This Key Concepts pivot discusses the significance of the ancient Chinese concept of xìng or 'Association' in defining Chinese civilization and thought through the centuries. An approach unique to literary creation in China, xìng highlights the importance Chinese civilization sets by the integration of intellect, emotion and will into a highly consistent concept across its personal and public spheres. The book explores how the concept has been a widely used creative technique even in the earliest collections of Chinese poems, using metaphor and symbolism to set the scene and indicate thoughts and emotions invested in the vehicle of metaphor, as well as its impact on Chinese literature and philosophy as a domain of multiple meanings in classical Chinese aesthetics.

Autorentext
Jixi Yuan is Professor and Doctoral Tutor of School of Chinese Classics at Renmin University of China. He is an Academic Committee Member of the Confucius Research Institute of Renmin University, a Visiting Professor of the Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education at Peking University, Vice President of the Chinese Association on The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons and Executive Director of Chinese Society of Aesthetics. His research interests include ancient Chinese literary criticism; literature of Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties and ancient Chinese aesthetics.
Perry W. Ma is Professor at Lane Community College, USA. He earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of Oregon. His past publications include books in translation Amazing Tales: Second Series, Confucius: The Sage on the Road, and Random Recollections of the Cow Shed. 

Inhalt
The **Formation of the Concept of Xing in the Pre-Tang Periods.- Xing's Transformations after the Tang Dynasty.- A Study of the Structure of *Xing.- *Xing and Its Artistic Vigor.