Volume 1, 2018
Aesthetics and Philosophies of Art
Chengji Liu
Pages 175-179
The Agricultural Trait of Chinese Aesthetics and its Manifestation in Landscape
Chinese classical aesthetics are based on agricultural civilization; it leads to the typical agricultural trait of Chinese traditional aesthetics specifically manifested as follows: first, the reliance of agricultural productive mode on nature bringing the relation between man and nature to the center of concern of Chinese aesthetics. Secondly, natural materials such as soil (vegetation etc.) concerned with agricultural production are the most fundamental materials employed by Chinese artistic creation. Thirdly, the reliance on the earth of agricultural production has shaped the Chinese conception of time and space, which is of distinctive aesthetic characteristics. Fourthly, nature dominates Chinese environmental cognition and landscape fancy, and “moving nature home” is the fundamental idea of landscape design.