The Art World Of Qian Mu

Qian Mu is universally recognized in the domestic and overseas academic circles as the"master of Chinese culture". It seems hard to associate the concept of"master of Chinese culture"with"art"; however, we find the exception in Qian Mu. Through a general but careful survey on the whole life of Qian Mu, we will find he has a unique understanding and ideal on the traditional Chinese arts, forming his own system based on his extraordinarily profound and inventive elucidation and opinion. His elucidation and advocation on the spirit of traditional Chinese arts run through the cause of Chinese cultural renaissance he was engaged in his life. In his academic structure, daily life and great contribution and achievement to society,"art"is really a very important aspect, holding an especially significant position and taking up a considerable proportion. We may say that beyond the concept of"master of Chinese culture", which is familiar to us, there is an"art world of Qian Mu"actually.After Qian Mu passed away in 1990, an upsurge of study on Qian Mu's academic ideology was set off in the domestic and overseas academic circles. The study, with great strength and fruitful results, affirmed and explicated again the position and achievements of Qian Mu in the history of Chinese academic arts in the 20th century. There were mainly three study perspectives: firstly, his achievement in the science of history was studied due to his countless fruits in the study on Chinese history, and he was honored as the"master of historical science"or one of the four Chinese historians in the 20th century; secondly, because his lifelong Confucianism could be traced back to the doctrine of Confucius and Mencius, some researchers classified him as the representative of"Neo-Confucianism"to study his Confucianism and achievements in Neo-Confucianism; thirdly, the elaboration and contribution of Qian Mu on the traditional Chinese culture was studied because he devoted himself to the renaissance of traditional Chinese culture through all his life and elaborated much about the history and spirit of Chinese culture. However, his"art world"was rarely known by people or ignored by people even they knew it, and no adequate attention and dissemination were given to it. The academic circles haven't studied Qian Mu from this perspective yet.Main study content of this paper is the unknown"art world"of this master of Chinese culture, with the expectation to show the significance and influence of traditional Chinese arts'spirit on his life and academics, making people have a more comprehensive understanding and cognition on Qian Mu. In the"art world of Qian Mu", we find his art outlook was perfectly fused and profound and had a fundamental grasp of the essentials of traditional Chinese arts. He advocated the traditional Chinese arts and carried out practice of art education in his whole life. Besides, he also threw himself into the research on the history of Chinese arts. His personal life was full of exquisite art judgment, while the art sentiment in his life afforded much food for reflection. He poignantly criticized the evils of traditional Chinese arts occurring in recent hundred years and devoted himself to the renaissance of traditional Chinese culture and arts through all his life. To this, he had his own theory and train of thought– starting off from one's own heart, putting the Confucian ethics into specific life and holding the unity of nature and humanity as the ultimate ideal, which is not only the path for the renaissance of traditional Chinese culture and arts but also the common development trend of human cultures in future.In the current fine arts circle, it is urgent to construct the Chinese outlook of fine arts and regress to the consciousness of Chinese culture. In the art world of Qian Mu, the master of Chinese culture, we don't only have a more comprehensive understanding on his personal academic thought, but also get a deeper cognition on the special cultural destiny of China in the 20th century, while the most important thing is the far-reaching and crucial lesson and inspiration of his art outlook on the current fine arts circle in China.