On Xing's Disappearance in the Six Dynasties

is an important category in Chinese ancient literature and art.In The Book of Songs,Xing and always emerge as an integrated whole,and perform the function of praising and ridiculing in late ages' interpretations.In his Preface to Poetry Appreciation,Zhong Rong assigned to them an implication different from those assigned to them before.This newly assigned implications exceed their traditional functions.The Xing with rich aesthetic connotations and the Xing in its original sense should have been an integrated whole.The latter has arisen only after the traditional functions of the original Xing have faded and the nature Bi and Xing are dependent on has been aesthetically implicated.This is a kind of change in its function.Yet Liu Xie's viewpoint that Xing in its original sense already disappeared in the Six Dynasties is just a result of disassociating Xing in its originial sense from the Xing with aesthetical implications.