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

Abstract

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.