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 of 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, though 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 reveal 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.