A semantic interpretation of "xiu ci li qi cheng修辞立其诚"

xiu ci qi cheng修辞立其诚 was originally an interpretation to the third line of Hexagram Qian (the 1st hexagram in the received version of Zhouyi), but it exerted profound influences upon literature criti-cism and rhetoric of later generations and its being frequently used makes it be condensed as an idiom—xiu ci cheng修辞立诚 (literally, modifying one's words and establishing one's sincerity). In this way, xiu ci修辞 and li cheng立诚 structurally become two parallel terms. But from the angle of rhetoric, these two terms had a close relation of subordination: cheng is the internal factor while ci is an external one; ci is subor-dinate to cheng; ci is based on cheng. The predominant role cheng (literally, sincerity) plays in Confucianism also show that one's writing (xiu ci) should be based on the spirit of sincerity (cheng) and ci must subordi-nate to and serve cheng. So.xiu ci qi cheng修辞立其诚 means modifying words on the premise of cheng and with the cheng as the predominant.