On The Description Of Natural Beauty In "Yunnan Travel Diary

Xu Xiake was not only a famous geographer and literary scholar of the Ming Dynasty,but also an aesthetician who strongly promoted the enrichment and perfection of Chinese aesthetics.This paper takes Xu Xiake’s Diary of a Journey to Yunnan as the object of study,focusing on the context of the time in which Xu Xiake lived,his travel experiences,and the cultural context of the time,and explains Xu Xiake’s writing on the natural aesthetics of Yunnan from three aspects: the presentation of objects,the portrayal of style,and the revelation of power.In his writing,the natural aesthetics of Yunnan is revealed in all its richness and diversity of natural objects,in its steepness and style,and in its power to shock the mind.Based on the dual perspectives of geographer and literary scholar,Xu Xiake’s natural aesthetics was both touristic and affectionate,contributing to the new development of traditional Chinese natural aesthetics in the Ming Dynasty.The Diary of a Journey to Yunnan’s natural aesthetics,focuses on the richness and diversity of Yunnan’s natural objects.The variety of landscapes,the multiplicity of water forms,the uniqueness and variety of flowers and trees,and the diversity and regional variation of organisms all show Yunnan’s natural variety and endlessly changing character,highlighting its unique natural appearance and reflecting its nature.The aesthetic characteristics of Yunnan’s nature are "abundant".The natural aesthetics of Yunnan is portrayed in the Diary of a Journey to Yunnan,which focuses on the natural style of Yunnan’s precipitous and mysterious nature.Xu Xiake’s Yunnan is characterized by precipitous mountains,slim lakes,and strange caves,and he cites many representative natural features described in his diary,such as the precipitous Taihua Mountain,the Buddhist-infused Jizuzhan Mountain and the steep Jade Dragon Snow Mountain,the slim Dianchi Lake,Fuxian Lake,and the lively Butterfly Spring,as well as the strange and secluded Luyuan and Yunjin Caves,to portray Yunnan’s distinctive natural style.It also compares the poetry of traditional Chinese literati with that of Yunnan poets,overturning the "horrific" impression of the frontier minority regions in the Middle Kingdom,and highlighting the natural "magnificence" of Yunnan’s aesthetic features with Xu Xiake’s objective and realistic account.The natural aesthetics of Yunnan is vividly revealed in the Diary of a Journey to Yunnan,which reveals the power of nature to shake the human heart.As he travels through the natural landscape of Yunnan,Xu Xiake demonstrates the spirit of a man with a heart for the world and a spirit that defies all odds,and nature gives him its most wondrous gifts.His interactions with the leader of Mufu and local scholar also contributed to the cultural exchange and integration of the two regions.Xu Xiake deepened the aesthetic consciousness of "thinking of morality by means of the nature" and "Dissolve emotions with mountain and water ",the hardships of the journey,the reality of suffering,and the brevity of life made Xu Xiake unconsciously regard the perception of the natural landscape as the home of life,the trust of life,and cherish the interest it brings.In his interactions with the local monks and commoners,he bridged the humanities and the hearts of the people,and achieved a sublimation of the mood of life.Xu Xiake’s writing on the nature of Yunnan inherited and developed the Confucian and Taoist ways of viewing things,especially the paradigm of both,namely Tao’s affinity and Xie’s touristic view,and because of Xu Xiake’s multiple identities,his natural aesthetics combines both touristic and affinity approaches,reflecting the aesthetic characteristics of the "spiritual" of Yunnan nature.The Diary of a Journey to Yunnan presents the aesthetic characteristics of "abundant," "magnificent," and "spiritual" as a whole,with Xu Xiake’s unique approach to what he saw and heard in Yunnan in the form of This is a unique way of recording what he saw and heard in Yunnan in the form of a travel-themed essay,expressing his true feelings about the natural scenery and social life,showing the richness and diversity of Yunnan’s natural objects,portraying the natural style of the precipitous and strange,and vividly revealing the power of nature that shocks the heart,inadvertently showing the aesthetic tendency of "expressing one’s own nature and not being bound to the set",and also writing Xu Xiake’s "objective" and "real" aesthetic pursuit,his multiple identities as a literary scholar,geographer and aesthete,opened up a new perspective for the study of natural landscape aesthetics in the Ming Dynasty,and has important aesthetic significance.