Abstract: “Emotion” is one of the most basic categories in Chinese philosophy,which is of high value in Chinese tradition.Different from western philosophy theory which emphasizes form,Chinese philosophy more cares realistic man,and the existence of man.For a realistic man,emotion is his most fundamental character,so emotion should be one of the most concerned philosophical topics.Chinese philosophy has always been focusing on emotion problems,exploring it deeply into such aspects of its origin,occurrence,connotation,meaning,value,etc.Starting from the documents in Chinese philosophy,this paper gives a general description of emotion,concluding that the connotation of emotion includes the three aspects of noumenon,value,and spirit.

Key words: emotion, noumenon, value, spirit