The Bustle and the Absence of Zhuyi: The Example of Chinese Aesthetics

• Main Author: Wang Jianjiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singidunum University. Faculty of Media and Communications 2017-09-01
• Series: AM: Art + Media
• Subjects: Chinese philosophy and aesthetics, bustle of Zhuyi, absence of Zhuyi, construction of Zhuyi
• Online Access: http://fmkjournals.fmk.edu.rs/index.php/AM/article/view/188
• ISSN: 2217-9666; 2406-1654

Compared with the rapid development of Chinese economy, which is the leading one in the world, modern philosophy and aesthetics in China are in a position that is subordinate to the West. In contemporary Chinese aesthetics, for instance, there have occurred heated discussions and a craze for aesthetics as well as various rampant Zhuyi in the 1950s and 1980s. However, the debate of Zhuyi in the 1950s was described as politicized and of a low level. The bustle of Zhuyi in the 1980s bore witness to all kinds of doctrines and -isms in Western philosophy and aesthetics that also found their way into China, although Chinese philosophers and aestheticians remained merely spectators to these processes. A closer look can disclose the reasons behind the absence of Zhuyi in Chinese philosophy and reveals the roles played by aesthetics and the humanities as a whole in the earlier bustle of Zhuyi. There are subjective and objective reasons for the weakness of Chinese academic power. There exists a severe imbalance between underdeveloped Chinese philosophy and aesthetics and the developed economy. Eliminating the imbalance is essential for China to pursue development further, but the emergence of a new balance is not possible without the establishment of Zhuyi and schools.   Reprinted from Filozofski vestnik 37, 1 (2016): 157–78. Published online: September 15, 2017 How to cite this article: Jianjiang, Wang. "The Bustle and the Absence of Zhuyi: The Example of Chinese Aesthetics." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 13 (2017): 93-110. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i13.188