yánɡ zhōu bā ɡuài 扬州八怪 The Magical Eight Painters of Yangzhou 清代康熙到乾隆年间，活跃于扬州一带的八位画家，因其个性独特、画风怪诞，被称为“八怪”。一般指汪士慎（1686—1762？）、李鱓（shàn，1686—1762）、金农（1687—1763）、黄慎（1687—1768后）、高翔（1688—1753）、郑燮（1693—1765）、李方膺（1695—1754）、罗聘（1733—1799）等八人，亦有其他说法。他们多为失意官吏或无功名的文人，借书画表现心中不平，作画不拘成法，反对正统画风，在题画诗、书法、篆刻创作领域锐意创新，成就卓著，被当时人视为“偏师”“怪物”，“扬州八怪”由此而得名。他们对近代画家如陈师曾（1876—1923）、齐白石（1864—1957）等产生了很大影响。 These were the eight outstanding artists active in the Yangzhou area during Qing Emperors Kangxi’s and Qianlong’s reigns. They boasted unique personalities and magical styles of painting. Their names are: Wang Shishen(1686-1762?), Li Shan (1686-1762), Jin Nong (1687-1763), Huang Shen (1687-1768?), Gao Xiang […]

xiū jǐ ān rén 修己安人 Cultivate Oneself to Benefit Others 修养自己，使人安乐。“修己”即努力使自己的才能、德性等各方面不断提升，实现完满境界，达于“内圣”；“安人”即发挥自己的才能、德性，建立事功，惠及他人，达于“外王”。这是孔子对于“君子”概念的界说，也是儒家道德政治理论的简约表达。 “Cultivating oneself” means taking pains to elevate one’s talent and virtue constantly to achieve perfection, thus inwardly becoming a sage. “Benefiting others” means displaying one’s own talent and virtue to make contributions to society and benefit others, thus outwardly becoming a person like a

xiōng dì xì yú qiáng, wài yù qí wǔ 兄弟阋于墙，外御其侮 Brothers Quarrel within the Walls of the Home; Outside They Resist Bullying by Others. 兄弟虽然在家里争吵，但能一致抵御外人的欺侮。“阋”，争吵；“墙”，门屏，指家里。多用来比喻内部虽有分歧、冲突，但能团结起来抵抗外来侵略。它是中华民族家国情怀的典型表达式，近现代以后成为中国自我意识觉醒的标志。 Although brothers may quarrel at home, they always stick together to resist bullying by outsiders. This refers to people who have internal conflicts and disputes can still put together to

xìng wú shàn wú è 性无善无恶 Human Nature Is Neither Good nor Evil. 人性无所谓善与恶。“性无善无恶”之说是古代的一种人性论观点，告子即主张此说。这里所言人性，指人天生所具有的属性。在告子看来，人天生所具有的仅仅是对于外物的生理上的诉求，如食色之欲等。这样的本性并不具有道德含义，是无所谓善恶的。人之善恶是后天人为塑造、影响而成的。受到好的影响即可以为善，而在不好的环境中即会为恶。 Human nature has nothing to do with good or evil, which is a view held by ancient Chinese people. The philosopher Gaozi was one of the advocates of this “neither good nor evil” theory. Here, human nature refers to the in-born

xìng shàn è hún 性善恶混 Human Nature Is A Mixture of Good and Evil. 人性善恶混杂。“性善恶混”之说是古代的一种人性论观点。该说认为，人性既非全善，也非全恶，而是善恶并存。人之为善或为恶，取决于后天的修养。因此，在“性善恶混”的观念之下，学习和教化成为塑造良好德行的关键。 Human nature is a mixture of good and evil. This is a view of human nature held by ancient Chinese people. According to this theory, human nature can neither be all good nor all evil, but instead good and evil

xìng sān pǐn 性三品 Human Nature Has Three Levels. 人性分为三个等级。“性三品”说是古代的一种人性论观点。该说认为，人的本性是不同的，分为上、中、下三个等级。上品之人性善，下品之人性恶。中间之人，本性或无善无恶，或善恶相混。有些人认为，人天生所具有的人性等级，尤其是上下二品，是不可改易的。也有人主张，后天的教化可以改变人性，甚至超越固有的品级。 Human nature may be categorized as having three levels. This is a view of human nature held by ancient Chinese people. According to this theory, different people have different inherent natures, which can be divided into upper, middle and lower levels. People of the upper

háng shū 行书 Running Script 介于草书和楷书之间的一种书法艺术形态。它保留了隶书的基本结构，以自然连笔、书写流畅便捷、容易辨识为主要特征。一般认为行书起源于东汉刘德升，盛行于魏晋。行书有“行进”和“行云流水”的意思，它没有固定的形态和写法，不属于一种独立的字体，适合于任何书写工具，不同人的书写各有特色。东晋王羲之（303—361，一作307—365，又作321—379）的《兰亭集序》、颜真卿（708—784）的《祭侄季明文稿》、苏轼（1037—1101）的《寒食帖》是三大行书法帖典范，风格鲜明，具有极高的审美价值。 Running script is a calligraphic form between cursive script and regular script. A Chinese character written in the style of running script retains the basic structure of characters written in official script. Running script features smoothly-linked strokes, and the characters written in this style are easy to recognize. Generally,

xíng qī yú wú xíng 刑期于无刑 The Purpose of Punishment Is to Eliminate Punishment. 采用刑罚的目的在于消灭刑罚。这是儒家“德政”思想的延伸。依照儒家的观点，礼乐教化是治理国家的主要手段，刑罚只是一种不得不采取的辅助手段；国家治理的目标，在于通过这两种手段，使人受到感化，端正德行，恪守规范，从而达到天下大治，使刑罚成为不必要的存在，即“无刑”。这也是“德政”框架内刑罚手段所达到的理想境界，其中隐含手段和目的相一致的辩证观点。 The purpose of meting out punishment is to eliminate punishment, which is an extension of the Confucian idea of “rule by virtue.” The Confucian point of view is that education by rites and music is the main means of state

xiě qì tú mào 写气图貌 Depict Outward Features to Convey an Innate Liveliness 指从事文学创作时描摹事物的外在形貌，传达事物的内在气势、神韵。它强调文学创作不能仅是描摹事物的外在形貌，更要用心灵把握对象，达到物我交融的境界，着力表达事物的气势、神韵或者人对事物的内在情感，如此方能创作出优秀的作品。 This term refers to the act of depicting the outward features of an object to convey its innate character in literary writing. It stresses the need not only to reproduce in words whatever appears before one’s eyes but also to capture

xiǎozhuàn 小篆 Small-seal Script 由大篆改造而成的一种字体。秦始皇统一中国后，令丞相李斯等对大篆进行简化，颁布为官定标准字体。小篆使用圆润整齐的线条，减少了异体字，便于书写和认读，汉代为隶书所取代。小篆字体修长，讲究对称，起笔不露锋毫，收笔自然下垂，笔画曲折度可以随心变化，造成多种古朴而优美的形态，一直为书法家所钟爱，成为中国书法艺术的独特形态。 Small-seal script is a style of calligraphy derived from large-seal script. After unifying the country, the First Emperor of Qin ordered Li Si, his prime minister, to simplify the large-seal script that was most popular in the Western Zhou period. This simplified script was officially issued as the standard form