Dang Shengyuan: Interpretive Dimensions of the Research on the "Second Integration" and the Values and Ideologies of Fine Traditional Chinese Literature and Art
General Secretary Xi Jinping's discourse on the "second combination"—namely, the proposition of combining the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture—presented in his important speech at the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, serves as an extremely important guide for the study of the history of traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought in terms of both academic orientation and methodological construction. At the hermeneutic level, it possesses an even more revelatory significance for expanding intellectual space and theoretical dimensions. Therefore, the academic community should take this as a lead to calibrate our interpretive direction in concrete research, thereby transforming our studies into a process of academic practice that implements the "second combination." To advance the process of Chinese-path modernization and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the study of fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought in the New Era bears a heavy mission and cultural responsibility. To leverage the important historical function and practical significance of literature and art as "great matters of the state" [1], it is inevitable that we establish a scientific concept of literary and artistic values to fully exert their functions of evaluation, orientation, and regulation for the healthy development of culture. Traditional Chinese literature and art have a long history, and the literary and artistic values that guide and regulate creation and criticism likewise possess a long historical lineage. They have formed a distinctive system of thought reflecting the poetic theoretical wisdom created and accumulated by the ancients over millennia, thereby providing rich theoretical resources for the innovative construction of a contemporary system of literary and artistic values. This article provides a specialized analysis of the issue of the "second combination" and the interpretive direction of research into fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic values.
I. The Connotation and Function of Traditional Literary and Artistic Values within the Perspective of Cultural Inheritance and Development
Regarding literary and artistic values, I previously provided a definitive explanation in my 2017 book Reflections at the Intersection of History and Reality: An Analysis of Problems in Literary Theory from a Contemporary Intellectual Perspective: "Literary value concepts are a series of general views and opinions regarding literary value formed by the subject of literary reception through a repeated cognitive process of literary value. It is a conceptual system formed by the subject's integration of the value relationship between subject and object, based on or referenced against the subject's system of needs (demand patterns). It comprehensively embodies the wishes, requirements, and ideals of the subject of literary reception in terms of value and meaning." This intended to demonstrate that literary and artistic value belongs to the category of the subject-object relationship. From the level of theoretical discursive analysis, literary and artistic value primarily analyzes and reveals the "oughts" and "ought-nots" that the subject of reception applies to the work as the object of reception, as well as the evaluations and judgments formed by the degree to which the subject's needs are satisfied, presenting itself as a relatively stable system of concepts. There is a direct and quite intimate connection between literary and artistic values and general literary and artistic concepts; however, to clarify the definition of literary and artistic values, we must distinguish them from general literary and artistic concepts. Briefly put, literary and artistic values are essentially an evaluative yardstick for the function, effect, and significance of literature and art, manifested as a value belief centered on basic evaluative standards. Literary and artistic values contain literary and artistic concepts; the two are distinct yet connected and capable of mutual transformation. For example, "literature is governed primarily by qi (vital energy)" [2] is a general literary and artistic concept. However, when Cao Pi [3] used this as a critical yardstick to weigh and appraise the poets and works of his time, it transformed into a literary and artistic value. The same applies to "character and bone" (fenggu), "image" (yixiang), and "artistic conception" (yijing); these are general literary and artistic concepts, but when people use them as evaluative standards to measure the quality of a poetic work, they transform into literary and artistic values.
Neither literary and artistic value nor literary and artistic value concepts are products of subjective fabrication; rather, they are cognitive results with objective standards and possess specific socio-historical characteristics. Therefore, our analysis and interpretation of literary and artistic value and value concepts should uphold the principles and methods of historical materialism and be conducted within the horizon of social history to obtain a thorough analysis and explanation. Literary and artistic values are both the conceptual cognitive result of the subject of artistic activity regarding the object's value attributes and the product of a realistic socio-political and cultural space shaped by multiple factors such as social psychology, the spirit of the age, political-ethical thought, religious concepts, and material life. The process by which mediating factors like social psychology influence and restrict literary and artistic values is complex; these factors can act in concert, or one specific factor may play a more prominent role. Although these influences are often difficult to grasp, they do in fact exist. For example, the value orientation of Wei-Jin period [4] literature and art in terms of aesthetic taste and artistic style was manifested as "masterful spontaneity" (tongtuo) and "lucid austerity" (qingjun); this orientation was intrinsically linked to the overall integrated social context of the time. The Cao-Wei regime implemented "rule by law," politically opposing constraints by ritual codes, and practiced a system of "appointing only the capable" in its personnel policies. Particularly in the intellectual and cultural sphere, the rise of "Dark Learning" (xuanxue) [5] formed an academic climate of "neglecting concrete matters to focus on abstract principles," emphasizing discussions on "being and non-being, root and branch," "the four relationships between talent and nature," "the debate between words and meaning," and "naturalness versus the teachings of names" [6]. This exerted a profound influence on the literary creation and theoretical criticism of the era. The value tendencies of Wei-Jin literature—favoring qi, emphasizing fenggu, and pursuing aesthetic styles of spontaneity, austerity, and "rhythmic vitality" (qiyun)—crystallized from this context.
Once literary and artistic values are formed, they constitute a certain value inclination and maintain conceptual stability and continuity through the constant generation of similar discourses; conversely, the similarity of concepts promotes the stability and continuity of discourse. In the development of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought, this reciprocity has been of immense merit in forming the stability and continuity of the "roots and soul," the lineage, and the discursive genealogy of traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought. To say this is not to ignore the innovative pursuits of traditional literary thought throughout China's five-thousand-year civilization. That traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought and value concepts have developed over millennia with the "music and song never ceasing" [7], becoming a magnificent and vast river, is due to the dialectical unity of this continuity and innovation. However, in past research and cognition, dominated by so-called "Enlightenment" and "modernity" discourses, this point was frequently criticized. Therefore, we must take Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as our guide and, from the perspective of cultural inheritance and development, conduct deep reflection to return to the correct path of intellectual and cultural development characterized by "seeking the source" and "upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground." The influence and governing role of literary and artistic values manifest in many aspects, specifically summarized in the following four points:
First, the evaluative function. The authorial subject always unconsciously proceeds from their own aesthetic value concepts to examine and evaluate the quality, good or evil, and beauty or ugliness of the object to be represented, expressing this value inclination through the work. The subject of reading and reception will also produce different evaluations of liking or disliking the same object due to differences in literary and artistic values.
Second, the orienting function. The kind of value concepts a writer holds determines the kind of aesthetic value-creative activities they engage in. Therefore, literary and artistic values have a strong orienting quality, guiding the subject of creation or criticism toward what they deem meaningful. Artists create according to the direction guided by the literary and artistic concepts and values they uphold; what to perceive, what to represent, and what to take as an object of aesthetic experience is all based on literary and artistic values. Similarly, the values of the aesthetic subject play an orienting and normative role in their reception activities.
Third, the goal-driven function. Literary and artistic values provide the subject’s literary activities—whether creation, criticism, or appreciation—with a certain purpose, moving the activity toward a specific value goal. Thus, literary and artistic value is not only an orientation but also an internal driving force, stimulating and encouraging the subject of artistic activity to proactively carry out creative aesthetic activities to realize specific value goals.
Fourth, the integrative function. Literary and artistic values also possess functions of coordination and regulation; the subject of artistic activity balances various factors in the aesthetic process and calibrates the relationship between the "one" and the "many" in aesthetic demands, making the process a coordinated and unified aesthetic process of value identification and realization between sensibility and rationality. In artistic activity, when the subject actively pursues a value goal, contradictions inevitably arise between subject and object, or between the individual and the collective. The significance of literary and artistic values lies in their ability to play a normative role, adjusting and correcting the value orientation of the subject and internalizing socially significant values within the subject to form a psychological reality. This ensures that the activity both fully embodies the subject's purpose and needs and fully reflects the object's attributes and functions; it is both filled with the colors of individual subjective experience and possesses a certain social significance—the so-called unity of subject and object, and coordination between the individual and the group.
The current prevalence of artificial intelligence, electronic media, and consumerism has opened new cultural spaces for literature and art. New forms of practice, new business models, new methods of dissemination, and new intellectual trends constantly emerge and compete in the market. The resulting clashes and collisions are, in essence, collisions and bewilderments regarding the literary and artistic values hidden behind literary phenomena. Under these circumstances, excavating the intellectual resources of traditional literary and artistic values and integrating the essence of Marxist classical literary concepts with Confucian literary thought is of great theoretical and practical significance for establishing a scientific system of literary and artistic value concepts. Its significance lies not only in preventing us from forgetting our cultural history and roots but also in supporting us to use an interpretive direction formed by the intersection of historical depth and practical breadth to perceive the conflicts of values hidden behind various phenomena and conceptual collisions. This allows us to fully draw on historical resources and the classical spirit when analyzing new artistic realities and constructing discourse, proactively practicing the "two combinations"—especially the "second combination." By using "creative transformation and innovative development" (hereafter "the two creatives") as a methodological path, we can construct a system of literary and artistic values with abundant spirit of the times consistent with the direction of Chinese-path modernization, promoting the development and prosperity of Chinese art in the New Era and writing a new chapter for the Chinese aesthetic spirit on the basis of continuing tradition.
II. Value Types and Diachronic Development of Traditional Chinese Literary and Artistic Values
"Axiology" in philosophy, as the basis of general value theory, arose in Germany and was preliminarily established in Western academia in the second half of the 19th century. Value concepts and their systems are gradually established alongside the development and evolution of humanity and society. Although the philosophy of value as a discipline formed in the West, this does not mean that value thought belongs only to the West. In terms of historical longevity, richness of forms, and abundance of connotation, traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought is in no way inferior to that of the West. The sprouting of traditional Chinese artistic activities and value concepts gradually formed and unfolded alongside the life and labor practices of early ancestors; in other words, the ancients' understanding of artistic value and meaning unfolded alongside the development of early material and spiritual civilization. Of course, in the early stages of traditional Chinese art, many evaluative scales were not brought forth in the form of "theories" or "doctrines," yet their manifestation at the level of consciousness and concepts was rich and colorful. Combining transmitted pre-Qin [8] texts with various excavated documents, as well as the evolution of Chinese characters and the expansion of lexical pragmatic space in the pre-Qin period, we can glimpse the trajectory of their emergence, development, and transmutation. In the era of ancient Ritual and Music Culture (liyue wenhua), the artistic activities of poetry, music, and dance were integrated in the eyes of the ancients, and their value pursuits and realizations were reflected in every aspect of life, playing an important role in religious, political, social, and entertainment practices, manifesting in various value types.
First, primitive shamanic and religious value. Early music, poetry, and dance had a very important function: that of primitive shamanism and religion. To cite a well-known example, there is the primitive poem recorded in the "Jiao Te Sheng" chapter of the Book of Rites: "Let the earth return to its place, let the waters return to their chasms; let insects not arise, and let grasses and trees return to the marshes." This was actually a shamanic incantation used by ancient ancestors during the zhadai sacrifice [9] to pray for a bountiful harvest in the coming year, embodying the close relationship between poetry and primitive shamanism and early religious sacrificial activities, and possessing a clear value pursuit.
Second, praising the joy of labor. For instance, the "彈歌" (Song of the Pellets) recorded in the Wu Yue Chunqiu (Annals of Wu and Yue) reads: "Cut bamboo, join bamboo, fly earth, pursue meat." It records the delight of labor through poetry; the joy of the primitive hunting harvest expressed in the folk song contains an awareness of value and utility.
Third, the function of moral education (jiàohuà). The most typical example is found in the "Canon of Yao" in the Shangshu (Book of Documents): "Kui! I appoint you to be Director of Music, to teach the eldest sons. Be straightforward yet mild; gentle yet dignified; strong yet not tyrannical; simple yet not arrogant. Poetry expresses the will (shì yán zhì); song prolongs the words; the notes follow the prolongation; the pitch pipes harmonize the notes. When the eight types of musical instruments can be harmonized without displacing one another, spirits and humans will be in harmony." Kui was a music official whom Emperor Yao ordered to carry out moral education through the combination of folk songs, music, and dance, cultivating in the sons of the nobility a character that was upright yet temperate, magnanimous yet solemn, resolute yet not harsh, and simple and modest without being arrogant. When discussing the formation of early Chinese literary and artistic value-consciousness, people generally cite this passage for elaboration, believing this record clearly shows that by the time of Emperor Yao, people had achieved a conceptual recognition and conscious awakening regarding the value-function of art in moral guidance and education. The "trinity" of poetry, music, and dance is the early form of traditional Chinese art; this characteristic is not unique to the Chinese nation but is also reflected in the early civilizations of other regions worldwide.
Fourth, the function of political education (zhèngjiào). There was a clear recognition that literature and art possess the value-function of praising enlightened politics, lamenting current affairs, and satirizing failures. The former is seen in the "Song of Continuance" attributed to the time of Yao and Shun—"When the limbs are happy, the head arises, and the many offices flourish"—and in the "Greater Odes: Song Gao" of the Classic of Poetry—"Its style is grand and good, to be presented to the Earl of Shen." Examples of the latter include the "Song of the Five Sons" from the Xia dynasty: "Our royal ancestor had a lesson: The people should be cherished, not downtrodden. The people are the foundation of the state; when the foundation is firm, the state is at peace"; and "Wei Feng: Ge Lü": "Because of this narrowness of heart, I Compose this satire," among many others.
Fifth, the aesthetic role of emotional expression. As stated in "Wei Feng: Yuan You Tao": "My heart is grieved; I sing and chant." This explicitly declares that the purpose or function of writing poetry arises from the need to express emotion. Similarly, the "Discourse on Music" in the Xunzi says: "Music is joy; it is an inescapable part of human emotion. Therefore, man cannot be without music." It posits that poetry and music are an "inescapable" venting and expression of human emotions of joy, anger, grief, and happiness. These all constitute value-recognitions of the function and role of literature and art.
Sixth, the function of physical and mental cultivation and regulation. The Lüshi Chunqiu (Master Lü's Autumn Annals) believes that music is conducive to "nourishing life" (yǎngshēng), and thus emphasizes that the functional value of art in "nourishing life" should be fully utilized. It opposes the pursuit of sensory stimulation through extreme luxury and desire, which harms life, stating: "The essence of music is like the nature of the skin and body; if there is a nature, there must be a nourishment of that nature"; "The task of music lies in harmonizing the heart; harmonizing the heart lies in appropriate conduct"; "Music has its appropriateness, and the heart also has its appropriateness." The intent of these words is very clear and requires little further explanation.
It is thus evident that with the development of the material life and spiritual civilization of ancient ancestors, the understanding of the value and function of literature and art gradually expanded and enriched, reaching into all aspects of life and presenting characteristics of multi-layered development. This laid a solid foundation for the further evolution of literary and artistic value concepts.
Traditional Chinese literary and artistic value concepts constitute a complex and multi-layered cluster of ideas that were gradually established alongside the development of the era and the arts themselves. They carry and reflect the philosophical thought, humanistic spirit, ethical education ideas, poetic spirit, and aesthetic norms of different historical periods. Below, using the evolution of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought as our main thread and following the chronological order of eras, we will sort through the most significant elements [10] to present the derivation and evolutionary process of these value concepts.
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the more important theories regarding the value and function of art included "poetry expresses the will" (shì yán zhì), the theory of "inspiration, observation, community, and grievance" (xīng, guān, qún, yuàn), and the theory of being "gentle and thick-hearted" (wēnróu dūnhòu). During this period, the ancients were more concerned with the functions of poetry in political education and moral cultivation. The concept of "poetry expresses the will" represented the mainstream poetic ideology from the late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period. Similar expressions such as "using poetry to express the will," "poetry to speak the will," and "poetry speaks its will" were also popular, meaning the value-function of poetry was primarily to express political aspirations. In the pre-Qin period, the "will" (zhì) in "poetry expresses the will" usually specifically referred to the poet's political ambitions and ideals. This also conformed to the usage of poetry in the pre-Qin period, where the court appointed specialized officials to collect folk poems and present songs related to government affairs to the court, which used them as a form of criticism (admonishment) to examine the successes and failures of governance. The "inspiration, observation, community, and grievance" theory comes from the Analects: Yang Huo. "Inspiration" (xīng) refers to the induction of the will for self-cultivation; "observation" (guān) means "observing the prosperity or decline of customs" (Zheng Xuan's commentary), which is what people today call the cognitive function of literature; "community" (qún) refers to the role of social cohesion and solidarity; and "grievance" (yuàn) means the ability to "express grievance and satirize the superior's governance" (Kong Anguo's commentary). This theory was a summary of the value and function of literature made by Confucius based on past literary practice and specific historical needs, pointing out that the value of poetry lies in serving the implementation of the political education of rites and music.
Starting from Emperor Wu of the Han's "exclusive exaltation of Confucianism," the influence of Confucianism permeated literary value thought and occupied a dominant position in two ways. First, it proposed that literature and art carry the functions of manifesting Confucian moral cultivation, political-educational utility, and ethical norms. As the "Great Preface" to the Mao Poetry states: "Therefore, to correct successes and failures, to move heaven and earth, and to touch the ghosts and gods, nothing is closer than poetry. The ancient kings used it to regulate husband and wife, achieve filial piety, thicken human relations, beautify moral education, and transform customs." Second, a new construction of the political function of art emerged, emphasizing the public role of artistic value in its interpretive dimension. The "Great Preface" further extrapolated and constructed the "poetry expresses the will" and Confucius's "inspiration, observation, community, and grievance" theories, placing greater emphasis on the functions of education and the use of praise and satire for political admonishment. The statement "The superior uses the Winds to transform the inferior; the inferior uses the Winds to satirize the superior; using refined language to offer indirect advice; the speaker is blameless, yet the hearer is sufficiently warned" had a profound influence, shaping the evolution of traditional Chinese artistic values. Furthermore, the relationship between moral cultivation and literary creation received more attention. For instance, Yang Xiong's Fa Yan: Wen Shen proposed the view that personal character and literary quality are unified: "Speech is the sound of the heart; writing is the painting of the heart. When sound and painting take form, the gentleman and the petty man are revealed." He believed that moral cultivation is one of the important factors determining the quality of literary work. The "sound and painting of the heart" theory remains applicable today, just as General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Literature and art are to shape the human heart; creators must first shape themselves. Cultivating virtue and refining art are inseparable," emphasizing precisely the impact of the artist's own spiritual character and moral cultivation on artistic creation.
The Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties were an era when Confucianism declined and literature broke away from its role as an appendage to classical studies to move toward self-awareness. It was an era when literary subjectivity, genres, aesthetic characteristics, and the primacy of emotion were consciously recognized and confirmed. Closely related to this, the development of literary value concepts also underwent a turning point. For example, Cao Pi's "On Literature" in Dian Lun states: "Literature is the great business of governing the state, a magnificent feat that does not wither. A man's life has its end, and glory and pleasure stay with his person; both must reach their fixed term, unlike the limitlessness of literature." Lu Ji's "Rhapsody on Literature" (Wen Fu) says: "Poetry follows emotion and is exquisite." Liu Xie's "Clarifying Poetry" in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons says: "Poetry is 'maintenance' (chí); it maintains human disposition and nature." This "maintenance" refers to regulation—that is, the function of poetry is aimed at regulating human disposition and nature. The above concepts gradually shook off the discipline and constraints of the traditional Confucian values of education and satire, elevating the value of poetry and prose to a new height. This had positive historical significance and thus became a brand-new period for the generative development of traditional artistic values. Later, with the development of the Classical Prose Movement in the Tang and Song dynasties, views such as "prose to clarify the Way" (wén yǐ míng dào), "prose to carry the Way" (wén yǐ zài dào), and "prose to pervade the Way" (wén yǐ guàn dào) were vigorously advocated by classical prose stylists and Neo-Confucians, becoming a discourse system of artistic values with a clear central theme. It is worth noting that while the unity of "prose" (wén) and the "Way" (dào) was generally accepted by later writers and theorists, there were many differences in the understanding of the "Way" itself; it did not possess only the meaning of the Confucian Way or the orthodox lineage. For instance, the "Way" mentioned by Xunzi included the meaning of objective natural laws; he believed an important connotation of the "Way" was the Way of Nature, which develops through the opposition of "inheritance" and "innovation," and is not entirely the Way of Confucius. Another example is Liu Zongyuan's "Way" in "The words of the sage are intended to clarify the Way." He believed that not only the theories of "Yang Zhu, Mozi, Shen Buhai, Shang Yang, and the Legalists" but even "Buddhism" did "not differ from the Way of Confucius." Furthermore, he emphasized that "assisting the times and benefiting things is the Way," and that "being beneficial to worldly use" and "the lives of the people" is the "Way."
From the Song to the Ming and Qing dynasties, regarding the value and function of literature and art, besides the continued regulatory role of the established system of artistic value thought, the aesthetic spirits of "valuing intent" (shàng yì) and "valuing interest" (shàng qù) were advocated and entered the system of artistic values. Meanwhile, recognition of the entertainment function of art received full attention. In the history of traditional Chinese artistic thought, the recognition of the entertaining value and function of literature and art germinated early at the level of consciousness and concepts; for example, Zhang Heng's "Rhapsody on Returning to the Fields" in the Han dynasty contains the line "Therein I wander at ease, simply to amuse my emotions." However, the affirmation of the "emotional amusement" function of literature and art attained further consciousness, elevation, and reinforcement in the Song dynasty, and reaching the Ming dynasty—especially the mid-to-late Ming—it saw further development and derivation. For example, the Neo-Confucian Shao Yong of the Northern Song wrote in A Volume of Poems from the Nest of Peace and Happiness: "A volume of poems in the Nest of Peace and Happiness; singing to myself, chanting to myself, naturally content." Ming dynasty writers also advocated the "emotional amusement" function of literature and art; for instance, Li Mengyang's preface to Fou Yin states that poetry can make "the singer's heart fluent and move the listener." Wang Shizhen's "Reply to Zhou Zu" argued: "As for my poetry... it is merely for my own pleasure." This was true for poetry and prose, and even more so for genres that were "the triumph of a generation" such as novels, drama, and informal sketches (xiǎopǐnwén), which especially highlighted the "emotional amusement" function.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The rich philosophical thoughts, humanistic spirit, educational ideas, and moral concepts of fine traditional Chinese culture can provide beneficial enlightenment for people to understand and transform the world, provide beneficial insights for governing the state, and provide beneficial inspiration for moral construction." Based on the brief sorting above, we can see that the system of traditional Chinese artistic value concepts reflects precisely the ethical education thoughts, philosophical wisdom, life experiences, and aesthetic tastes of the ancients. It provides many paths for us to outline their political ideals and grasp their spiritual world and wisdom for survival. The inheritance and development of fine Chinese culture, the advancement of Chinese-path modernization, the solidifying of roots for cultural and historical confidence, the continuity of the Chinese cultural lineage, and the eternal vitality and "face" of our culture, as well as the innovative development of Chinese artistic value concepts in the New Era—all require us not to forget the path we came from or our historical home. How to better inherit and develop the value concepts of fine traditional Chinese literature and art should rightly become an important interpretive dimension of our current research on ancient Chinese artistic values.
III. The Interpretive Dimension and Contemporary Significance of Traditional Chinese Artistic Value Concepts
Once cultural confidence became the "more fundamental, broader, and deeper confidence" of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the generation of contemporary significance for ancient Chinese artistic value concepts became a major focus. The primary points of effort in researching and promoting these values are now: how to find new growth points for fine traditional artistic values within the contemporary artistic field; how to allow them to gain new vitality within a context that bridges the ancient and modern, at the intersection of history and reality, and through the process of combining with the original spirit of Marxist literary and artistic thought; and how to effectively participate in the practice of Chinese literature and art in the New Era to collectively condense into a spiritual force from the depths of history for contemporary China. To this end, adjusting the interpretive dimension within research is an extremely important issue. Only by taking Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as a guide and using the "Second Integration" as a methodological path can the contemporary significance of fine traditional Chinese artistic value concepts be generated and presented.
The construction of the value thought and theoretical system of contemporary Chinese literature and arts cannot flourish without the nourishment of fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought and aesthetic spirit. Therefore, focusing on the interpretative dimensions of research into traditional literary and artistic value thought, and establishing interpretative principles that possess new contemporary significance, public accessibility, and a high degree of theoretical rigor, should become a focal point of concern and discussion in academic circles. When contemplating the question of how fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic values can adapt to contemporary social and cultural contexts and contemporary artistic practices, and how to discover the points of convergence between fine traditional literary and artistic value thought and the original Marxist classics [16] through deep and meticulous research, we must first conduct a profound reflection on the modes of thinking and interpretative concepts prevalent in past research.
The raising of this issue is based on the fact that our research and elucidation have often been confined by West-centrism, accustomed to judging traditional Chinese literary and artistic concepts upon the platform of Western epistemology and values. This has led to a severe lack of self-confidence in estimating the ontological position, theoretical characteristics, and contemporary significance of traditional Chinese literary and artistic values. Consequently, the knowledge characteristics, ideological principles, modes of discourse, and even the evaluation of academic responsibility and value significance of traditional literary and artistic thought—which are infused with the root, soul, and lifeblood of Chinese culture—were once obscured by the error of "interpreting China through the West" and "measuring China by Western standards" due to a lack of cultural and historical self-confidence. Such interpretative methods not only fail to fully demonstrate the intellectual aims and spiritual characteristics of fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic thought but also cause traditional arts, aesthetics, and value concepts to be viewed as obsolete cultural relics, disconnected from contemporary artistic reality, when seen through the so-called "Enlightenment" and "modernity" intellectual gaze wearing Western cultural spectacles. This further leads to the belief that they lack the function to respond actively and effectively to contemporary artistic problems, thereby advocating that the only way forward is to continue trampling tradition underfoot and following the lead of Western literary and artistic values. Topics like "Enlightenment modernity" and "aesthetic modernity" that use Western concepts as a yardstick have thus endured, while cultural and historical self-confidence has gradually eroded; the reason lies precisely here. Such an understanding is far too superficial, and the symptoms of West-centrism it represents are quite obvious.
Of course, we do not ignore the great significance of mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations, nor do we deny the positive role of "stones from other hills" [17]. Rather, we advocate that the innovative construction of the literary and artistic value system in the New Era, and the discourse construction of the 21st-century Sinicized Marxist literary and artistic theoretical system, must highlight the ontological nature and indigenization of Chinese culture. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, we must use creative interpretation and innovative transformation characterized by "illuminating the substance and attaining the function" [18] to "revitalize the ancient to transform the present." This will allow fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought to serve as a positive and important ideological and cultural resource for Chinese-path modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, ensuring that the long and uninterrupted river of traditional Chinese culture and arts flows even more smoothly and magnificently. Therefore, it is time for the study of traditional literary and artistic thought and aesthetics in the New Era to truly establish and fortify cultural and historical self-confidence. To this end, the following issues deserve full attention.
(1) The issue of interpretative dimensions and speculative stance in the study of traditional literary and artistic thought and value concepts
The proposal regarding the interpretative dimensions and contemporary significance of traditional Chinese literary and artistic values is mainly based on the fact that past research has, to varying degrees, exhibited a contempt for traditional literary and artistic value thought and a total denial of its contemporary significance. The "Second Combination" is conducive to correcting the interpretative direction and value goals of research into traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought. It improves the choice of intellectual tools and research paradigms, allowing us to rationally handle the constructive relationship between "Marxism, China, and the West" with full cultural and historical self-confidence, as well as the practical issue of cultural inheritance and innovative development in the construction of Chinese-path modernization. This ensures our research and interpretation exert an effective driving force for building a leading cultural power. Therefore, how to take the "Second Combination" as our aim, uphold the spirit of academic rationality characterized by upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground and "illuminating the substance and attaining the function" within the ideological, cultural, and academic context of the New Era, and deeply analyze and elucidate the contemporary significance of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought? We must gain historical wisdom from fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic values and poetic spirit, achieving the effect of revitalizing the ancient to transform the present through the creative interpretation and innovative transformation of traditional resources. This will allow traditional Chinese poetic wisdom, including literary and artistic value thought, to find fertile soil in actual artistic practice and regain its ideological vitality. This is indeed of crucial significance for promoting the adaptation of traditional literary thought and aesthetic spirit to contemporary cultural and artistic development, its coordination with contemporary society, and its entry into the artistic practices and entire spiritual life of contemporary people.
The generation of the contemporary significance of traditional Chinese literary and artistic values involves a problem of "fusion of horizons" [19] between the "past" and the "present." The proposal of the "Second Combination" as a cultural choice and methodological path provides a clear direction and solution for this cultural conundrum that has long troubled the academic community; thus, it possesses extremely important significance for the top-level design of cultural development. In specific research, regarding how to effectively inherit and develop traditional literary thought and aesthetic spirit to reach a state where the ancient and modern are integrated, Marx’s words are deeply illuminating: "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past" [20]. As a traditional resource and value system passed down through thousands of years of historical trials, it is a cultural heritage with substantial content, rich meaning, and diverse textual forms. It encapsulates the thick textures of literary thought, aesthetic spirit, and poetic wisdom created during the five-thousand-year civilizational development of the Chinese nation. Throughout its long evolution, development and transformation have never ceased; it has always been in a process of inheritance and development. The very reason "tradition" exists as a concept is that it has always developed through inheritance and been inherited through development. The core essence of this inheritance and development needs to unfold and be realized through the continuous interpretation by the interpreter, adjusting the interpretative dimension as the reality and cultural space-time shift. Only then can we speak of creative interpretation and innovative transformation.
Therefore, advancing the ontological interpretation of fine traditional Chinese literature and arts and strengthening the awareness of cultural autonomy in research and interpretation activities not only meets the needs of constructing theoretical and academic discourse in current artistic research but also accords with the temporal orientation of building socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. We can take this interpretative dimension as the basic path for the "Two Creatives" [21] of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought and the continuous realization of its contemporary value. In specific research, we should calibrate and optimize the interpretative direction and speculative stance, scientifically handling the complex relationships between subject and text, subjectivity and objectivity, tradition and modernity, and theory and reality. At the same time, it is necessary to point out that in the ontological interpretation of traditional literary and artistic values—with the "Second Combination" as its core meaning—the intellectual aim pursued by this interpretative direction is the significance of value. It is not merely a simple restoration or reproduction of history, but rather a mutual gaze and fusion between the individual spiritual experience of contemporary people and the world of meaning in classic texts. This breaks down the barriers between ancient and modern, removes the various cultural and ideological obstructions formed over more than a century, and forms an interpretative pattern of mutual interaction and inner-outer linkage. In this way, we achieve a successful bridge between factual cognition and value cognition, and between factual judgment and value judgment, presenting the holistic meaning of fine traditional literary and artistic value thought. We believe that this is precisely where General Secretary Xi Jinping’s ideological courage, theoretical originality, and farsightedness lie, as demonstrated in his speech on cultural inheritance and development, where he elevated the "Second Combination" to the level of "ideological liberation" and the creation of a "new, organically unified cultural entity."
(2) The inheritance and development of classic concepts of literary and artistic values in historical and realistic contexts
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The reason a classic can become a classic is that it must contain meaningful beauty, eternal emotion, and a grand spirit. Through thematic depth, characterization, emotional construction, the creation of artistic conception (yijing), and linguistic rhetoric, classics accommodate a profoundly flowing world of the soul and a fresh, full, and authentic life; they encompass historical, cultural, and human connotations, possessing ideological penetration, aesthetic insight, and formal creativity." Reflecting on the interpretative direction of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought, and using the ontological interpretative path guided by the "Second Combination" to generate and fully manifest the contemporary significance of traditional values, is not for the sake of simply describing or restoring artistic ideological events that have already occurred. Rather, through contemporary theoretical research activities that take inheritance and development as the interpretative dimension, we perceive the spiritual world, aesthetic experiences, and emotional expressions of the ancients, making them a form of spiritual nourishment and an internal, deep, and stable cultural force. The importance of this for the construction of the inner spirit and world of meaning for contemporary people, and for the construction of the literary and artistic value system of China in the New Era, is self-evident.
The role of tradition lies in enabling us to deep-层次 understand the significance of tradition for the past, present, and future through continuous interpretation, recollection, narration, tracing, savoring, and utilizing traditional resources. This ensures that the spiritual lifeblood of traditional Chinese culture and aesthetics flows through our ideological values and theoretical bodies, providing a more precise expectation for Chinese-path modernization and the building of a leading cultural power. This is precisely the distinctive contemporary characteristic and core essence of the "Second Combination" proposition and the cultural inheritance and development proposition. Fine traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought is contained in a series of classic works of literary theory written and passed down by the ancients. If traditional classics are cultural events, then our research on traditional literary value thought and these most precious classic works of historical and cultural heritage should not be merely descriptive or explanatory, but rather interpretative and constructive. While reflecting individual interpretative character, it should also maximize the pursuit of interpretative publicity and commonality, dialectically unifying the relationship between individual and public interpretation. Through such interpretation, we reveal the values and contemporary significance contained in classic literary theories and works, making the classic an open world of meaning that is constantly re-interpreted and whose possibilities are continuously realized. The realization of the classic's role as a source of cultural creation, a treasury of writing, and a spiritual beacon requires interpretation of this dimension.
Gadamer believed that "the true object of historical understanding is not events, but the 'meaning' of events." The formation of classic texts of traditional literary and artistic value thought is closely related to the specific political, economic, cultural, and artistic activities of the time. Therefore, our interpretation should fully explain the literary value dimensions and aesthetic essences contained in classic works. We should maintain an active interpretative attitude, and in specific research, we should locate the goals of interpretation, deduction, and derivation—as well as the promotion of ideological principles—upon discovering the profound hidden meanings within classics and their extension and derivation in today's realistic fields and inheritance practices. We must fully demonstrate the richness and universal significance of fine traditional literary and artistic value concepts and fully affirm their indispensable position and role in the contemporary ideological structure of "Marxism as the soul, China as the body, and the West for utility" [22]. It is very necessary to recognize this point. Fine traditional literary and artistic values in classic works are an ideological synthesis. When conducting contemporary interpretations, one's own questioning and value evaluations cannot be absent. However, one should not follow the Western awareness of problems or Western modes of questioning, nor should one judge entirely according to Western cultural and artistic standards. Instead, one should raise questions based on problems generated from China’s contemporary, indigenous cultural and artistic practices, analyzing and evaluating how these are beneficial for understanding and interpreting local, realistic artistic development issues. Only in this way can our interpretation of fine traditional literary and artistic value thought possess a degree of realistic relevance and academic originality. To achieve this goal, the author believes it is worthy of full attention to move beyond the previous closed world of "pure aesthetics" and "minor literary theory," and to examine the object of study through an interpretative horizon and space composed of "major literary theory," "the perspective of National Studies (Guoxue)," and "cultural general knowledge." Regarding this point, the author has mentioned and elaborated on it in a series of previously published papers and will not repeat it here.
It should be pointed out that, whether from the perspective of classical studies or the study of canonical texts, the discovery and presentation of the contemporary significance of literary and artistic value thought in traditional canons is a process of continuous ideological generation. It is not ready-made, nor is it immutable; rather, it requires us to dive vertically into historical contexts while simultaneously remaining mindful of the realistic contexts in which we reside. Within the fusion of these two dimensions—the historical context and the realistic context—and their dual horizons, we discover the essential meaning (精义) of canonical works through interpretation and manifest it by clearing away concealment (jiebi [23]). The dialectical unity between the "is" (factuality) and the "ought" (normativity) embodied therein must be realized through profound reflection. In this way, our interpretation may serve as a process of theoretical and academic innovation that discovers and generates the contemporary significance of the classics. Classics are read anew every time; their value and meaning are manifested in the continuous process of interpretation.
In short, the contemporaneity possessed by the literary and artistic value thought in canonical works is not a ready-made state. It awaits our gaze to be projected onto the intersection of history and reality, using the "second combination" as a methodological guide and a goal for theoretical construction. With the courage of "emancipating the mind," and with a keen intellectual and theoretical vision that actively discovers points of "mutual compatibility" with Marxism, we must grasp the whole through details during the interpretive process and, conversely, understand details based on the whole. We must respect the classical spirit without being mired in the past, and consistently uphold the guiding position of the basic tenets of Marxism while being adept at discovering the points of compatibility—already proven by the century-long development of Sinicized Marxist literary and artistic theory—that exist in fact between Marxism and excellent traditional literary and artistic thought. This allows those resources in traditional value thought that still possess explanatory effects and paradigmatic significance for contemporary social spiritual life and artistic phenomena to be activated and released. It ensures that the precious cultural heritage of excellent traditional literary and artistic value thought left to us by the ancients is inherited and developed, thereby regaining vitality in the soil of contemporary culture and gradually radiating lasting cultural life force through its participation and integration into reality. At the same time, this interpretation of traditional thought can facilitate the Sinicized formation of the original Marxist literary and artistic thought, allowing traditional values to gain new cultural life force in the process of combining with the basic literary and artistic ideas of Marxism. In this regard, we need to learn from Mao Zedong's Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art and Xi Jinping's Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art. By studying these two classic texts and the ideological and theoretical paradigms they provide, we can grasp their essence to enhance the ideological and theoretical quality and substance of our own research and interpretation.
Chinese literary and artistic thought has a long history and is broad and profound. As canonical traditional works, their rich and brilliant principles (yili) require constant review, realization, and "matching of meanings" (geyi [24]). They must be endowed with new meanings for the era through creative interpretation and innovative transformation. This is what we mean when we advocate that the interpretation of classical canons should actually become a link in their revitalization. Within the system of excellent traditional literary and artistic value thought, whether it is "Dao" (the Way) as the highest truth, "Qi" (vital energy) as the optimal state of existence, or "Zhi" (intent/aspiration) as the destination of artistic value and aesthetic ideals—where "virtue as the root" (deben) and "emotion as the root" (qingben) are unified and beauty and goodness are integrated as "substance and function" (tiyong [25])—all are embedded in traditional classical literary theory. Our task as interpreters is primarily to use the paths and methods provided by the "second combination" to reveal the profound meaning contained in "subtle words" (weiyan dayi [26]) and make them manifest. The French philosopher Paul Ricoeur once said: "The purpose of all interpretation is to conquer the estrangement and distance that exists between the past cultural era to which the classic belongs and the interpreter themselves." Therefore, our study of the interpretive dimension of traditional literary and artistic value thought and our discovery and activation of its contemporary significance is not like extracting an element from a physical object in a natural science experiment. Instead, it should be a process of obtaining and refining meaning from traditional canonical resources through an active interpretive attitude, based on respecting the objective original meaning. "Works of literature and art are not products of mysterious inspiration; their artistry, ideological nature, and value orientation are always manifested through the writer's or artist's grasp of history, the era, society, life, character, and other aspects." Is it not the same for traditional literary theory classics? From the perspective of the process, it is impossible for interpretation not to incorporate the researcher's individual social experience and life experience within contemporary social practice. From the perspective of the purpose and significance of the research, this process is not merely a one-dimensional explanation of the classic, but also a process for the interpreter to discover and understand the self and the world through a dialogue of mutual observation between the ancient and the modern. We live and think in today's history; our objects of research and interpretation represent history as seen from today. Any interpretive activity is forever in flux and can never exist outside of history for even a moment.
(3) Properly Handling the Problem of the "Horizon of the Present" and the "Horizon of the Past" and Their Fusion in Research and Interpretation
We view the literary and artistic value thought of the past from the "horizon of the present," while the historical texts—as objects of interpretation—represent the "horizon of the past." If we sever the "horizon of the present" from the "horizon of the past," treating contemporary and traditional literary thought as unrelated or disconnected, it becomes untenable. It is undesirable to study contemporary values by only looking at the present while ignoring history, or to study traditional values by stopping at ancient texts without considering the present. As Mr. Chen Yinque [27] once said: "Whoever studies ancient Chinese philosophy must possess a 'sympathetic understanding' (liaojie zhi tongqing) for the theories of the ancients before they can set pen to paper." Therefore, understanding and interpreting the significance of historical documents of traditional literary and artistic thought—and obtaining their contemporary meaning—cannot treat the "horizon of the past" as an "Other" alienated and isolated from the "horizon of the present." Instead, we should treat and interpret traditional documents as historical events within the continuity and flux that exists objectively between the ancient and the modern under the influence of tradition. We cannot adopt the arrogant posture or baseless imagination of moderns to engage in what is essentially rewriting under the guise of interpretation, nor can we fall into historical nihilism. Those radical interpretations with weak cultural rationality often produce the opposite of the intended effect and will ultimately degenerate into passive interpretation. Researching and interpreting traditional literary and artistic value thought is not an act of discourse replication, but an act of theoretical and academic creation in a broad sense. The main goal includes, but far exceeds, merely knowing the intentions or propositions of the ancients; it should also tell people what is most valuable and worthy of revitalization in traditional thought from today's perspective. This plays a deep-seated role in "strengthening the roots and consolidating the foundation" (peigen guben) of contemporary value thought, enabling the literary and artistic value system of the New Era to use the unique thoughts, emotions, and aesthetics of the Chinese people to guide the people in establishing correct views of history, nationality, the state, culture, and art. This is "revitalizing the ancient to transform the present" (huogu er haojin).
The interpretive direction of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought and the generation of its complete meaning require us to place the historical documents circulating in the world into the contemporary field of literary and artistic practice. We must present the contemporary significance of traditional classics through an interpretation that fusions the "horizon of the present" and the "horizon of the past." "We must be adept at organically unifying the promotion of excellent traditional culture with the development of contemporary culture, integrating them closely, developing through inheritance, and inheriting through development." Regarding the effect of interpreting traditional values, "the true historical object is not an object at all, but a unity of the self and the other, or a relationship in which both historical reality and the reality of historical understanding coexist." The "effective history" (Wirkungsgeschichte) of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought is actually a dialogue process between the interpreter and the object of understanding, and between the subjective and objective worlds. That is, by returning to specific historical fields and closely combining them with current realistic experiences and the resulting problem-consciousness, we engage in understanding, judgment, interpretation, and evaluation. This is a process of ideological generation. From the perspective of not severing the organic link with history, new principles and new value meanings can be obtained by drawing resources from and transforming classic literary thoughts and works through the "second combination" and active, creative interpretation; these then receive "legitimacy" verification and support. This means that the interpretation of traditional resources should be carried out through the integration of the "horizon of the past" and the "horizon of the present." Therefore, in the theoretical and academic practice of interpreting traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought and ensuring its inheritance and development, if we wish to obtain correct cognition and understanding, we must first overcome "prejudices" or "pre-understandings" in the research process and avoid judging the ideological implications of ancient documents in a preconceived manner.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "All artistic creation is an interaction between the subjective and objective worlds of man... Only by embracing the era with a broad mind, observing reality with profound insight, experiencing life with sincere feelings, and capturing human beauty with artistic inspiration can one create great works." Through the re-interpretation of canonical works, the specific understanding and contextual analysis of excellent traditional values and aesthetic spirit, we can deeply recognize the unique cognitive modes, discourse types, existential states, and intellectual purposes of ancient Chinese resources. This allows us to break free from the frameworks and dogmatic shackles of Western-centrism, thereby presenting the primordial ideological genealogy and the appearance and character of the intellectual landscape of Chinese traditional literary and artistic value thought. Wang Fuzhi [28] once wrote: "Place oneself in the circumstances of the ancients as if personally encountering them; deliberate upon the schemes of the ancients as if personally responsible for them." This is a method of experience and interpretation that involves "putting oneself in another’s shoes" and "accounting for both the ancient and the modern." It communicates between the ancients and the moderns, fusions the past and the present, and views ancient and modern phenomena within a horizon of universal connection. By "putting oneself in their shoes" to imagine the situation of the ancients while bringing oneself back to the "horizon of the past," one can hopefully overcome the isolation between ancient and modern that exists in contemporary interpretive activities, as well as the interpretive presuppositions of "judging the ancient by the standards of the modern" (yijinduogu) or "restricting the modern by the standards of the ancient" (yigüshengjin). The reason why modern people can understand or explain traditional documents lies in the continuity of history; the factual existence of our cultural tradition is actually a continuous, uninterrupted, and developing whole. Therefore, interpreting the system of excellent traditional literary and artistic value thought through the "second combination" should start from the specific realistic context of constructing contemporary China's literary and artistic value system. We should draw fully on the research results of modern hermeneutics while avoiding the "Handan walk" [29] style of mechanical copying and simple application. We must not "draw a tiger according to a cat" (imitate blindly) and must transcend those detailed entanglements that "lose the truth by focusing on the trifles" (jinmao shizhen) in the interpretation of traditional texts, as well as misunderstandings, rash misinterpretations, and superficial understandings. We must activate traditional resources from the deeper level of ideological principles, making interpretations that are localized and provide the cultural strength required for the advancement of Chinese-path modernization.
In short, the creative interpretation and innovative transformation of excellent traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought, guided by the "Second Integration," finds its ultimate purpose in the cultural construction of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era. It lies in the formation of cultural power during the advancement of Chinese-path modernization, and in promoting the growth and strengthening of literary and artistic value thought that is permeated with vitality, rich in depth, and diverse in posture. Traditional literary and artistic value thought and its contemporary significance do not merely exist within static piles of old books; they also "exist" within the "generative" interpretations of the interpreter. As interpreters, our explanation of any traditional document or classic is inevitably influenced by our own temporal roles, intellectual backgrounds, ideological and value orientations, and modes of cultural-emotional engagement. Consequently, there will inevitably be certain—or even substantial—differences in the depth and breadth of our understanding. Yet, it is precisely the intellectual atmosphere of the times formed by these differences, as well as the mental journey of the interpreter, that constitutes an important component of the research and interpretation concerning the generation of excellent traditional literary and artistic value thought and its contemporary significance. Therefore, in our interpretive activities, we ought to attach great importance to the theoretical paradigms, ideological concepts, and moral norms crystallized in classic traditional literary and artistic treatises. We must cross-reference these with the aesthetic experiences provided by classic artistic works to regularize our discursive behavior during the interpretation process. This ensures that the most fundamental cultural genes embodied in traditional literary and artistic value thought are adapted to contemporary culture and art, coordinated with the spiritual life of people in modern society, and promoted and disseminated in ways that the people love to see and hear [30] and in which they can broadly participate. Thus, verifying the interpretive dimensions of excellent traditional Chinese literary and artistic values and promoting the generation of their contemporary significance is not a matter of simplistically reinforcing so-called "Chineseness" or "nationality." Rather, it is to inject a more primordial and sustainable cultural foundation into cultural construction within the process of Chinese-path modernization and into the innovative development of the contemporary Chinese Marxist system of literary and artistic value thought. This is the realistic and epochal mission of deepening the study of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought and discovering its contemporary significance. The proposal of the "Second Integration" undoubtedly grants us the ideological courage and theoretical construction space to fully carry out such creative interpretations.
IV. The "Tong-Bian" Evolutionist View of Development in the System of Traditional Literary and Artistic Value Thought and Its Contemporary Significance
In the horizon of the "Second Integration," the creative interpretation, innovative transformation, and generated effects of excellent traditional literary and artistic value thought stem from the exchange and integration of ancient and modern ideas, as well as Chinese and Western ideas. Therefore, how to achieve a comprehensive understanding [31] between the ancient and the modern becomes an unavoidable and important question. The relationship between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West, has always been a core topic in the theoretical, systemic, and discursive construction of modern Chinese literary theory and literary value thought. When reflecting upon and handling this "issue of the century," the concept of tong-bian (continuity and change) [32] in traditional literary theory and criticism provides us with many resources available for use; hence, I shall discuss it specifically. In the process of exploring the pulse and trends of literary development, the ancients conducted many inquiries centered on phenomena such as the ancient versus the modern, substance versus refinement (zhi-wen [33]), and the elegant versus the vulgar (ya-su [34]). They formed an interpretive discursive system characterized by theoretical qualities and universal significance. The theory of tong-bian constitutes the conceptual genealogy and basic discursive form of the traditional Chinese view of literary and artistic development. By deeply perceiving and expounding upon this while researching and interpreting traditional literary and artistic value thought, we can activate tradition through a contemporary lens, respond to various symptomatic problems emerging in contemporary literary development, and deepen our reflection on certain dilemmas and issues currently manifesting in the process of artistic development.
One important reason why Chinese civilization and Chinese literature and art have been able to "keep the strings and songs playing" [35] for thousands of years and circulate to this day is that traditional Chinese literature and art possess a resilient capacity for self-innovation; the formation and development of the system of traditional literary and artistic value thought is no different. The tong-bian view of literary development formed and took shape during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, marked by the "Tong-Bian" chapter in Liu Xie’s The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (Wenxin Diaolong). Prior to the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the view of literary development mainly centered on the "change and continuity" (biantong) theory of the Book of Changes (Zhou Yi) and the Confucian historical view of the cycle between substance and refinement. This ideological and value orientation was primarily constructed by Confucius. When organizing and transmitting the ancient classics, Confucius claimed to "transmit but not create, being faithful to and loving the ancients" [36]. Following this, the concepts of honoring and venerating the ancient were formed within the Confucian school of literary value thought; "taking the Sages as the evidence and the Classics as the source" [37] became the ideological paradigm and value norm generally followed by ancient writers and critics with Confucian inclinations. After Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Yang Xiong, and others advocated for returning to the ancients and following the classics from a Confucian standpoint, albeit with varying discursive postures. Among the hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period, the Legalists represented by Han Feizi, the Taoists represented by Zhuangzi, and the Mohists represented by Mozi all explicitly opposed the archaistic literary value thought of the Confucians. Of course, Taoism also reflected a certain degree of venerating the ancient and the Sages in its historical philosophy, but the "ancient" and the "Sages" of Taoism differed from those of Confucianism at the ideological and value levels. Because the Mohists and the school of Zhuangzi were often diametrically opposed to the Confucians in their pursuit of values, they formed a relationship of tension—both antagonistic and complementary—with Confucian literary value thought, which eventually flowed into the stream of the traditional tong-bian theory.
During the Western Han Dynasty, especially after Emperor Wu of Han proposed the ideological and cultural policy of "dismissing the hundred schools and honoring only Confucianism," Confucian value thought attained a supreme status in terms of discursive power. Consequently, the study of the Classics flourished, and the idea of returning to the ancients and honoring the Classics became the mainstream trend, with the propositions of "taking the Sages as evidence and the Classics as source" put forward by Yang Xiong being the most representative. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to changes in social trends of thought—and while the tide of chen-wei (the prognostic and hermeneutic apocrypha) [38] was pervasive—a critical force against Confucian archaism emerged in the intellectual and cultural spheres. Most notable among these were the literary development and value views of the outstanding Eastern Han thinkers Huan Tan and Wang Chong, who criticized archaism and sought innovation. In the New Treatise (Xin Lun), Huan Tan remarked: "The world all honors the old and disdains the new, valuing what is heard and belittling what is seen; thus they treat the present lightly." With a sharp critical spirit of "hating falsehood and distinguishing the truth," Wang Chong launched incisive critiques against archaistic literary thought and value inclinations. For instance, the "On Books" chapter of his Balanced Discourses (Lunheng) states: "Vulgarity loves to treasure the old and does not value the new, saying the writings of today are not as good as the books of old. But the ancient and the modern are one... Excellence in talent has depths and shallows, but it does not distinguish between ancient and modern; writing has the true and the false, but does not distinguish between the old and the new." It can be seen that Wang Chong did not blindly negate the return to the ancients; rather, he viewed the relationship between the ancient and the modern dialectically, believing that "the ancient and the modern are one." He elucidated the relationship between the ancient and the modern in literature in a relatively rational and comprehensive manner, with a strong emphasis on axiology, writing an important chapter in the history of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value thought.
During the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, a trend of thought emphasizing tong-bian emerged in the fields of literary theory and criticism. At that time, the political situation was chaotic, and the Confucian concept of the relationship between monarch and subject was weakened. In the intellectual and cultural spheres, the study of the Classics gradually declined, and various new ideological concepts surfaced one after another, with "Arcane Learning" (Xuanxue) [39] being the primary trend. Because the state of literature and art had undergone tremendous changes, the Confucian value system—with the view of ethical cultivation as its core—could no longer effectively explain the new phenomena and their value significance emerging in literary creation and theory. Thus, critical discourses analyzing the value of new literary phenomena appeared successively. Integrated into a grand synthesis, these became the literary development theory and axiology centered on tong-bian in Liu Xie’s The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. Cao Pi’s "On Literature" (Lun Wen) in his Classical Treatises (Dianlun), taking its stance from the attitude of contemporaries toward ancient prose, explicitly opposed the value attitude of "valuing the ancient and belittling the modern," demonstrating a certain consciousness for seeking the new and the changing. Lu Ji’s "The Poetic Exposition on Literature" (Wen Fu) contains pithy remarks such as "nourishing the emotions and will on the classic tomb-texts" and "declining the morning flowers that have already bloomed, while opening the evening blossoms that have not yet stirred," exhibiting tong-bian consciousness at the level of the theory of creation. Ge Hong, in the "Equalizing the Age" chapter of his The Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi), clearly expressed a view of literary development and value where the present surpasses the past: "The poems of today and the poems of old both possess logic and principle, yet the present is more abundant and beautiful." Under the premise that both ancient and modern poetry possess value, he made a value judgment that the breadth and ornamentation of modern poetry surpassed the purity and simplicity of ancient poetry—arguing, in effect, that there is no inherent superiority or inferiority between ancient and modern poetry in terms of literary achievement. Although the discursive field of literary value evaluation before Liu Xie failed to explicitly propose a systematic tong-bian view of development and axiology that was complete and comprehensive in terms of "logic and principle" (yili), fragmentary concepts of literary tong-bian did appear when exploring the laws of literary development. These laid the foundation for Liu Xie’s proposal of the tong-bian theory of literary development and axiology. As stated in the "The Record of a Bequest" chapter of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, "Cao Pi’s Classical Treatises" and "Lu Ji’s Wen Fu" were all familiar to Liu Xie as ideological concepts regarding literary development and value judgment. On the basis of the discourses of his predecessors—which, though "each illuminating a corner but seldom viewing the thoroughfare," [40] were not without reference value—Liu Xie discussed literature with a more comprehensive historical vision, compensating for the deficiencies of previous theories and innovatively proposing his own tong-bian view of literary development and axiology.
The issues centered on the ancient and the modern, and substance versus refinement, in the traditional tong-bian view of literary development and axiology, have a logically close and similar internal relevance and mutual reflection with the evolution of modern and contemporary Chinese culture and art, as well as the numerous problems currently faced. By comparing with tradition, fully absorbing traditional ideological resources, and following the path guided by the "Two Integrations"—especially the "Second Integration"—we can gain much inspiration for the innovative reconstruction of a literary and artistic value system that matches the trends and value demands of the current era. Therefore, by engaging in a dialogue with traditional literary and artistic value thought and using history as a mirror, we can obtain beneficial historical experience to clarify a series of complex issues regarding contemporary literary value evaluation. Throughout the development of Chinese literary thought and values over the past century or so, various concepts and theoretical schools have clashed, triggering wave after wave of thought and controversy. Furthermore, various disagreements have arisen not primarily at the level of facts or knowledge, but at the level of values, thus possessing deeper significance. Throughout this process, which continues to this day, the pair of categories consisting of "ancient and modern"—or "tradition and modernity"—has always occupied the position of "key words," becoming a primordial issue concerning the direction of modern and contemporary Chinese culture and art. It can be said that, to a large extent, the evolution of Chinese literary trends since the 20th century, including literary and artistic values, has unfolded and progressed around this focal issue. Observing the various debates and constructions surrounding the view of literary development and the theory of literary function since the 20th century, if we detach or avoid the dimension of axiology, our analysis and evaluation of the issues cannot achieve accurate positioning or substantive explanation. Regarding the relationship between the ancient and the modern in literary development, a significant number of people in the past often fell into the cognitive trap of binary opposition between the ancient and the modern, or the East and the West, forming a confrontation between radicalism and conservatism. The former advocated for total Westernization, holding a value attitude of historical nihilism; the latter clung to old ways, viewing themselves as "National Essence-ists" or cultural "night watchmen." We can summarize these two overly prejudiced cognitive and confrontational value concepts as "glorying the present while mistreating the ancient" and "glorying the ancient while mistreating the present." Between them lies a deep chasm in value cognition and choice, leading to fierce disputes where one attacks and the other stubbornly defends. The proposal of the "Second Integration" provides us with a scientific ideological key that conforms to the grand trend of the times and solves cultural dilemmas, allowing us to transcend these binary oppositions in the value concepts of literary and artistic development.
If the creative interpretation and innovative transformation of the value-ideology of excellent traditional literature and art within the horizon of the "Second Integration" has already become a significant proposition in literary and artistic theoretical research, then the transformation and reconstruction of the theoretical and discourse systems of contemporary Chinese literary and artistic value-ideology—guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture—must also be included in this proposition. This similarly requires reflection on the issues of how to bridge and integrate the relations between the ancient and the modern, the Chinese and the Western, and the "clarification of the essence" (mingti) and "reaching practical application" (dayong) [41]. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Internet technology and new media have changed the forms of literature and art, giving rise to a large number of new types of literature and art, and bringing about profound changes in literary and artistic concepts and practices. Due to developments such as the digitalization of text, the visualization of books, and the networking of reading, literature and art—and even social culture—are facing major transformations." How to understand the issues of ancient-modern, Sino-Western, and essence-application (ti-yong) in the development of literature and art, and how to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, are problems that the literary theory community must deeply contemplate when facing the current situation of global multicultural collision and penetration. The theory of "continuity and change" (tongbian) [42] regarding the development of literature and art in traditional Chinese value-ideology can precisely provide a reference point from a historical dimension. Therefore, as we reflect on, recalibrate, and reconstruct the interpretative dimensions in the study of traditional Chinese literary and artistic value-ideology under the guidance of the "Second Integration" proposed by Xi Jinping, the traditional "tongbian" theory concerning the development and value evaluation of literature and art can and absolutely should appear within the discursive field.
General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "We must persist in making the past serve the present and drawing lessons from the past, maintaining a treatment characterized by discernment and an inheritance characterized by sublation (yangqi) [43], rather than favoring the ancient over the modern or using the past to negate the present. We must strive to realize the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture, making it harmonious and interconnected with contemporary culture." He further pointed out: "Inheriting Chinese culture is by no means simple archaism, nor is it blind xenophobia. Rather, it is making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China, dialectically selecting what to keep, weeding through the old to bring forth the fresh, discarding negative factors and inheriting positive ideals, 'using the rules of the ancients to open up one's own vista' [44], and realizing the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese culture." This rich and subtle interpretation possesses an inherent ideological affinity with the traditional "tongbian" theory of cultural development; thus, it can be described as the crystallized thought of the General Secretary’s practice of the "Second Integration." Therefore, for the interpretive study of traditional literary and artistic value-ideology within the horizon of the "Second Integration"—and for the era-defined mission and cultural responsibility placed upon the development of New Era Chinese literature and art by the progress of Chinese-path modernization—if we consolidate our reflections and the adjustment of interpretative dimensions onto the ideological dimension of "tongbian," we will undoubtedly enhance the focus, cultural autonomy, and historical initiative within our research and interpretation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches on cultural inheritance and development and the proposal of the "Second Integration" play a leading role in both academic philosophy and methodology. They address the cognitive misunderstanding of the binary opposition between the ancient and modern, and the Chinese and Western, which perplexed the academic community for a century. They provide guidance on how to carry forward and inherit the subjective spirit of Chinese culture and excellent traditional literary and artistic thought; how to strengthen historical initiative and cultural self-confidence; and how, on this basis, to look out upon the world with an eye toward mutual learning among civilizations, absorbing broadly, analyzing prudently, integrating China and the West, categorizing the ancient and modern, and highlighting innovation. Activating excellent traditional literary and artistic value-ideology, fully mobilizing the resources of traditional thought, and merging the ancient and modern will create works that both inherit traditional values and incorporate the new spirit of the times. This will both cultivate and strengthen the roots and veins of Chinese literature and art and enhance the role of literary and artistic values in tempering the soul and nourishing the spirit. Reconstructing the interpretative dimension should become a vital theme and domain in the current study of traditional literary and artistic thought, including value-ideology.