Abstract:

Pan-aesthetic is a distinctive feature of the Chinese aesthetic tradition, with aesthetic meaning pervading all aspects of traditional Chinese social life. However, the pan-aesthetic trait of traditional Chinese aesthetics requires a new theoretical approach. Semiotic aesthetics, which is the basic theory and methodology of formal meaning analysis of all“aesthetic texts,”provides us with a lens to see the unique meaning generation mechanism of the Chinese pan-aesthetic tradition: the quadruple sliding of meaning, the“partial sliding”of meaning and the coexistence of four qualities of meaning, the cross-border sliding of meaning, and the
construction of pan-aesthetic synthesis. The four distinct meaning dimensions of traditional Chinese aesthetic signs are mutually compatible, interpenetrating, and coexisting. Thus, while aesthetic meanings are generated, they are fully opened to the human life world, timely elevating to a spiritual state of harmony between humanity and nature.

Key words: Chinese traditional aesthetics, pan-aesthetic, semiotic aesthetics