This study is an examination of Wen Xin Diao Long (The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons), a rhetorical treatise on writing by Liu Xie, a fifth-century Chinese scholar.Chapter One argues for Wen Xin Diao Long as a treatise on the rhetoric of written discourse as a whole rather than on literature, its common interpretation;Chapter Two describes the historical background in which Liu Xie wrote Wen Xin Diao Long, examining many facets —social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical—of the fifth-century China as they relate to Liu Xie’s conception of written discourse. It further investigates Liu Xie’s personal life and speculates on his motivations behind undertaking the writing of Wen Xin Diao Long in light of his personal, family and social backgrounds;Chapter Three focuses ln Liu Xie’s language philosophy reflected in Wen Xin Diao Long. The starting point lies in Liu Xie’s elaboration of the relationship of Wen and Dao, Shu, Yan, Li, Qing;Chapter Four studies Liu Xie’s view of written discourse, its major functions, its role in human interaction, and its relationship to the evolution of the human race on the one hand and of the whole universe on the other. In another word, this part is an elaboration of Liu Xie’s proposals for discourse strategies;Chapter Five compares Liu Xie’s conceptions of language with those of the traditional Western linguistic theories from the perspectives of language and world, language and mind, and language and comprehension.