What does Mao Qiling mean by learning elegance, not vulgarity, but canon?

Mao Qiling of A Qing Dynasty said: "Elegance is the only thing in the world that needs to be learned, while vulgarity does not need to be learned;" Classics are to be learned, and the vulgar and familiar ones need not be learned. "Reading is the best way to be elegant and free from vulgarity.

In the history of China's classical aesthetics, the expressions of elegance and vulgarity are complex and diverse. The difference between elegance and vulgarity lies in the level and accumulation of culture. However, this level and how much are relative and are presented in comparison. Everything has its "degree". If it exceeds the limit of degree, it will go to its opposite.

Although elegance and vulgarity are different, they are not incompatible, and elegance and vulgarity will also be translocated under certain conditions. The concept of "taking vulgarity as elegance", which is quite influential in the history of China's aesthetics and literary criticism, is a typical example. Elegance originally refers to gorgeous writing and exquisite rhetoric, which is a sign of high artistic accomplishment. However, if we blindly pursue gorgeous writing style and exquisite language, it will become a cliche with a thousand mouths and become vulgar and boring. At this time, if you are ingenious and deliberately use materials from folk languages that have been abandoned before and apply them to your works, it will produce a fresh and surprising effect, which is an elegant performance. The work of "taking vulgarity as elegance" is characterized by vulgarity, but its character and taste are elegance. Here, "vulgarity" and "elegance" blend, on the contrary, complement each other and blend together.