Xiaoyan Hu
PhD Thesis title: The Art of Genius: The Notion of Qiyun (Spirit Consonance) in Chinese Painting and Some Kantian Resonances.
A central feature of the thesis is a comparison of classical Chinese aesthetics and Kant’s aesthetics, especially Kant’s account of genius. The comparative approach adopted by projecting Kantian aesthetics into the context of classical Chinese painting is not a matter of transforming Chinese aesthetics into Western aesthetics, but rather stressing the uniqueness of the Chinese aesthetic tradition beyond the aesthetic universality imposed by the lens of the other.
Research interests: Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, classical Chinese Art and Aesthetics, Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Publications:
‘Genius as an Innate Mental Talent of Idea-giving in Chinese Painting and Kant’, Philosophy East and West 70: 3 (July 2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.0.0175
‘A Kantian Reading of Aesthetic Freedom and Complete Human Nature Nourished through Art in a Classical Chinese Artistic Context’, Asian Philosophy 29: 2 (May 2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2019.1610526
‘The Dialectics of Consciousness and Unconsciousness in the Spontaneity of Chinese Art’, Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics, vol.9 (2017): 246–274.
‘Beyond Representation: Reconsidering Loehr's Periodisation in Chinese Painting’, Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Aesthetics, 2016: 892–897.
‘The Notion of ‘Qi Yun’ (Spirit Consonance) in Chinese Painting’, Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics, vol.8 (2016): 247–268.
‘Kunqu Zhongde Xinli Miaoxie (Psychological Narrative Analysis of Kun Opera)’ (in Chinese), Oriental Forum Supplement (Dongfang Luntan Zengkan), May 2010: 216–217.
Conference Papers & Invited Talks:
‘The Reconciliation of Artistic Autonomy and Moral Cultivation: A Comparison between Chinese Aesthetics and Kant’s Philosophy’, the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 22th – 26th July 2019.
‘Balanced Human Nature Fulfilled through Classical Chinese Art’, the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 22th – 26th July 2019.
‘The Efficacy and Issue of Projecting Kant’s Account of Spontaneity of Genius into a Classical Chinese Artistic Context’, the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 22th – 26th July 2019.
‘Some Kantian Resonances to the Moral Relevance of Chinse Art’, Comparative Philosophy Workshop, Queen University of Belfast, UK, 27th – 29th June 2019.
‘Some Kantian Resonances to the Moral Relevance of Chinese Art’, the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy 51st Annual Conference, Bath Spa University, UK,18th – 21st June 2019.
‘Some Kantian Resonances to the Reconciliation of Aesthetic Autonomy and Moral Relevance in the Context of Classical Chinese Art’, the European Society for Aesthetics 2019 Annual Conference, Warsaw, Poland, 12th – 14th June 2019.
‘Schiller’s Notion of Aesthetic Freedom and its Effect on Human Nature’, the 24th World Congress of Philosophy, Peking University, Beijing, China, 13th – 20th August 2018.
‘Qi Yun is Impossible to be Taught: The Originality, Exemplarity and Unteachability of Classical Chinese Painting’, the Fourth Conference on Contemporary Philosophy in East Asia, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 9th – 11th August 2018.
‘Qi Yun Sheng Dong as the Art of Genius Understood along a Similar Line to Kantian Accounts of Genius’, the 2018 Philosophy Department Graduate Conference, University of Liverpool, UK, 15th May 2018.
‘Moral Enlightenment of Classical Chinese Art’, the American Society for Aesthetics 2018 Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, USA, 20th – 21st April 2018.
‘The Dialectic Aesthetics of Xu (emptiness) and Shi (substance) in Chinese Landscape Art’, the New Research on the History of Chinese Garden and Landscape Conference, University of Sheffield, UK, 26th – 27th October 2017.
‘The Unique Expressionism in Classical Chinese Painting’, the Second Conference on Middle Period Chinese Humanities, University of Leiden, Netherlands, 14th –17th September 2017.
‘The Master of Qi Yun (Spirit Consonance): Genius as an Innate Mental Talent in Chinese Painting’, the Second Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Philosophy, University of Basel, Switzerland, 7th – 9th September 2017.
‘Painting as the Image of Mind’ (poster), Faculties of Humanities and Social Science Postgraduate Research Showcase, University of Liverpool, UK, 29th June 2017.
‘The Dialectic of Consciousness and Unconsciousness in Spontaneity of Chinese Art’, the 2017 European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference, Freer University of Berlin, Germany, 25th – 27th May 2017.
‘The Dialectic of Consciousness and Unconsciousness in the Spontaneity of Chinese Art’, the 2017 Philosophy Department Graduate conference, University of Liverpool, UK, 15th – 16th May 2017.
‘Beyond Representation: Reconsidering Loehr's Periodisation in Chinese Painting’, the 20th International Congress of Aesthetics, Seoul National University, Korea, 25th – 29th July 2016.
‘Beyond Representation: Reconsidering Loehr's Periodisation in Chinese Painting’, the 2016 Philosophy Department Graduate Conference, University of Liverpool, UK, 16th – 17th May 2016.
‘The Notion of ‘Qi Yun’ (Spirit Consonance) in Chinese Painting’, the 2016 European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference, University of Barcelona, Spain, 8th – 10th June 2016.
‘Painting as the Image of Mind’ (poster), the Eye’s Mind: Visual Imagination, Neuroscience and the Humanities Conference, University of East Anglia, UK, 21st – 22nd May 2016.
‘The Notion of “Qi Yun” (Spirit Consonance) in Chinese Painting’, the third BSA (British Society for Aesthetics) Postgraduate Conference, University of Southampton, UK, 1st – 2nd April 2016.
‘The Notion of “Qi Yun” (Spirit Resonance) in Chinese Painting’, Chinese Culture and the Creative Economy in Global Context Conference, University of Chester, UK, 26th – 27th February 2016.
‘Should Art Appear as Nature: The Notion of “Qi Yun” (Spirit Resonance) in Chinese Painting’, the 2015 Philosophy Department Graduate Conference, University of Liverpool, UK, 19th – 20th May 2015.
Teaching experience:
20/06/2018 Art Taster Day Event (organized by the School of the Arts in the University of Liverpool): 30-minute session ‘Painting is the Soundless Poetry’.
21/06/2017 Summer School Master Class (organized by the School of the Arts in the University of Liverpool): 30-minute session ‘The Great Image Has No Form: How to read Chinese Painting’.
10/2016 – 06/2017 PHIL271/270 Business Ethics S1/S2 Module Workshop tutor and essay marker (Philosophy Department in the University of Liverpool)
06/2017 PHIL110 Philosophy and the Arts Module examination paper marker (Philosophy Department in the University of Liverpool)
10/2016 – 01/2017 PHIL316 Aesthetics Module Seminar tutor and examination paper marker (Philosophy Department in the University of Liverpool)
13/07/2016 Summer School Master Class (organized by the School of the Arts in the University of Liverpool): Two-hour session 'The Art of Living: Chinese Philosophy in Kung Fu Panda'.
Honors & Awards:
£800 travel grant awarded by the British Society for Aesthetics in 2019
£800 travel grant awarded by the British Society for Aesthetics in 2018
$500 Irene H. Chayes Travel grant awarded by the American Society for Aesthetics in 2018
Young Scholar Award Honorable Mention by the European Association for Chinese Philosophy for my 2017 paper ‘The Master of “Qi Yun” (Spirit Consonance): Genius as an Innate Mental Talent in Chinese Painting’.
Young Scholar Award awarded by the International Association for Aesthetics for my 2016 paper ‘Beyond Representation: Reconsidering Loehr's Periodisation in Chinese Painting’.
£2016.9 Postgraduate Support Fund offered by the School of the Arts in the University of Liverpool in 2017.
£1880 Postgraduate Support Fund offered by the School of the Arts in the University of Liverpool in 2016.
£3000 University of Liverpool Postgraduate Faculty Scholarship in 2013.
Third prize in the 12th Good Column Competition of newspapers in Shandong Province of China in 2005 for my column ‘memory’ in Qingdao Evening Newspaper.
Supervisor: Prof. Simon Hailwood, Dr. Nikolaos Gkogkas.