Chinese fidelity

[MadHorse]

"One of the remarkable commonplaces of the criticism is that this novelist is in some way a 'realist'...And Henry Lewes found in his novels a 'Chinese fidelity'.
To judge by the context, Chinese fidelity must mean something like 'very close to real', but my googling failed to produce a definition/explanation that would confirm it. Anyone could give me an elucidation on the phrase?
Another minor question: is the sentence "what is meant there", meaning "what does it mean", commonly used?
Thanks.

[Tdol]

If something is done with Chinese fidelity, it is done with great precision and accuracy, or that's my interpretation as I hadn't heard the phrase.

What is meant there- this implies that the meaning is in that context rather than universal IMO

[MadHorse]

Hi tdol,

Could you please tell me the origination of Chinese fidelity?
Thanks very much.

[MadHorse]

Hi tdol,

Could you please tell me the origin of Chinese fidelity?
Thanks very much.

[Tdol]

It's not an expression in use- the examples are mostly old, so I imagine it has something to do with perceptions of detail in Chinese art.