Traditional Aesthetics 传统美学
四大名绣Four Great Embroideries 苏绣、湘绣、粤绣、蜀绣 · 四种针线，四个地方，四种看世界的方式 Su, Xiang, Yue, Shu · Four Needles, Four Places, Four Ways of Seeing English China’s four great embroidery traditions — Su embroidery from Suzhou, Xiang embroidery from Hunan, Yue embroidery from Guangdong, and Shu…
季节雅称Seasonal Poetic Names 兰时、朱明、素商、玄英 · 根植五行四象、无法对等直译的古典四季之名 Lanshi, Zhuming, Sushang, Xuanying — Classical Four-Season Titles Rooted in Five Elements & Four Symbols, Without Direct Equivalent Translations English Classical Chinese civilization endowed the four seasons with layered poetic epithets that resist full…
四大名砚：端砚、歙砚、洮砚、澄泥砚 English Among all scholar’s tools, the inkstone is the most philosophically loaded: it requires the writer to undergo a period of preparation before setting brush to paper. Grinding the ink stick on the stone’s surface with water — a…
琴棋书画：文人的四种日常修炼 English The four arts of the Chinese literati — qin (the guqin zither), qi (the game of weiqi, known in the West as Go), shu (calligraphy), and hua (painting) — are often described as the cultural accomplishments expected of…
文房四宝：笔、墨、纸、砚 English Brush, ink, paper, inkstone. At the level of function, these are simply the instruments of writing. What is notable is what Chinese literati culture made of them across more than a thousand years: objects of connoisseurship, aesthetic discrimination,…
梅兰竹菊-花中四君子 The Four Noble Plants English For more than a thousand years, Chinese poets, painters, and calligraphers returned to four plants above all others: the plum blossom, the orchid, the bamboo, and the chrysanthemum. They are called the Four Gentlemen…