The term refers to a state of mind in the process of literary and artistic creation.

It suggests that the author, fully inspired by emotions, transcends the constraint

of time and space, and enters into a state of free imagination or a special mood

for literary and artistic creation, before producing a natural and beautiful work

of literature or art, either in language or in imagery. This term was popularly

used in literary and artistic theories of the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern

dynasties. Liu Xie of the Southern Dynasties devoted one chapter especially

to this term in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. With emphasis

on the unique mental activity in literary and artistic creation, imaginative

contemplation is different from other cognitive activities.