Zhu Guangqian 朱光潛 is the founder of the study of aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

 in 20th c. China. After earning his B.A. from Hong Kong University, he went abroad to study aesthetics at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 and University College, London, then to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and the University of Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

 where he earned his doctorate. Later, he returned to China to write The Psychology of Tragedy (悲劇心理學), On Beauty (談美), The Psychology of Art (文藝心理學), On Poetry (詩論), A History of Western Aesthetics (西方美學史), and Letters on Beauty (談美書簡). In the 1930s in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Zhu Guangqian hosted a literary salon that met monthly to recite prose and poetry, east and west. Regulars included Zhou Zuoren

Zhou Zuoren

Zhou Zuoren was a Chinese writer, primarily known as an essayist and a translator. He was the younger brother of Lu Xun , the second of three brothers.-Early life:...

 (周作人), Zhu Ziqing

Zhu Ziqing

Zhu Ziqing was a renowned Chinese poet and essayist. Zhu studied at Peking University, and during the May Fourth Movement became one of several pioneers of modernism in China during the 1920s. Zhu was a prolific writer of both prose and poetry, but is best known for essays like "Retreating...

 (朱自清), Zheng Zhenduo (鄭振鐸), Feng Zhi (馮至), Shen Congwen

Shen Congwen

Shen Congwen was the pen name of a Miao Chinese writer from the May Fourth Movement. He was known for combining the vernacular style of writing with classical Chinese writing techniques, and his writing also reflects a strong influence from western literature. He was born as Shen Yuehuan on 1902...

 (沈從文), Bing Xin

Bing Xin

Bingxin was one of the most prolific and esteemed Chinese writers of the 20th Century. Many of her works were written for young readers...

 (冰心), Ling Shuhua

Ling Shuhua

Ling Shuhua was a Chinese modernist writer whose short stories became popular during the 1920s and 30s.-Biography:Ling Shuhua was the daughter of the fourth wife of a high ranking Qing official from the southern province of Canton who later served as the mayor of Beijing...

 (淩淑華), Bian Zhilin

Bian Zhilin

Bian Zhilin was a 20th century Chinese poet, translator and literature researcher.Bian was born in Haimen, Jiangsu on December 8, 1910, and liked to read classical and modern Chinese poems when he was very young. In 1929, he entered the English department of Beijing University to study...

 (卞之琳), Lin Huiyin

Lin Huiyin

Lin Huiyin was a noted 20th century Chinese architect and writer. She is said to be the first female architect in China. Her niece is Maya Lin.-Biography:...

 (林徽因) and Xiao Qian

Xiao Qian

Xiao Qian , alias Nuoping was a famous essayist, editor, journalist and translator from China. His life spanned the country before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.-Early years:Xiao was born on 27 January 1910 in Beijing, China...

(蕭乾). These were pivotal figures in Republican literature, and it can perhaps be argued that the salon was important to the formation of the so-called Beijing style literature (京派文學) of the period.