The term has three different meanings. First, it means human emotions and desires, referring to the natural and instinctive reaction to external circumstances, not a learned response. Second, it refers to specific human emotions and desires, commonly known as the six human emotions: love, hate, delight, anger, sadness, and joy, or as the seven human emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, love, hatred, and desire. Third, it means the true state of affairs, or actual situation. For centuries, scholars have had different interpretations on the first two meanings. Some advocated that emotions should be restrained or controlled, while others believed that emotions and desires were natural and should be properly guided.
This term refers to the mutual dependence and integration of an author’s description of scenery and objects, and his expression of feelings in his literary creation. Qing (情) is an author’s inner feelings, and jing (景) refers to external scenery or an object. The theory of sentiment and scenery stresses integration of the two, maintaining that sentiment can hardly be aroused without scenery and that scenery or an object cannot be appreciated without sentiment. This term appeared in the Song Dynasty. Compared with earlier notions about sentiment and scenery, this one is more emphatic about fusing the depiction of scenery with the expression of feelings, and the process of creation with that of appreciation.
Poems originate from the poet’s heart-felt feelings. Lu Ji (261-303)of the Western Jin Dynasty said in “The Art of Writing” that a poet must have a surge of feeling deep in his heart before he could create a poem. This view, complementing the concept of “poetry expressing aspirations,” stresses the lyrical and aesthetic nature of literary works and echoes the evolution of literary tastes during the Wei and Jin dynasties. “Poetry springing from emotions” represents another viewpoint on the nature of poetry and literature in ancient China.
The heart, a vital organ of life, underpins one’s emotions, awareness, and value judgments. Different from the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, which sense the outer world in a passive way, the heart is capable of thinking and performing intellectual and moral evaluations on the basis of analyzing and sorting out what these organs have sensed. Mencius (372?-289 BC) believed that the heart consists of four aspects: compassion, deference, sense of shame or detestation, and conscience. Preserving and expanding one’s good heart is the central aim in practicing moral teachings. According to Daoism, a serene and uncluttered heart is the highest state for a human being, much like a peaceful pool of still water. Such calmness is the way in which the heart can capture the essence of all things in the world.
Xing (性) mainly referred to human nature in ancient times. The concept of xing has two essential points. First, it refers to the inherent nature of all things, not as a result of nurture. Second, it refers to the common nature of certain kind of things, not the nature of individual things of that kind. Similarly, human nature, too, has two meanings. First, it refers to inherent attributes all people share, including physical features, desires, and consciousness. Second, it is the essential and distinct attribute that distinguishes people from birds and beasts, in other words, human’s moral nature. Scholars throughout history held varied views over the question whether human nature was good or evil. Some believed it was good. Some thought it was evil. Some held that it was neither good nor evil. Some held that human nature could be both good and evil in the same person. Some thought that human nature was good in some people, but evil in others.