ancients’ opinion, "Qi" is the source of everything and the essence of life. Everything in the world is depended on the "Qi" which is the primordial substance, including human beings who are also the gasification. Both the body and spirit are filled with natural and flexible "Qi". When human being is touched by stuff, it is common that "Qi" of the heart and "Qi" of natural universe interact with each other, which result in the articles with "Qi" of life.The philosophy of "Qi" theory has a long history, which is connected with other various disciplines during its development. The judgment of "Qi" is the main thing of article" made by Cao Pi is a really hit mark with a single comment, and then the relationship of "article" and "Qi" became an important proposition for scholars to think and search. It is the result of culture heritage and manifest interest of era as well.Though the theory of "Qi" proposed by Cao Pi is short, it has many meanings. Jian’an era has generous literary atmosphere, which has many talented scribes who have their own styles. As a leader of literary, Cao Pi explained the poetry creation with the "Qi" theory, though it is lack of deep and detailed analysis, it gives the later scholars more adequate space to interpret the theory. Followed by the people of the Six Dynasties as Liu Xie and so on, the connotation and characteristics of "Qi" theory were explored by them from the entire literary aspects. What’s more, in order to reverse the era’s illness, they put forward some character requirements to achieve ideal objective. With the endeavors of Cao pi and Liu Xie and other people, the theory of "Qi" formed through its very beginning. On the basis of previous studies, latter scholars attempted to do deep research or come up with new ideas or explore new areas of the literary system. Refined repeatedly from more angles, the theory of " WenQi" eventually become one of the Chinese glorious literature theories.