Research On Zhang Jingsheng’s Romantic Aesthetics

Zhang Jingsheng, as a famous scholar in early twentieth Century, was a philosopher, esthetician, writer, educator, the first proposed Chinese family planning, Chinese modern folklore pioneer, the first Chinese translated of Rousseau’s "Confessions", the first mentioned the concept of modern logic discipline. The once influential man, hidden in the modern, but gradually is attentioned in academic circles and discussed in the contemporary. Based on all sorts of rejecting and shielding, looking back and accepting, we will inevitably ask:is he the "the monster" or "the prophet"?Zhang Jingsheng’s aesthetic thought is very abundant, such as:life aesthetics, romantic aesthetics, aesthetic education and so on. This paper as a master’s thesis, focuses on the interpretation and reconstruction of Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics, so as to arouse people’s reflection and research, to strengthen and promote the exploration of Zhang Jingsheng’s aesthetic thoughts to enrich the ideological resources of Chinese contemporary aesthetics and broaden the contemporary Chinese aesthetics theory boundary.At that time—China was going on explorations and innovations of the political, ideological, and cultural aspects, Zhang Jingsheng expected to do academic saving efforts, innovations and explorations by his romantic aesthetics. Because in order to achieve the above innovations and developments, must be care and liberate of people in Zhang Jingsheng’s philosophy. Because only the strength and the nature of the subject be awaken and come out to play, and will produce the transforming power and action. While the current development of China gradually entered into the essential stage of transition, studying and digging the romantic aesthetic resources play a positive role in building for the moment. It undoubtedly has a positive effect.This paper is divided into the three chapters to research romantic aesthetics of Zhang Jingsheng:The first chapter mainly discusses the origins and causes of Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics. Zhang’s era situation, experience of life, and its own personalities, cultivate his romantic feelings. At the same time, Zhang twice keep studying in France, and gets rid of the torture of family misfortune and tragic love life, and enjoys the romantic French culture and the life style heartily. From shuttling revolution to joining academic, changes in experience and collisions in thoughts make Zhang Jingsheng embark on romantic, its aesthetic ideas and theories also contain a wealth of romantic aesthetic thoughts.The second chapter mainly exploring and interpreting the connotation of Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics. Zhang’s romantic aesthetic ideology has the characteristics of Chinese and Western. After analysis, Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics can be divided into four aspects, that is to say, we can holistically grasp s of Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetic thoughts from the four aspects. At the first aspect, sense of worth Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetic is reshaping the human nature; At the second aspect, extreme emotion is his romantic aesthetic trait; At the third aspect, through emphisizing human life, Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetic thought has been sublimated; At the fourth aspect, Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics aims at returning to nature. A man with healthy human nature, extreme emotions, positive vitality and natural living state, is a beautiful individual, shares and enjoys the beauty of life. It contributes to and promotes to construct a beautiful society and state that shape and establish the beautiful individual and groups. These four aspects reflect that the romantic aesthetics of Zhang Jingsheng inherited the western, at the same time, had its own unique innovations. That is the key of the study of Zhang’s romantic aesthetics.The third chapter interprets the theoretical characteristics of Zhang Jingsheng’s romantic aesthetics and contemporary significance:the practical trait, utilitarian trait, systematic trait and fantasy trait. The four characters contain Zhang’s creative contributions and limitations of the theory. Zhang’s romantic aesthetics obviously and strongly points to the reality, and that is the practical and the utilitarian of Zhang’s romantic aesthetics. He plans to build a unique aesthetic system from the start, and to a considerable extent, implements this aesthetic system step by step. And eventually, he becomes one of the few aestheticians with his own aesthetic system in the history of Chinese modern aesthetics. This attitude pursuiting of theory of system has a positive reference significance for later academic development. But in the end all these aesthetic ideas are not successful, even are criticized by the time and people. Because the idea of escapism makes it all the romantic aesthetic theory difficult to confront with the reality to exist.In general, although the romantic aesthetics of Zhang Jingsheng is based on the May4th times, but it is undoubtedly a good medicine with the positive effect of treatment for a series of troubled times diseases in the field of spiritual civilization while modern material civilization continue to develop. In this context, Zhang Jingsheng is a “prophet”, at least, the “prophet” as “monster”.