The attempt to put human activity into images can be seen clearly in "Li" (ritual) and "Yue" (music) in ancient China. The basic significance of "Li" in primitive society is to worship god. But in the process of changing into a slave society the basic meaning of "Li" was turned into recording merit, governing state and holding ritual. In its primitive sense "Yue" does not indicate music but various kinds of artistic activities including music. If used in a broad sense this implies any activity that makes people feel happy. So "Yue" assumes the meaning of happiness. In such events as worshipping god, recording merits and governing the state, in order to cover the apparent religious, utilitarian and political purposes, some proper mode of expression must be found. This can be by turning to images, as this not only makes it easy to accept ideas in a visual manner and to put them into concrete performance, but also is able to inspire one’s passion and produce a kind of resonance so as to achieve an edifying effect. For instance, China is well know for its bronze ware, and the "Ding" (an ancient cooking vessel with two loop-handles and three legs) can be regarded as its special representative. The following passage is found in the Chinese ancient literature "The king sent someone to bring gifts to a chancellor in recognition of his service. Seeing the large `Ding’ given him as a gift, the chancellor asked about its size and weight. The envoy replied: the significance of `Ding’ does not lie in its size and weight, but in its symbolizing things that make ordinary people tell good from evil and loyalty from betrayal." So "Ding"’s function is to display morality and nothing else of importance is attached. Morality is both the spiritual principle and behavioral norm. If one would like to translate this into an image, building a "Ding" is one of the proper methods. The aesthetic characteristics of such images come from their shape and decoration which still are admired by day people.

The contents listed in the definition focusing on artistic works, aesthetic ideology and aesthetic activity involve the problem of the relation between aesthetic culture and the arts. Undoubtedly, the creation, evaluation and appreciation of materialized products in artistic activity manifest the aesthetic relationship between man and the world. The arts are an important aspect in aesthetic culture, but people have aesthetic needs and make efforts in other kinds of cultural activities which have aesthetic characteristics. Thus, they too are able to establish some kind of relationship with man. It seems inappropriate to restrict ourselves to artistic activity when researching aesthetic culture. These aesthetic cultural activities constitute another important content of aesthetic culture, which therefore is constituted of two basic components: 1. the arts, and 2. other aesthetic cultural elements.

AESTHETIC CULTURE IN WORSHIPPING GOD, RECORDING MERIT AND SETTING RITUALS

In primitive cultures, which had no classifications, music, dance, religion and sorcery were mixed together. In religious devotions sacrifice, worship, fortune telling and sorcery were all accompanied with song, dance and music of primitive artistic form. It is recounted from ancient times that Sheng ordered musicians to welcome with music their ancestor who was a half-man, half-god idol. In this way, worship of ancestors was given sensible form in the rhythm and tune of the music, and thereby attained to social value.

Another ancient Chinese book recounts the story about worshipping heaven. Social leaders should take the lead in paying homage to heaven with song and dance in order to show that their leading position was endowed by heaven. In this turning to singing and dancing the implications of the worship heaven were given artistic expression.

In the transition to a slave society recording merits, governing the state and setting rituals became the primary meaning of "Li". Ling Wu of Zhou dynasty died shortly after he conquered King Chou of the Yin dynasty; King Cheng succeeded the monarch and appointed Duke Shoo to assist in official affairs. Six years later the country was peaceful and thriving, so Duke Shoo began to set rituals and compose music to replace military power with civil administration for the governance of the state. It is said that national accomplishments and social security could not be fulfilled without the composition of music and the establishment of ritual.

In ancient times, ritual and music usually were mentioned together, but this does not mean that "Yue" had as high a position as "Li". "Li" was in the dominant position to which "Yue" was subordinate; "Li" was the goal, "Yue" the means. "Yue" must be in the course of "Li" and serve its purpose. Nevertheless, "Yue" is not passive or negative. It brings emotional coloring to "Li" and can display figuratively the necessity and importance of "Li" to society. In one story "Li" and "Yue" are used as the same thing. A chancellor of the State of Lu paid an official visit to the State of Jin. The king of Jin arranged to welcome him with music. First, when three tunes of music in (...........) were played, the envoy from Lu did not come forward to meet the king. Then the king ordered the musician to sing three songs in (.........), the envoy still did not advance. At last, when the musician sang three songs in (.........), the envoy came forward to show his respect to the king. The reason for the envoy’s action is that the music in (...........) was used for the king to feast dukes or princes, and songs in (...........) were sung when dukes or princes met each other. Only songs in (...........) was music for the king to receive state officials. The envoy knew the rituals and regulation implied in the music very well, and would not violate the regulation to enjoy too high a reception.

AESTHETIC CULTURE IN RELATION TO VIRTUE, AMBITION AND SENTIMENT

The merging of "Li" and "Yue" in the early period of slave society later turned into a long tradition of Chinese culture. Apart from its meaning as worshipping heaven, recording merits and setting rituals, "Li" was used in a broad sense to indicate the moral norms of feudal society. Artistic activity like music played the role of moral edification.

It is pointed out in an ancient book that the purpose of setting rituals is to bring various kinds of social behavior under control and keep society from deviating from the norms. Poems were written in order to express the contents of rituals. This is the origin of the view that music was created for expressing virtues. Such artistic forms as music and poetry should be used to display noble virtues and should become a figurative approach to spread noble virtues everywhere. "Virtue" is the aim of "music" and "music" is the expression of "virtue". Virtue acquires form and feeling through "music", and thereby aesthetic features. In ancient China, some famous tunes have clear moral implications. The work of Qu Yuan Ode to the Orange, "despite its description of the beauty of an orange and the shape and color of the tree, is intended to symbolize such human virtues as selflessly clinging to virtues and independence without following out-of-date models. His works conform to the direction that "music was aimed to display virtues."

An expression similar to "music is aimed to manifest virtues" is "music is used to keep virtues." That is to say, if a king wanted to keep his state in permanent order and long peace, he should be content with moral norms, follow the rituals and practice justice. This relates artistic activity and national politics. Confucius said that if "Li" and "Yue" were not considerably developed in a state, criminal law and the regulation of reward and punishment would not be proper. This is a political function of the arts. (..........) is the earliest work in our country about musical theory. It points out that ritual, music, criminal law and politics, though different, must be unified for the common goal, namely, to enable the people to share a similar aspiration and to direct state administration along a regular track. In rituals, criminal punishment and politics, the arts should not only serve the common purpose, but also endow these events with a concrete visible image.

In ancient China, with the view that music was to display virtue, it was suggested also that poetry be used to express aspiration (..........). In ancient language " " (poem) is equal to " " (aspiration), the two characters expressing the same meaning. The early poems were used to express the intention of gods and ancestors in the events of politics, religion and hunting. Later poetry changed so as to express the author’s thoughts and motivation, ambition and aspiration, life experience and internal feelings.

In the Han dynasty " ", an important paper discussed poetry, "..........", affirming its connection with ambition, and at the same time recognizing it as the external linguistic expression of the mind’s activity. This enriched the cultural connotation of "............" and thus established the position of " ....." (sentiment or feeling). Since that time, poetry as an aesthetic form expressing feeling has attracted the attention of ever more scholars and artists.

After the Wei and Jin periods, not only did a conscious sense of art appear, but aesthetic features were attached to a person’s talents, appearances and speech, which formed the fashion of the times. The speech and behavior of the officials of that time involved one’s demeanor and temperament. To find beauty in a person’s behavior and manner is to be conscious of one’s own beauty.

AESTHETIC CULTURE IN ENTERTAINMENT, EXPRESSION OF FEELING AND MARKETING

The long duration of Chinese feudal society enabled Confucian ideology to dominate for a very extended period. It put much emphasis on the edifying function of art and the ethical purpose of culture. In such a context art and other sorts aesthetic culture had very advanced social functions in the service of politics, morality and religion. In the relationship of arts to feeling, taste and leisure, though the Confucian ideology exerted a confining influence, some development took place during that period. For instance, poetry in the Tang dynasty paid great attention to feelings, and some Tang poems are rich in feeling or sentiment and taste. The great poet of the Tang dynasty, Bai Juyi, said: "In what affects people, feeling can be counted as the first." The emphasis on sentiment is very clear here. The man of letters Wang Ruoxu in the late Song dynasty said: the sentiment implied in poetry is quite different from ordinary feelings. It is a "charm and delicate taste", i.e., a kind of aesthetic sentiment. This kind of understanding is very close to the distinction made by modern aestheticians between feeling in daily life and that expressed in artistic works.

In the period of the Ming and Qing dynasty, the Chinese feudal culture reached its mature and final stage. The Confucian influence was marked by "music aimed at displaying virtue, poetry for ambition, and reason applied in poetry." Though this remained very strong, social developments created many conditions for aesthetic culture. Many excellent novels, dramas, paintings, calligraphy, horticulture, and works of music appeared at that time. The standard of literary and artistic creation and criticism were varied as well. Writer Zhu Yunming said: "The situation derives from the contact between the person and the object, while sentiment comes from the contact between the person and situation." The dramatist, Tang Xianzu, said: "Feelings or sentiments and dreams lead to the creation of drama." Writer Yan Zhongdao said: "Poetry is mainly intended for airing one’s inborn nature and inspiration." The musician Zhu Zaiyu said: "Elegance is the highest beauty." Thus, sentiment, taste, nature and inspiration, beauty, etc., all took shape and became the criteria for evaluating the arts and aesthetic culture.

What most attracted people’s attention was the rise of popular novels and folk art. The popularity of such sentimental and chivalrous novels as Dream in Red Chamber sufficiently demonstrated the improvement of artistic reality and entertainment. The folk printing of large numbers of New Year’s paintings fulfilled the demand of farmers for the celebration of the New Year’s Festival, family culture and entertainment. The subject matter of New Year’s paintings in the Ming and Qing dynasties varied widely from myth, legend, and dramatic story to men farming and women weaving, celebrations and congratulations. They became almost an art gallery reflecting rural life. Behind the popular literature, drama and arts stood the Chinese people who at the turn of the century showed increased demand for aesthetic culture.

In the 20th century Chinese society has undergone radical changes during which the social functions of various kinds of arts has been fully displayed. Worshipping god, recording merit, ritual settings, displaying virtues, expressing aspirations and sentiments still were closely related to the arts. Their social functions drew support through representation in images; they were carried forward by their aesthetic features. Moreover, such functions as entertain-ment, sentimental expression and marketing which originally were implied in aesthetic culture were developed and resulted in many characteristics of modern aesthetic culture.

Entertainment and the expression of feelings as the original functions of the arts never received as much attention as they have in the 20th century. While the modern industry creates plentiful material wealth, at the same time it imposes the patterns of industrial production upon social life, such as a quick pace, a rigid social order and a noisy urban environment, thereby pushing people into a strange, gigantic social machine. While obtaining material living conditions far better than before, people also have lost many things they once possessed, such as a warm and peaceful environment for the family and close relations with friends and relatives. Now the family has become a market for making money; furniture, electrical appliances, foods and medicine all pour into the family.

More unfortunate is the rise in the proportion of families with but a single parent. Material wealth cannot make up for the spiritual loss and suffering. Modern people need entertainment and leisure to ease the tension of work and to ease their rigid schedules. They need also to break through spiritual repression in order to recover a balance of body and mind. They need not only those arts which create the peaceful and harmonious mood which Henri Matisse compared to a restful armchair, but also the expression of feelings to pacify distorted mental states as, for example, the loud cry as described in Shout, the well-known painting of Edward Munch. Since people need entertainment and leisure, the entertainment and leisure industry develops through artistic forms which inspire the sense of beauty. For instance, on TV, programs which integrate games, entertainment and artistic form have a high level of viewers. Such programs would be unimaginable in the 70s. People today need to express their feelings, and cultural and artistic activities are a natural means for this. Shouts in popular songs, though lacking a sense of beauty, vent deeply buried feelings. Though the improvised movements of the disco do not require the basic training needed in artistic dance, still it can display the individual’s personality and produce the joy of a balanced body and mind.

The new cultural needs of modern society are utilized by commerce to develop a commercial culture never before known. Industrial and agricultural products are turned into consumer goods through commercial channels. Marketing gives rise to commercial advertisement which under the stimulation of large profits brings various artistic methods into play. Painting, music, movies, sculpture all feed the image approach to marketing. In the commercial streets of Shanghai one can see as advertising not only paintings of all forms, but imitations of Michelangelo’s sculptures in front of shops. Female film stars with world reputations can be seen in TV commercial ads. Such marketing requires an aesthetic culture.

1. Li Xijian, "The Structural System of Aesthetic Culture", Learning and Probing, no. 6, 1992.

2. E. Cassirer, An Essay on Man (New York, 1994), ch. 9.

3. Ibid.

4. Ye Lang, ed., Modern Aesthetic Systems (Beijing: Beijing University Press), p. 259.

5. Lu Xun, The Complete Works of Lu Xun, vol. 3.

6. John Dewey, Experience and Nature (1925), p. 296.

7. News Letter of China (Aesthetic Society, 1996), no. 1.