Abstract
In response to the mysterious associations and political interpretations attached to nursery rhymes in ancient China, Zhou Zuoren explained the emergence of children's songs through anthropological theories that engage with human auditory development, the instinct of imitation, and the singing practice of early humans. He opposes the didactic and moralizing functions assigned to children's songs and advocates a view of pleasure that emphasizes “finding delight through imaginative association” and personal enjoyment. He evaluates the aesthetic value of children's songs from the child's perspective a, regarding them as “poetry for children.” He particularly focuses on their experiential recording of dialects, customs, and local objects. In this sense, he explores a comprehensive aesthetic education path that integrates poetics with ethnographic functions and addresses both children and adults. Exploring this issue helps one understand Zhou Zuoren's aesthetic orientation and poetic ideas from the micro-perspective of children's songs. His conceptualization also serves as a useful case for the initial stage of modern Chinese children's aesthetic education, providing a point of reference for contemporary practice.
Keywords
Zhou Zuoren, nursery rhymes, children's songs, imagining for delight, gazetteer of dialects and local customs
First Page
66
Last Page
75
Recommended Citation
Cao, Chengzhu. 2026. "“Imagining for Delight” and “Gazetteer of Dialects and Local Customs”: Zhou Zuoren's Conceptualization of Aesthetic Education through Nursery Rhymes." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 46, (1): pp.66-75. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol46/iss1/7
