海上丝绸之路:18世纪欧洲美学中国化及其范式革命

The Maritime Silk Road: The Sinicization and Paradigm Revolution of European Aesthetics in the 18th Century

长期以来,中西美学关系研究的主流范式是讲述西方对中国的影响,忽视了中国美学对西方的影响。回顾中西美学交流的历史可以看到,17—18世纪,中国风景美学观念随着中国风进入西方,适逢其时地满足了剧烈变化中的西方美学发展的内在需求。18世纪欧洲浪漫主义兴起并以对自然风景的重新发现和对异域风情的热衷迷恋为其重要特征,中国风作为遥远的异域审美文化融入其中并起到了重要形塑作用。欧洲美学史由此到达了一个转折点,平衡对称、规则整齐、比例和谐等被视为金科玉律的古典美学观念受到公开质疑并渐告式微,不规则、非对称、多样性和惊奇感等现代美学观念渐成主流。中西美学交流的历史事实表明,中西美学理论并不存在所谓“不可通约性”之类无法跨越的鸿沟。建立讲述中国美学对西方影响的新的学术范式的时机已趋成熟。

For a long time, the mainstream paradigm of relationship between Chinese and Western aesthetics is about the influence of the West on China, ignoring the influence of Chinese aesthetics on the West.Looking back at the history of the communication of aesthetics between China and the West, we can see that in the 17thand 18thcentury, the ideas of Chinese landscape aesthetics entered the West with Chinoiserie, meeting the inherent needs of the dramatically changing Western aesthetics development at the right time.The 18thcentury witnessed the rise of European romanticism that is characterized by the rediscovery of natural landscapes and the fascination with the exotic.Chinoiserie, as a distant exotic aesthetic culture, participated as an important role in shaping it.As a result, the history of European aesthetics had reached a turning point.Classical aesthetic concepts which had been regarded as golden rules, such as balance, symmetry, regularity, and proportion, were openly questioned and gradually declined.Modern aesthetic concepts such as irregularity, asymmetry, diversity and surprise became the mainstream.The historical facts of the communication of Chinese and Western aesthetics show that there is no such a thing as so-called “incommensurability” that cannot be bridged between Chinese and Western aesthetic theories.The time is ripe for building a new academic paradigm that speaks of the influence of Chinese aesthetics on the West.