Natural or societal phenomena trigger a subjective feeling, which in turn expresses itself in words. This term was first raised by Liu Xie (465?-520? or 532?) of the Southern Dynasties in his critical work on literature and writing, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. It reveals the fact that subjective feeling varies with the changes in natural or societal phenomena. This relation between sentiments, natural or societal phenomena, and verbal expressions originates from the relation between speech, meaning, and phenomena in philosophical and linguistic inquiries, but it has its own peculiar implications. Where academic or practical writing is concerned, meaning takes shape in the mind first, and then it finds expression through words; even when it involves objects or scenery, words are employed to explain and support the existing meaning. In such a process, meaning will not change with external objects or scenery. However, literary creation is a process of expressing subjective feelings; therefore its wording sentimentally varies with external objects or scenery. Liu Xie’s observation both reveals the origin of literature and explains the features of literary conception; it made literature conscious of its own subjective status. The Six Dynasties’ writings reflect this new trend, as noted by Liu in his The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons.

Scenery varies with seasons; each scene features different contours and shapes. Human feeling changes with scenery, with words arising from the bottom of the heart. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)

People have the seven emotions of joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, loathing and desire. He expresses his feelings and aspirations in a poetical way when he is stimulated by the external world and his heart is touched. All poems come from natural emotions. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)