The 56th Lecture of South Lake Forum, co-organized by the Publicity Department and School of Literature, Journalism and Communication, was held on May 24. A lecture titled Common Expression of Chinese Multi-Ethnic Art and the Features of Western Art was delivered in the academic exchange center by Prof. Peng Xiuyin. This lecture, as one of the series at South Lake Forum, hosted by associate professor Li Feng, was conducted online and offline. “The comparison between Chinese culture and western culture should be viewed with a development perspective since symbols of future, art and reality have commonality and recognized by all ethnic groups”, said Peng.
The lecture focuses on the comparison between Chinese and western culture. Terms like “Chinese culture” and “common expressions” were first explained. Three succinct but vivid phrases “poetry in painting, painting in poetry” “focus hid in flow” and “vividness and vitality” were then used to characterize ontology, existentialism and creation of Chinese and western culture.
Firstly, from a perspective of ontology, the artistic proposition of “poetry resembles painting” was respected by both the east and the west in ancient times, Peng puts. In ancient times, the beauty of harmony values, although eastern aesthetics favors expression and western aesthetics favors reproduction. Whereas, in modern times, a dichotomous way of thinking breaks the harmony. Peng added that focus in the ancient times is a quest for beauty while that in the modern times is a quest for art. Secondly, from an perspective of existentialism, the focus of Chinese art is “line” showing the passage of time, while that of western art is “surface”, the gathering of space. Chinese art emphasizes transformation from space into time while western art is the reverse. Finally, on the perspective of creation theory, with examples like eastern and western musical instruments, calligraphy, and western sculpture, Chinese art captures “rhythm of life” and values process while western art values results more.
In addition, Peng expressed his expectations to students. Since the common expression of Chinese multi-ethnic art is needed when consolidating the sense of community for the Chinese nation, he suggested that students construct their own knowledge structure, coordinating sensual art form with rational literary concepts, and integrating fragmented knowledge into a holistic system. Students are also suggested to be aesthetic educated and foster dialectical thinking so as to become literate individuals.
The South Lake Forum is sponsored by the Publicity Department of the CPC SCMU Committee, where experts, scholars, entrepreneurs and celebrities are invited to address on politics, economy, society, history, science and other fields. It aims to promote Chinese culture and the overall development of college students.
Peng, as the director of the Key Research Bases of Humanities and Social Sciences in Hubei Province－“Research Center for Aesthetic Culture of Ethnic Minorities in SCMU” and the executive director of China Association of Aesthetics, engages in teaching and researching on art aesthetics, oriental aesthetics and art history, Chinese painting aesthetics, and Chinese ethnic minority aesthetic culture. Peng, once a senior visiting scholar of universities like Chuo University and Waseda University, presided more than 10 projects funded by National Social Science Foundation and Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project of the Ministry of Education. He also published over 200 articles in well-known journals and authored more than 20 monographs, including Theory of Aesthetic Categories, Oriental Aesthetics and Theory of Chinese Painting Art.
Source from Publicity Department
Edited by Liu Qiong
Reviewed by Pan Wenjun
