This is probably the first time in the history of Chinese aesthetics that the categories of creation, especially the psychology of creation, have been described and discussed in such a special way. It is a clear expression of the self-consciousness of the text. Since Cao Pi and Lu Ji, the Southern Dynasties continued to develop in this regard. Zhong Rong's "Poems" made a work of art review of modern poets, and proposed, "If it is a scripture of the country, it should be a Bogu...... As for the chanting temperament, why is it more valuable than the officer?" Again, the poetry (form) of chanting temperament (content) and the scriptural Confucianism of scripture and application are emphatically distinguished from the creative characteristics. Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon" not only studies the creative laws and aesthetic characteristics such as wind and bones, divine thoughts, hidden beauty, emotion, and timing, but also says at the beginning, "The sun and the moon are stacked on top of each other, with the image of the beautiful sky; Mountains and rivers glow, to pave the way to the ground. This covers the text of the Tao", and "the text of words is also, the heart of heaven and earth", which links the origin of the poem to the Six Classics of Zhou and Confucius and raises it to the philosophical height of the "Tao" of nature, which can represent the conscious aesthetic summary of the text in this historical period.

From metaphysical poems to landscape poems, they reflect this consciousness in the subject matter of creation. The creations themselves, from Guo Pu to Xie Lingyun, were famous at the time but were not actually successful. They are consistent with the pursuit of philosophical ontology in terms of content, and the human theme is presented as the requirement to be the same as the "Tao"—nature: in terms of form, it is consistent with painting, and the conscious presentation of the text is to require the use of images to talk about the Tao and depict the scenery. However, due to the fact that nature here is either only the object of these gate lords and aristocrats' external play, or only a means for them to pursue Xuanyuan, that is, the so-called "divine transcendence", and does not have an intimate relationship with their lives, moods, and moods (this is the trend of the times until the Song and Yuan dynasties), the natural world has not really formed a part of their lives and expressions of feelings, and most of their art is only a rigid object of painting and illumination. The Han Fu uses nature as the externalization or expression of people's achievements and activities, while the landscape poetry of the Six Dynasties uses nature as the externalization or expression of people's speculation or appreciation. The subject and object are still in confrontation here, the former is in confrontation with merit and action, and the latter is in confrontation with viewing and speculation, unlike after the Song and Yuan dynasties, which were integrated with life and feelings. Therefore, despite how intricate and delicate Xie Lingyun's depiction is, the natural scenery fails to come to life. His landscape poems, like some of Gu Kaizhi's paintings, are only conceptual descriptions, lacking personality and emotion. However, through this description, the literary form itself has accumulated and created all kinds of wealth in rhythm, vocabulary, rhetoric, and phonology, which has provided information and reference for later generations.

For example, the five-character poetry style was established and matured from Jian'an, Zhengshi, Xuanyan poems, and landscape poems. From the "four words" of the Book of Poetry to the "five words" of the Wei and Jin dynasties, although there is a difference of one word, the capacity and ability of expression are very different. At this point, Zhong Rong summed up: "The four words of the husband are about a wide range of meanings, and if they are coquettish, they can get more. The essence of the five words is that the people who have a taste for it. "Four words" should be expressed in two sentences, and "five words" should be expressed in one sentence. This made it a big step forward from the four-character poem, and on the other hand, it standardized the Han Dynasty miscellaneous words (which all have three, four, five, six, and seven characters in a poem) and became the standard format of the poem. Until the end of the Tang Dynasty, five-character poetry was the dominant orthodox form, and then it was surpassed by the seven words and the seven laws. In addition, such as the Six Dynasties and Shen Yue's Four Voices and Eight Diseases, they have all consciously developed the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese characters and rhetoric to the extreme. They have made unprecedented discoveries and applications of the laws of symmetry, balance, coordination, harmony, intricacy and unity of the meaning and phonology of Chinese characters. They express the consciousness of the text in terms of external form. The lively and neat confrontation is still an important aesthetic factor in Chinese literature from that time to this day.

The same is true in terms of specific creation and criticism. One of the important reasons why Cao Zhi had such a high status at that time, Zhong Rong compared him to "Zhou Kong", is that from him, he paid attention to the creation of words and sentences in poetry. The so-called "starting and multi-work" (such as "high platform and sad wind, morning sun shines in the north forest", etc.), carefully refining words (such as "frightening wind and white sun", "Zhu Hua in the green pool", etc.), neat sentences (such as "diving fish leaping clear waves, good birds singing high branches", etc.), tone harmony (such as "lonely soul Xiang Ancient City, coffin sent to Beijing", etc.), far-reaching conclusion (such as "go to Mo Fu Dao, sorrow makes people old", etc.) [see Xiao Difei's "Three Notes on Reading"]...... All of this shows that he is consciously paying attention to composing poetry, which is very different from before. It is precisely this point that enables him, as a founding representative, to draw a line between the poems of later generations and the ancient poems of the Han and Wei dynasties, which are difficult to extract. So Zhong Rong wants to say that he is "a man of ethics and a hole in the world". This is indeed of great aesthetic significance. In fact, if we talk about the artistic achievements of the works, many of Cao Zhi's poems may not be as good as Cao Pi's "Yan Ge Xing", and Wang Chuanshan once praised "Yan Ge Xing" as "pouring out of love, pouring sound and color, ancient and modern". However, due to the fact that "Yan Ge Xing" is like a folk song-style work that rushes out of the mouth, the so-called "Heaven Grants Non-Human" ["Jiangzhai Poems"], in the aesthetic concept at that time, it was regarded as "contemptible and contemptuous like even words" ["Poems"), far less than Cao Zhi's emphasis on words and sentences, "words are luxuriant". It is not surprising why Zhong Rong's "Poems" put Cao Pi in the middle grade, and listed some poets who did not have much content, but only carved and decorated the words as superior. From one extreme, it shows the characteristics of "literary consciousness" in pursuit of "gorgeous and good-looking". It can be seen that medicine, wine, appearance, and charm must also be added with "gorgeous and good-looking" literary words and chapters to constitute the demeanor of the Wei and Jin dynasties.

The so-called "self-consciousness of literature" is an aesthetic concept, not just literature. Other arts, especially painting and calligraphy, also from the Wei and Jin dynasties, express this self-consciousness. They are also presented as exquisite, discussing, paying attention to their own creative laws and aesthetic forms. Xie He's summary of the "Six Methods", "vivid rhyme" is followed by "bone method with brush", which can be said to be a conscious summary of the function and tradition of the line in Chinese plastic arts, and for the first time the art of Chinese unique line has been clearly established in theory: "bone method with brush" (line expression) is far more important than "corresponding object pictogram" (reproducing objects), "coloring with kinds" (giving color), "business position" (spatial composition), and "transfer and modeling" (simulation and imitation). Immanuel Kant once said that lines are more aesthetic than colors. It should be said that the ancient Chinese understood this quite well, and the art of the line (painting) ["all lines that express pleasant feelings...... It always goes smoothly, without setbacks, and the turning point does not reveal the protagonist. All lines that express unpleasant feelings come to a halt and appear in a state of difficulty, and those that pause too much show a sense of anxiety and melancholy. (Lu Fengzi, Research on Chinese Painting, p. 4, Shanghai, Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 1978) The lyrical nature of the line is very clear and concrete, and you can refer to it] Just as lyrical literature (poetry) is the most developed and rich in national characteristics of Chinese literature and art, and they are also the expression of the cultural-psychological structure of the Chinese nation.

Calligraphy is an art that highly concentrates this "art of line" (Fig. 128) and is unique to China. This was also realized by Wei and Jin. It was during the Wei and Jin dynasties that the solemn and vigorous Han Li changed into true, line, grass and Kai. The middle and lower classes are unknown and have no status, and they have become the wonderful and professional interests of the celebrities and gentlemen. The brushstrokes, postures, structures, and chapters are more diverse, rich, and intricately changing. Lu Ji's Pingfu post (Fig. 130), Erwang's aunt, funeral rebellion, Feng Tangerine, and duck head pill (Fig. 131) are the relics of treasures that can still be seen today. They show all kinds of human appearance in the form of extremely beautiful lines, "love is longitudinal, super easy and excellent", "force is bent and ten thousand, the rhyme is high through the ages", "dripping and swaying, all kinds of forms", and the calligraphy is still mainly the kind of elegant and flying, Yilun is superior in the Wei and Jin dynasties. Even on the subsequent stone monument carvings, there is a reflection of this refreshing style that is different from that of the two Han Dynasty.

Art is often out of balance with economics and politics. Such a chic and elegant demeanor of the Wei and Jin dynasties was born in a society and era full of turmoil, chaos, disasters, and blood. Therefore, there are quite a few cases where on the surface it seems to be chic and graceful, but there is a great deal of distress, fear and worry hidden deep in the bones. Lu Xun also reminded this earlier.

As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, one of the characteristics of this historical period is the frequent change of dynasties. From the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the emperor's dynasty was constantly changing, the upper echelons of society were fighting for slashing, and the political struggle was extremely cruel. The leading figures of the clan were always swept into the political whirlpool of the upper echelons, and the celebrities and gentlemen were sent to the execution ground one after another. He Yan, Ji Kang, Er Lu, Zhang Hua, Pan Yue, Guo Pu, Liu Kun, Xie Lingyun, Fan Ye, Pei Yi...... These famous poets, writers, and philosophers of the time were all killed. It should be said that this is a rather amazing list, and these people are only representatives, far from complete. "Guangling is scattered in the present" and "the Huating crane cannot be heard again", what is left is always this kind of painful and sad rumors. These nobles often live in this situation of wealth and happiness and full of misfortune, and are in the midst of involuntary political struggles. "Always afraid of the great snare, once the sorrow is gone" (He Yan), "the sorrow of the heart, the eternal roar" (Ji Kang) are the emotions often expressed in their works. It is precisely because of the brutal political purges and the destruction of their wealth that the sighs of their lives are mixed with boundless sorrow and deep sorrow, thus greatly increasing their weight. Their "sorrows" are all the more serious because of this realpolitik content. Thus, whether it is to conform to the environment, save one's life, or seek the landscape and rest the spirit, because there is always this kind of fear and fear of life, the emotions are actually in an extremely contradictory and complex state. Although the exterior is decorated with contempt for the world, free and easy, the inner heart is more strongly attached to life, which is very painful. This constituted the inner and profound side of the Wei and Jin dynasties.