(1) rational spirit of paying attention to reality: it is the so-called realism or critical realism, and there are few irrational emotional factors involved in writing. The development of China's ancient literature was originally a combination of realism and romanticism, such as the realistic Book of Songs and the romantic Songs of the South (mainly Qu Yuan) in the pre-Qin period, the realistic Peacock Flying Southeast in the early feudal society and the romantic Search for the Gods. But in the middle and late feudal society, the literary style advocating rationalism gradually gained the upper hand. Apart from Li Bai, a poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Wu Cheng'en and The Journey to the West in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, it is hard to see great romantic works. However, rationalism has become the mainstream, such as Du Fu and Xin Qiji in poetry, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and Song Lian in prose, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin in novels, and Sun Yat-sen's four condemnation novels. In fact, this view has a lot to do with Neo-Confucianism advocated by Song and Ming Dynasties. They mainly reflect the current social situation and social contradictions at that time, and seldom express personal thoughts, feelings or hatred. It is difficult to see the author's personality and mental state from his works, which is the characteristic of rationalism.
(2) "Literature carries Tao": In other words, literature has served as a tool to promote social justice and moral fashion, and literature has been endowed with the role of education. This view was first put forward by Han Yu, the leader of the Eight Masters in Tang and Song Dynasties. In response to the general groans in the literary world at that time, he proposed that literature should reflect personal social ideals, mainly the Confucian ideals of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and calming the world", and literature should have the essence of words. This coincides with Bai Juyi's view that "articles and I write from time to time, and poems work together". Han Yu's Shi Shuo, Liu Zongyuan's Eight Chapters of Yongzhou and Animal Fables, as well as novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties, almost all contain the theme of expressing the Tao by words.
(3) The beauty of neutralization: In other words, literature should express the golden mean, which is neither too enthusiastic nor too radical. This is determined by two aspects: (1) Confucian philosophy, which is dominated by feudal society and emphasizes the golden mean, is reflected in literature as neutralization. (2) The high oppression of the ruling class. Cruel feudal rule not only exploited people's property, but also exploited people's freedom of thought. Under the oppression of the ruling class, literati and scholars have to use the "spring and autumn brushwork", which can only imply praise and criticism in the text, but not bold irony. For example, Daxing Wenzi Prison in the late Qing Dynasty led to numerous academic circles, and scholars such as Pu Songling and Wu had to criticize reality in a euphemistic way. Typical is Du Fu's poems, full of righteousness and neutral style; Song Lian, Liu Ji and Gao Qi, the three great writers of Ming Dynasty, are out-and-out "imperial examination champions".
(4) Freehand brushwork: it advocates vividness rather than realism. This is originally a painting technique of Chinese painting, but it is also reflected in literature, especially in the fields of prose and poetry. There are very rich images in China's poems, which is originally a manifestation of freehand brushwork; The proportion of lyric poetry is very high, and the content of landscape poetry involves emotion. "Mountaineering is full of emotion, while watching the sea is full of meaning." This is a fact. In the field of prose, lyrical prose is the main part, and the lyrical part of landscape prose is indispensable, so freehand brushwork is an obvious feature of China ancient literature. For example, Li Shangyin's "Twilight in My Heart", I have been driving between the graves of Leyou. To see the sun, for all his glory, buried by the coming night. ",is a typical freehand brushwork poem. Fan Zhongyan's "Climbing Yueyang Tower" and Su Shi's "Red Cliff Fu" are both literary works with strong freehand brushwork style.
The aesthetic principles of China's ancient paintings are:
(1) Make the big picture small: pay attention to detail description and artistic exaggeration. There were so many paintings of flowers, birds, insects and fish in ancient China, which benefited from the artistic principle of "seeing the big and seeing the small".
(2) Scattered perspective: all-round description, depth description and three-dimensional description. Mainly reflected in landscape painting and genre painting, such as the panoramic depiction of the riverside scene in Qingming Festival, which goes beyond people's visual limitations and visual characteristics. Every place in the whole painting is the focus of people's vision. It does not conform to the laws of physics, but it has achieved artistic success.
(3) Taking God by Appearance: It is a freehand brushwork style, emphasizing likeness of spirit and neglecting description. Through the overall rendering of the environment without paying attention to the description of details, the effect of "five generations are the wind" is achieved. For example, Qi Baishi's ink-and-wash shrimp pictures, with only a few strokes, depict the body dynamics and light posture of shrimp through the shape.
(4) Interest in writing: This is the most striking feature of Chinese painting. Because painters in ancient China were all literati, painting is often regarded as a kind of leisure and a manifestation of literati's elegance. This is mainly reflected in humanistic painting. For example, the four gentlemen of Mei Lan, Zhu Ju, the rain hitting the banana, "a boat with a leaf, a bamboo cloak and an old man fishing for snow in the cold river", all of which reflect the interest of pen and ink.