What is the core of Confucius' aesthetic thought?

The core of Confucius' aesthetic thought is the unity of beauty and goodness, that is, the unity of lofty content and perfect form, while putting goodness in the first place. In his mind, literature and art should first meet the lofty political and ethical requirements in content, otherwise, no matter how good the form is, there will be shortcomings. Confucius put goodness above beauty and did not relax his attention to beauty. He has said many times: "Words without words are not far away." "Literati, Jude quality also; Quality, Jude Wen also. " ("Yan Yuan") "Quality is better than literature, literature is better than history, gentle, and then a gentleman." (Yongye) Here, "Wen" refers to literary ornaments, and "quality" refers to quality. It mainly focuses on people's moral cultivation, and also applies to the relationship between form and content in literature and art.