Art

Originally, the term referred to six forms of classical arts and various crafts, but it later extended to include artistic creation and aesthetic appreciation. The six forms of arts as defined by Confucianism are rituals, music, archery, charioteering , writing and mathematics. These constituted the basic requirements for cultivating a man of virtue. These six arts also included what later generations deemed as arts. Sometimes, the term also meant the six classics, namely, The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes, The Book of Music, and The Spring and Autumn Annals. Zhuangzi（369？-286 BC）, on his part, emphasized the connection between crafts and arts, regarding them as physical and mental creative activities that help one gain insight into dao. The various ideas about arts put forward by Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist scholars defined the nature and method of Chinese arts, which seek unity between artwork and real life, fusion of senses and experiences, and integration of techniques and personality, with achieving artistic conception as the ultimate aim. Since the introduction of Western art theories in modern China, arts have become an independent discipline covering all types of arts created with skill and innovation. The concept of arts today incorporate both traditional Chinese and contemporary Western notions of arts.