The Traditional Chinese Way Of Thinking On The Impact Of Classical Literature

The mode of thinking is the way by which human beings perceive the world and is one of the profound human cultural structures, typical of national characteristics. The Chinese traditional modes of thinking consist of the deducing-from-the-original mode of thinking, the wholeness mode of thinking and the image mode of thinking.The deducing-from-the-original mode of thinking is based on Chinese inside-inclined agricultural culture, and the consciousness of deducing-from-the-original, which values the beginning and ancestors, is expressed in the outcome process of Chinese characters. There are in Records Concerning Ritual and the Commentaries on Classics of Changes proposals of "getting back to the beginning" and "to trace back to the beginnings of things and conclude their ends" that have embodied the emphasis on the power of the original. The concepts of "Tao", "nonexistence" and "returning to the baby" in Laozi's thoughts have embodied the consciousness of returning to the original. Confucius "reviewing the old to know the new" and Mencius "three generations must be addressed while speaking" have laid foundations for the subsequent reflection tradition of the traditional mode of thinking. The deducing-from-the-original mode of thinking forms the aesthetic consciousness of "objects returning to the heart" and leads to the outcome of the empty and quiet theory. Categories such as "Tao", "bearing" and "bone" all bear the quality of induction and of deducing from the original, which have experienced the evolving process from concrete to abstract. Liu Xie utilized the deducing-from-the-original mode of criticism in his Literal Mind and the Carving of Dragon.Chinese traditional wholeness mode of thinking emphasizes "the unity of heaven and man", which contradicts the noumenal view in western philosophy that separates the subject from the object. Chinese characters embody the wholeness-oriented aesthetic characteristic, neutralization and balance. The wholeness mode of thinking is the general thinking method of Chinese classic works, and the plain thought of wholeness is proposed in the Classics of Changes and the Laozi. The cosmic view of "the unity of heaven and man" finally came into being in the Double Han period. Chinese ancient literary criticism emphasizes the whole effect of literature and arts, regarding the whole fluidity as beauty in such aesthetic categories as mood, lasting appeal, spirit, taste and circumstances. There have been such basic forms as even symmetry, association and neutralization in the evolving process of the wholeness mode of thinking. The even symmetry mode of thinking forms the psychology of "seeking equilibria and symmetry" in the Han nationality, influences the creation and utilization of classical Chinese rhetoric, and engenders the expressive way of ancient literature to bear poetic quality. The association mode of thinking reproduces traditional figures of speech. The thought of "neutralization" is formed as the perceiving areas enlarge. Confucius inherits and develops the predecessors' thoughts of "valuing the middle" and "valuing the harmony" and advances the policy of"Doctrine of the Mean". The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragon by Liu Xie is impenetrated by the theoretical policy of "compromise".The image mode of thinking is the perceiving method by means of images and conveys the thick color of direct experience and realization. The Zhou Book of Changes, together with its classics and biography, develops around "images" as the center. Xu Shen's theory of creating Chinese characters argues that the outcome of Chinese characters is based on the image mode of thinking. The concept of "image" is deeply expounded in Laozi. The word "image" first appeared in Liu Xie's Literal Mind and the Carving of Dragon: Spiritual Thinking and became one of the important categories in ancient literal theories. It is Wang Fuzhi who discusses the characteristics of aesthetic images to the fullest and most profound extent, and his theory of "apperception at the sight of the scenes" is the...