Bulletin Number Two 1983

Vice-Chancellor of Beijing University, studied aesthetics in France and Germany. I have been greatly inspired by Wang's Renjian cihua (人 間 詞 話). In short, my aesthetics can be said to be built on Confucian thoughts and enriched by western aesthetic concepts. Q. Since the nation-wide debate on aesthetics ， you must have revised your viewpoints on aesthetics drastically. How did you integrate your original viewpoints with those of Marxism? A. So far I have never stopped writing on aesthetics, nor have I ever ceased fighting my case. During the nation-wide great debate and mass criticism on aesthetics in the fifties, there were three schools of thought. One school was the mechanical materialists who held that beauty was purely objective; another was the idealists who contended that beauty was purely subjective. The third, which was my school, held that beauty was a dialectical unity of the subjective and objective. In my opinion, literature and art are reflections of nature, and nature is not only made up of the objective world, but also the subjective individual. This is a view which I have always held and for which I have been fighting single-handed for two or three decades. At the time, I was criticized for holding anti- Marxist, idealist views. In order to find out what Marxism was really about, I determined to learn Russian on my own. I was sixty then. As I read over the Marxist classics carefully, I found in the translated versions serious mistranslations, which distorted Marxism. After careful study, I found that Marxism has great academic value. Not only does it not deny subjective will, but it also takes humanitarianism as its highest ideal. So in literature, art and aesthetics, I have advocated venturing into the prohibited areas of theories of human nature, humanitarianism, human kindness and universally shared sense of beauty. Q. Can you tell us something about the development of aesthetic studies in China? A. Since the great debate on aesthetics, interest in the subject has been aroused, especially in the educational circles, and it was felt that a course on the history of aesthetics should be offered. Students of aesthetics invariably start with the study of literature, art, psychology or philosophy. It can be seen that aesthetics is a specialized field of study which rests on a wide range of cultural studies. Unfortunately we do not have such a basis. I am convinced that the prerequisites for the study of aesthetics are a thorough knowledge of a branch of art and the complete mastery of at least one foreign language. Although many young people would like to study aesthetics, they lack these prerequisites. Nevertheless, if they are really interested and make an effort to learn foreign languages, they may still make the grade. At present, we cannot claim any achievements, but we are optimistic about the future. Q. What are your plans for the future? A. As I have said, when I return to Beijing I shall go over my translation of Vico's ScienzaNuova once again. And then there is still Vico's biography to be translated. I f my strength does not fail me, I shall also translate Marx's Parisian Manuscripts, a project which I have in fact started. This is an important work which is still very controversial all over the world, and most of the existing Chinese versions are full of mistranslations, leaving much to be desired. When I am back home, I shall formally announce my retirement so that I can devote more of my energies to research. ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS 17