Abstract: The thought of heaven and man is the ideological origin of ancient Chinese creation art, and the relationship between mind and object can be regarded as an important expression and multiple-dimensional extension of the idea of heaven and man in the interaction between subject and object in literary creation. The thought of unity of man and nature contains the idea of unity of symbolic function and aesthetics while that of separation of heaven and man is the origin of the production idea of craftsmen that emphasizes the initiative of the subject and the artistic pursuit “between likeness and unlikeness.” Analysis of both thoughts and research on their influence on the artistic concept of creation are of certain academic value.

Key words: unity of heaven and man, separation of heaven and man, art of creation, design concept