Nature, Engagement, Empathy: 'Yijing' as a Chinese Ecological Aesthetics

Abstract

The ancient aesthetics of 'yijing' has played a crucial role in traditional Chinese philosophy, literature and art since the eighth century CE. Defined variously by early and contemporary writers, 'yijing' links an artist's emotional domain to objects in the world. This article conceptualises 'yijing' as an ecological aesthetics and distinguishes it from an environmental aesthetics. In particular, two aspects of 'yijing' render it an eco-aesthetics: subject-object correspondence (or 'engagement'); and empathic identification with the environment (or 'bio-empathy'). Three brief case studies from urban planning, environmental conservation and the creative arts demonstrate the contemporary importance of 'yijing' to ecological issues.