Translation and Introduction of Qi Category: From Decategorization to Recategorization

Qi, one of the core categories of Chinese literary theories, has experienced three main stages of development:Qi of Nature, Qi of Philosophy and Qi of Aesthetics, which have gradually formed the core category sequence of Qi-Jing Qi/Yuan Qi-Wen Qi. The phenomenon of decategorization has run through the development of Qi category sequence. At present, overseas Sinologists are not fully aware of the intralingual decategorization phenomenon of Qi category, which leads to the two extremes of miscellany and oversimplication in the existing category translation and introduction. Meanwhile, due to the departure from original context, the differences in language features and the changes of cognitive thinking, translation and introduction of Qi category are still in the interlingual decategorization stage. Only by analyzing intralingual and interlingual bi-directional decategorization of Qi can we grasp the derivation and development of its concept on the whole, so as to realize the interlingual recategorization that conforms to the cognitive law of categories. Therefore, decategorization is the premise of category translation and introduction. Attention to and studies on intralingual and interlingual bi-directional decategorization are needed to truly realize interlingual recategorization of Chinese literary categories.