Abstract:

Yanhuo qi, which literally means a lively atmosphere, is untranslatable and undefinable. Previous studies on yanhuo qi have largely relied on three main approaches: urban consumption and dining culture, literature and urban memory, and urban planning and regeneration. Broken down and inserted into the urban fabric as mere “materials”—as consumers or producers, and so on, people lose their integrity, and in this context, yanhuo qi is understood in a narrow and banal sense. Tracing back to the authenticity of human beings from the perspective of philosophical anthropology, we can address the questions of what kind of city and what kind of yanhuo qi we need. Drawing on theoretical resources from thinkers such as Georg Simmel, Henri Lefebvre, Gernot Bhme, and Helmuth Plessner, we can attend to dimensions such as human autonomy and non-self-sufficiency, human integrity, human sensibility and “atmosphere”, and human eccentricity, thereby offering a diagnosis of yanhuo qi. Based on China’s indigenous experience, it is also possible to construct an ideal-type classification of urban yanhuo qi, tracing its manifestations through several historical stages: ancient bonfires and sacrificial rituals, medieval town commerce and festival celebrations, early modern urban yanhuo qi, and the recent impact of urban regeneration and new technologies. Finally, we can envision a new form of yanhuo qi for the future.

Key words: yanhuo qi, philosophical anthropology, sensibility, atmosphere, eccentricity, city