Western rhetoric has gone through different stages of development, such as the view of lexical modification, of proper choice, of appropriateness of situational subject, of adaptability of communication, etc. Similarly, Chinese rhetoric had developed different views for different objects and methods of study, including lexical adjustment, appropriateness of praising diction, language processing, and heterogeneous rhetoric. Nowadays a bidirectionalexploration tendency of development has taken shape in disputes and arguments between different rhetorical theories, which shifts emphasis from static description to dynamic explanation and from individual item study of the rhetorical subject to rhetorical receipt. To deepen the present rhetoric study, rhetoricians have to converge their disciplinary conception by seeking proper means through rational consideration and reasonable choice. A mature and complete theoretical system calls for both systematic and hierarchal conceptions, both internal and external explorations, both descriptive and explanatory researches, both divergent and convergent senses.

figure of speech; rhetorical conception; rhetoric study; the rhetorical subject; rhetorical effect; rhetorical description