The book features an in-depth analysis of pre-modern Chinese discourses on artistic style especially the concept of Vitality-Charm (氣韻). Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book examines Vitality-Charm and related topics from the perspectives of aesthetics, stylistics, semiotics, cosmology, art history, and socio-cultural history. It reviews the development of, and examines the relations between, the concepts of poetic vision, spiritual resonance, spiritual expressiveness, Vitality-Charm and so on in the tradition of Chinese art (including literature, music, dancing, and drama). The book also attempts to clarify confusions caused by the overlapping and indistinct demarcations between the concepts when they are used in the discourse of, and even the training of art — especially traditional Chinese art.
