Conventional Chinese calligraphy criticism displays a tendency toward what in Western art discourse is known as "formalism," an aesthetic doctrine that claims formal properties to be the proper focus of the study of art. Kang Youwei, a noted calligrapher, scholar, and political reformer, writes that "calligraphy is a study that rests on [its] configuration."1 Kang's dictum suggests two interpretations: first, practicing calligraphy should focus on its xing ; second, appreciating and evaluating calligraphy should concentrate on its xing.In classical calligraphy criticism, (...) discourses on xing inevitably involve another important aesthetic term, shi. For... (shrink)

This essay introduces ideas from Confucius, Xunzi, the Six Dynasties, and Kant about beauty, music, morality, and what we might today call “aesthetic education.” It asks how beauty and morality are related and how they ideally should be related to each other. We know that beauty and morality can drift apart, and we may wonder how aesthetic education might work best. Should the arts be a means for developing morality? Or should it be the other way around? These questions are (...) still relevant today. But our world has changed, not only since Confucius, but also since Kant. We may ask what to make of their ideas in our present time. I argue that there are good reasons for keeping morality and aesthetics apart, somewhat in the spirit of Kant, and in opposition to the idea of “fusing” the two. (shrink)