Xiang Tianyuan, Xu Tongxing
Social Sciences in Guangdong. 2025, 0(4): 180-190.
As a system of symbols to record Chinese, the creation and expression of meaning in Chinese characters possess an inherent speculative characteristic. Moreover, the vocabulary structure and grammar norms of Chinese also exhibit distinct speculative characteristics. This characteristic developed alongside and was promoted by the thinking of the Chinese nation and the rhetorical means of Chinese literature, and exerted an important influence on the formation of the speculative character of Chinese culture. In the modern period, Chinese is undergoing Europeanization; its narrative, logical, and speculative features are becoming increasingly prominent, laying a solid linguistic foundation for modern literary expression. Rationalization, dramatization, and polyphonization have the potential to become a new poetic tradition. While this is closely related to the rational trend of modern society and culture, the enhancement of logic and speculative quality in modern Chinese is also an important or even more direct reason. Looking ahead, modern Chinese poetry will certainly forge a new direction of “dual cultivation of Sensibility and Reason,” which is both related to and distinct from the classical poetic tradition.
