The term originally referred to true colors and has been extended to mean true appearance. As a term of literary critique, bense (本色) has three meanings: 1) the artistic style and literary features that are compatible with a given genre; 2) the style and literary features that remain true to the writer’s individual character; and 3) the style that makes it possible for the writing to remain true to the author’s own experience and that gives truthful expression to his thoughts and feelings. Bense is not only a requirement for the writer but also for his works. In the literary criticism of the Song Dynasty, bense was often used to describe and evaluate the special qualities of different genres. In the literary criticism of the Ming and Qing dynasties, bense usually referred to the individual style of poets and writers and also those styles of writing that remained true to life experience and eschewed literary embellishment. Bense is often used together with danghang (当行professionalism) to mean “original and genuine”; it is often associated with the Dao of nature in classical Daoist philosophy, in opposition to the attitude and styles that stress literary embellishment.