Abstract:
“Insinuation” and “elegance”, which were introduced by Liu Xie as two leading categories of writing aesthetics, had not been established as the preconception and theoretical preparation of the view of “representing mood” until since the Tang Dynasty. However, a proper understanding of the meaning of “insinuation” depends upon an introduction of Jiao Ran′s remarks “The author′s real intention should be insinuated between lines,” in Patterning of Poems and Sikong Tu′s idea of “A situation beyong the situation and a scene beyond the scene” in The Letters to Ji Pu. For what Liu Xie suggested by insinuation concerns not merely a roundabout way of using language but creation of a representing mood. In addition, “elegance” refers to a vivid distinctive description of images by “generalizing the few for the many” and “packing the whole mind in a brief word” to artistically upgrade the whole text to a lofty realm. Thus it involves not only a few dicta but also description of distinctive images.
