Art of china

Introduction

Cut off by mountains, deserts and oceans from other centers of human evolution,
China developed its own self-contained but highly advanced civilization, which
featured an astonishing combination of progressive technology, ancient art, and
cultural awareness. The world's most ancient pottery, for example, is the
Xianrendong Cave Pottery, from Jiangxi Province, and Yuchanyan Cave Pottery
from Hunan. This influential ceramic development spread into Siberia - see the
Amur River Basin pottery (14,300 BCE) - and Japan, in the form of Jomon Pottery
(14,500 BCE). Strangely however, little evidence has so far emerged of any
significant tradition of cave art on the Chinese mainland.
The original centre of Chinese culture was along the great Yellow River which
crosses the North China Plain, where stable settlements have dated back to at
least 4000 BCE. For details, see: Neolithic Art in China (7500-2000 BCE).
Archeological discoveries - notably from the burial mounds of prosperous
individuals - indicate that from about 2500 BCE the Chinese cultivated silk worms,
had beautifully finished tools and produced a wide range of cultural artifacts.
Thereafter, during the period 2500-100 BCE, Chinese artists mastered numerous
forms of visual art, including: Chinese Pottery (which began in China around
10,000 BCE, and includes Chinese porcelain); jade carving and other types of
metalworking and jewellery art; bronzes (mainly ceremonial vessels); Buddhist
sculpture and secular terracotta sculpture (exemplified by the Chinese Terracotta
Army); Chinese painting and calligraphy; as well as crafts such as lacquerware. In
addition to art, China had its own history of scientific and technological
inventions, many of which spread to Europe from the East. Furthermore, by 1800
BCE, China's advanced culture had also developed a system of writing which is still
the foundation of modern Chinese script. See also: Prehistoric Art Timeline
(2,500,000-500 BCE). For the arts of the Indian sub-continent, see: India, Painting
and Sculpture.
The Chinese Dynasties: A Simple Chronology

China is dated by its Dynasties, a word which has been coined by western
historians from the Greek root for "power, force or domination." Successive
waves of invaders came out of the Central Asian land mass, from the Steppes and
the Turcu River, conquered, ruled and were in turn assimilated by the Chinese.
The different types of art in China developed according to the interest and
patronage of each dynasty, as well as the whims of regional rulers. Trade relations
with its East Asian neighbours was also an important stimulus in the development
of Chinese visual arts, notably pottery and lacquerwork.

- Xia Dynasty (2100-1700 BCE)

- Shang Dynasty (1700-1050)

- Zhou Dynasty (1050-221) [inc. Warring States Period 475-221]

- Qin Emperor and 3-year Dynasty (221-206)

- Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE)

- Six Dynasties Period (220-589)

- Sui Dynasty (589-618)

- Tang Dynasty (618-906)

- Five Dynasties Period (907-60) [military rulers held power]

- Song Dynasty (960-1279)

- Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

- Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

- Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

For a dynasty-by-dynasty guide, see below: History of Chinese Art.

Characteristics of Chinese Art

Daoism
Daoism (Taoism)

Among the 'Hundred Schools of Philosophy which addressed themselves to the

Chinese ruling classes during the period of the Warring States, the most
remarkable perhaps was that of the Daoists (Taoists). Dao (Tao) means The Way
or the Universal Principle. Daoism is an attitude to life not a system. It implies
being in harmony with nature and shuns all dogmas and restrictive moral codes.
Its most famous theoreticians were Laozi (Lao-tzu), an enigmatic author
expressing himself in paradoxical sayings, and Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu) (about 350-
275 BCE) who wrote in parables pervaded with a subtle irony and showing a deep
insight into man's motivations. To some people they seem to combine the best in
Christianity, Zen Buddhism and Yoga. Daoism was destined to have a profound
influence on Chinese painting.

Daoism (/ˈdaʊɪzəm/, /ˈdaʊ-/), or Taoism (/ˈtaʊ-/), is a philosophical or religious

tradition of Chinese origin which emphasises living in harmony with the Dao
(Chinese: 道; pinyin: Dào; literally: 'the Way', also romanised as Tao). The Dao is a
fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Daoism, however, it
denotes the principle that is the source, pattern and substance of everything that
exists.[2][3] Daoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals
and social order, but is similar in the sense that it is a teaching about the various
disciplines for achieving "perfection" by becoming one with the unplanned
rhythms of the universe called "the way" or "dao".[2][4] Daoist ethics vary
depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei
(action without intention), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three
Treasures: 慈 "compassion", 儉 "frugality", and 不敢為天下先 "humility".

The roots of Daoism go back at least to the 4th century BCE. Early Daoism drew its
cosmological notions from the School of Yinyang (Naturalists), and was deeply
influenced by one of the oldest texts of Chinese culture, the I Ching (Yi Jing),
which expounds a philosophical system about how to keep human behaviour in
accordance with the alternating cycles of nature. The "Legalist" Shen Buhai (c. 400
– c. 337 BCE) may also have been a major influence, expounding a realpolitik of
wu wei.[5] The Dao De Jing, a compact book containing teachings attributed to
Laozi (老子; Lǎozǐ; Lao³ Tzŭ³), is widely considered the keystone work of the
Daoist tradition, together with the later writings of Zhuangzi.

Daoism has had a profound influence on Chinese culture in the course of the
centuries, and Daoists (道士; dàoshi, "masters of the Dao"), a title traditionally
attributed only to the clergy and not to their lay followers, usually take care to
note distinction between their ritual tradition and the practices of Chinese folk
religion and non-Taoist vernacular ritual orders, which are often mistakenly
identified as pertaining to Daoism. Chinese alchemy (especially neidan), Chinese
astrology, Chan (Zen) Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese
medicine, feng shui, and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with
Daoism throughout history. Beyond China, Taoism also had influence on
surrounding societies in Asia.

Today, the Daoist tradition is one of the five religious doctrines officially
recognised in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as well as the Republic of China
(ROC), and although it does not travel readily from its East Asian roots,[citation
needed] it claims adherents in a number of societies,[6] in particular in Hong
Kong, Macau, and in Southeast Asia.

Metaphysical, Daoist Aspect

Ever since the era of Prehistoric art, Chinese society - itself almost wholly
agricultural or rural until the 20th century - has always placed great importance
on understanding the pattern of nature and co-existing with it. Nature was
perceived as the visible manifestation of God's creativity, using the interaction of
the yin (female) and yang (male) life forces. The main aim of Chinese art - initially
centered on propitiation and sacrifice - soon turned to the expression of human
understanding of these life forces, in a variety of art forms, including painting
(notably that of landscapes, bamboo, birds, and flowers), pottery, relief sculpture
and the like. The Chinese also believed that the energy and rhythm generated by
an artist resonated closely with the ultimate source of that energy. They thought
that art - especially calligraphy and painting - had the capacity to refresh the artist
or to retard him spiritually, according to the harmony of his practice and the
character of the individual himself. See also: Traditional Chinese Art:
Characteristics.

Moral, Confucian Aspect

Chinese art also had social and moralistic functions. The earliest mural paintings,
for instance, portrayed benevolent emperors, wise ministers, loyal generals, as
well as their evil opposites, as an example and a warning to observers. Portrait art
had a similar moral function, which aimed to highlight not the facial or figurative
features of the subject as much as his or her character and status in society.
Inspirational but Not Essentially Religious

Court painters were frequently commissioned to depict auspicious and

memorable events, but high religious painting is unknown in Chinese art. Even
Buddhism, which stimulated the production of numerous masterpieces, was
actually a foreign import. The main thing is that themes used in traditional
Chinese art were almost always noble, or inspirational. Thus overly realistic
subjects such as war, death, violence, martyrdom or even the nude were avoided.
Furthermore, Chinese artistic tradition does not separate form from content: it is
not enough, for instance, for the form to be exquisite if the subject is unedifying.

Inner Essence Not Outer Appearance

Unlike Western artists, Chinese painters were not interested in replicating nature,
or creating a true-life depiction of (say) a landscape. Instead they focused on
expressing the inner essence of the subject. Remember, rocks and streams were
seen as "live" things, visible manifestations of the invisible forces of the cosmos.
Therefore, it was the role of the artist to capture the spiritual rather than the
material characteristics of the object concerned.

Symbolism in Chinese Visual Art

Chinese art is full of symbolism, in that artists typically seek to depict some aspect
of a totality of which they are intuitively aware. In addition, Chinese art is packed
with specific symbols: bamboo represents a spirit which can be bent by
circumstance but not broken; jade represents purity; a dragon often symbolizes
the emperor; the crane, long life; a pair of ducks, fidelity in marriage. Plant
symbols include: the orchid, another symbol of purity and loyalty; and the pine
tree, which symbolizes endurance. Some art critics, however, prefer to describe
Chinese art as essentially expressionist, rather than symbolic.
The Impact of the Amateur Artist

During the Warring States period and the Han Dynasty, the growth of a merchant
and landowning class led to increased numbers of art lovers and patrons with
time on their hands. This led to the emergence in the third century CE of an elite
class of scholarly amateur artists, involved in the arts of poetry, calligraphy,
painting and a range of crafts. These amateurs tended to look down their nose at
the lower-class professional artist, employed by the Imperial court, and other
regional or civic authorities. Moreover, this division of artists later had a
significant influence on the character of Chinese art. From the Song dynasty (960–
1279) on, the gentlemen-artists became closely associated with increasingly
refined forms of ink and wash painting and calligraphy, and their works became
an important media of exchange in a social economy where the giving of presents
was a vital step in building up a personal network. Just like skill in writing letters
or poetry, the ability to excel at calligraphy and painting helped establish one's
status in a society of learned individuals.

Bronze Age Art During the Shang Dynasty (1600-1050 BCE)

The Shang Dynasty was assumed to be mythical until the discovery in north-west
China, in 1898, of a hoard of oxen's shoulder-blades bearing inscriptions. (But see
also: Xia Dynasty Culture c.2100-1600.) In the same region, near Anyang,
quantities of bronze vessels were unearthed bearing inscriptions in ancient
Chinese script. When deciphered and compared they enabled scholars to piece
together the history of Shang society with the names and dates of kings. It was a
loose federation of city-states whose bronze weapons enabled them to dominate
the valley of the Hoang-ho (Yellow River) and its tributary, the Wei. In many ways
the Shang resembled the Mycenean princes celebrated by Homer. Their bronze
vases and vessels - the key achievement of Shang Dynasty art - were made by the
method of direct casting as well as by the cire-perdue (lost-wax) process. They
were used by kings and their retainers for ritual and sacrificial ceremonies. The
inscriptions they bear give the name of the owner and the maker with the
purpose of the ceremony. The vessels were buried with their owners and they
acquired a green, blue or red patina according to the nature of the soil. They fall
into three main categories: vessels for cooking or containing ritual food, vessels
for heating or pouring millet wine, and vessels for ritual washing. They were
utilitarian, functional objects, but this did not prevent them from being superb
works of art. Their ritual purpose and magical connotations explain the symbolic
nature of the early decoration. Motifs from the animal world were mainly used -
the dragon and the cicada (life and fertility) or the fabulous tao-tieh - which
resembles a cross between an ox and a tiger.

Note: From 1986 onwards, archeologists made a series of sensational discoveries

at the Sanxingdui archaeological site located near Nanxing Township, Guanghan
County, Sichuan Province. These finds included numerous monumental examples
of bronze sculpture from the era of the Shang Dynasty (1700-1050), which have
been carbon-dated to c.1200-1000 BCE. They reveal an advanced Sanxingdui
culture which, contrary to all previous historical scholarship, appears to have
evolved independently of other Yellow River cultures. See: Sanxingdui Bronzes
(1200-1000 BCE).

Another achievement of the Shang Dynasty was the invention of calligraphy which
occurred about 1700 BCE. In addition, watercolour painting, which began, so it is
said, around 4000 BCE, was also fashionable. For comparative artforms of the
period, see: Mesopotamian Art (c.4500-539 BCE) and the later Egyptian Art (3100
BCE - 395 CE).
Zhou Dynasty Iron Age Art (1050-221 BCE)

The state of Shang came to be dominated by the Zhou highlanders from the west
who captured the capital, Anyang, in 1027 BCE. Zhou Dynasty art borrowed a
great deal from the Shang culture and produced the same kind of vessels but with
a few differences. The stylistic evolution was gradual and a marked change
appeared only after the Zhou had moved eastwards to a new capital, Luoyang, in
722 BCE. The high relief sculpture of the Shang motifs gave way to low relief and
registers. Ornament became increasingly geometric until it was reduced to wing-
and-spiral and hook-and-volute patterns. With the tools of the Iron Age it became
possible to introduce inlaying of gold and silver. This was the period of the
Warring States (about 475-221 BCE), when the Zhou state had disintegrated into
contending feudal territories. Confucius, who died at the beginning of this period,
was a high-minded moralist and the unsuccessful adviser, for a time, of one of the
Zhou's rulers. He was a travelling teacher, and lectured on political ethics, non-
violence and filial piety. His doctrine was collected, much later, in the Analects
which became the gospel of the all-powerful class of scholarly civil servants,
remaining so till modern times, and which deeply marked the Chinese code of
manners.
Qin Emperor and 3-year Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

Political confusion was ended by the dictatorship (221-206 BCE) of Emperor Qin
Shihuang, who came from the state of Qin (formerly Ch'in, hence the name
China). He smashed feudalism and replaced the warlords by civil servants or
commissars. His advisers belonged to the legalist schools who asserted the
authority of the State. Traditions were to be forgotten and all books destroyed,
particularly the writings of Confucius. Qin Dynasty art was unimportant compared
to its political and administrative activities. Qin Shihuang gave China a unified
administration and a road system; he built canals and extended the frontiers of
China. He also commissioned the huge series of terracotta figures, known as The
Terracotta Army (c.246-208 BCE). The 8,000 statues took about 38 years to make,
and involved roughly 700,000 master craftsmen and other workers.

allegory.

Early Imperial China (221 B.C.E.– 220 C.E.)

Qin sculpture

crossbow men from the Terracotta Army, interred by 210 B.C.E., Qin Dynasty

Two gentlemen engrossed in conversation while two others look on, a painting on
a ceramic tile from a tomb near Luoyang, Henan province, dated to the Eastern
Han Dynasty (25–220 C.E.)

The Terracotta Army, inside the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, consists of
more than seven thousand life-size tomb terra-cotta figures of warriors and
horses buried with the self-proclaimed first Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) in
210–209 B.C.E..

The figures were painted before being placed into the vault. The original colors
were visible when the pieces were first unearthed, but exposure to air caused the
pigments to fade. The figures are in several poses including standing infantry and
kneeling archers, as well as charioteers with horses. The head of each figure
appears to be unique; the figures exhibit a variety of facial features and
expressions as well as hair styles.

After the death of Qin Shihuang and a period of civil war, a powerful bandit, Liu
Pang, rose to the throne and inaugurated the long-lived Han dynasty, which
rehabilitated Confucius but retained Qin Shihuang's administrative reforms and
ruled China with the help of a centralized administration.
Han Dynasty Art (206 BCE - 220 CE)

During the era of Han Dynasty art a new, naturalistic outlook prevailed in
figurative art. This is particularly evident in bronzes and in the pottery figures
called ming-chi which people had buried with them in their graves. The Chinese
believed in an afterlife and they liked to surround themselves with
representations of familiar sights, particularly of those things which had given
them pleasure on earth, such as dogs and horses, dancers and concubines. These
figures enable us to know precisely how the subjects of the Han dynasty were
dressed, what they ate, what tools they used, what games they played, the
domestic animals they reared and the appearance of the houses in which they
lived. Many of the figures were coated in a lead glaze; others were painted. All are
interesting and their stylised elegance is often of arresting beauty. Bronze vases
were made in quantity; so were bronze sculptures of men and horses, and these
show the same stylised naturalism as the pottery figures. This was also a great age
for Chinese lacquerware, jade carving and silk fabrics.

Han Painting and Printing

The mulberry tree had been cultivated for some time in China and silk became a
Chinese monopoly. It was the chief article of export to Persia and the Near East
via the caravan routes through central Asia, known as the "Silk Road". Han
painting and drawing, either on silk, on lacquer or on stone and tile, shows a most
lively hand and great lightness of touch. Towards the end of the reign (1st century
CE), a technique for making paper was discovered. This contributed significantly
to the arts by providing a cheap and widespread medium both for painting and
writing. It also led to the Chinese art of paper folding, or zhezhi and also to the
Japanese art of Origami. When block printing was later invented the Chinese
possessed the means of diffusing laws and literature throughout the Empire. The
languages were many and varied, but the ideographic script was the same all over
the country. This made the task of the administrators easier and it provided the
Chinese people with a unified culture. In its calligraphic form writing became an
art in its own right, the form of art which stood highest in the Chinese
intellectual's esteem. It became a way of life, the preserve of the few, among
whom were the painters, poets and scholars, those whose art was founded on
calligraphy.
Han poetry

During, the Han Dynasty, Chu lyrics evolved into the fu (賦), a poem usually in
rhymed verse except for introductory and concluding passages that are in prose,
often in the form of questions and answers.

From the Han Dynasty onwards, a process similar to the official compilation of the
Shi Jing produced yue fu (Traditional Chinese: 樂府; Simplified Chinese: 乐府;
Hanyu Pinyin: yuèfǔ) poems, composed in a folk song style. “Yue fu” literally
means "music bureau," a reference to the government organization originally
charged with collecting or writing the lyrics. The lines are of uneven length,
though five characters is the most common. Each poem follows one of a series of
patterns defined by the song title. Yue fu includes original folk songs, court
imitations and versions by known poets such as Li Bai).
Han paper art

The invention of paper during the Han dynasty[4] spawned two new Chinese arts.
Chinese paper cutting originated as a pastime among the nobles in royal
palaces[5]. The Song Dynasty scholar Chou Mi mentioned several paper cutters
who cut paper with scissors into a great variety of designs and characters in
different styles, and a young man who could even cut characters and flowers
inside his sleeve[6]. The oldest surviving paper cut out is a symmetrical circle from
the sixth century found in Xinjiang, China[6].

The art of Chinese paper folding also originated in the Han dynasty, later
developing into origami after Buddhist monks introduced paper to Japan[7].

Other Han art

The Han Dynasty was also known for jade burial suits, made of thousands of jade
plates threaded together with gold, silver or copper wire, or with silk threads. One
of the earliest known depictions of a landscape in Chinese art comes from a pair
of hollow-tile door panels from a Western Han Dynasty tomb near Zhengzhou,
dated 60 B.C.E.[8] A scene of continuous depth recession is conveyed by the
zigzag of lines representing roads and garden walls, giving the impression that one
is looking down from the top of a hill.[8] This artistic landscape scene was made
by the repeated impression of standard stamps on the clay while it was still soft
and not yet fired.[8]
Buddhism and Anarchy
After the demise of the Han dynasty in 220 CE, China was to know nearly four
centuries of fragmentation, during the Six Dynasties Period (220-589). This state
of chaos was aggravated by invasions from northern and central Asia. The hungry
horsemen from the steppes were attracted irresistibly by an agricultural society
with big cities. They adopted the superior Chinese culture, became assimilated
and sedentary - a process repeated several times. Among the 6th-century
invaders were a Central Asian people called the Tuoba, who founded the Wei
dynasty and ruled the northern half of China from 386 to 534. Their most
memorable artistic contribution to the arts of the Six Dynasties Period (220-589)
was the official adoption of Buddhism, a religion born in India, which had been
infiltrating China for some time. (Note: It arrived during the first-century CE,
although it was not widely practised until about 300 CE.) Its founder, the living
Buddha, dwelt on the border of Nepal shortly before Confucius. Buddhism had
spread via Gandhara all along the Silk Road eastwards. Eventually it reached the
border of China where the vast sanctuaries of Dunhuang and Yungang revealed
wall-paintings and banners and a multitude of statues carved in serried ranks out
of the walls of cliff and cave. Being of non-Chinese stock the Wei adopted
Buddhism as a way of asserting themselves. It was always considered by the
Confucian elite an outlandish, superstitious doctrine. Chinese Buddhist art -
including painting, sculpture, and architecture thrived throughout the Eastern Jin
Dynasty (317-420), the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-581), the Sui
Dynasty (589-618), and most of the Tang Dynasty (618-906).

Buddhist Sculpture

Without Chinese Buddhist Sculpture there would be very little Chinese sculpture
in stone. The Mahayana and Amitabha schools of Buddhism which prevailed in
China required the representation of Buddha in his past, present and future form,
and of the Bodhisattvas (aspiring Buddhas), and attendants. Following the
expansion of Buddhist monasticism, these were to proliferate all over the country
either in stone or in bronze. Wei sculpture, particularly in the Lung Men caves, has
a transcendent beauty: idealised, elongated figures, with oblong heads and
enigmatic smiles, sitting cross-legged, in long robes cascading down in rhythmical
folds, the very image of mystical bliss. The stance, gestures and symbols were
stereotypes derived from Indian origins. The Chinese seemed to find in Buddhism
an answer to the problem of human suffering, the answer of love and prayer, and
hope of Nirvana.

Tang Dynasty Art (618-906)

China was reunited in 589 CE by a powerful general, who founded the Sui Dynasty
(589-618). A political and military regime, Sui dynasty art was almost entirely
Buddha-inspired and was followed by the Tang dynasty (618-906) whose greatest
leader, Emperor Taizong (T'ai-tsung), extended the empire deep into central Asia
and Korea and allowed all religions and races to flourish in an atmosphere of
tolerance and intellectual curiosity. The capital, Changan, became a great
cosmopolitan centre, as did Guangzhou (Canton) and other southern ports.
Muslims, Christians (Nestorians) and Manichaeans lived and worshipped side by
side with Buddhists, Daoists and Confucianists. Taizong was succeeded by his son
and an able but ferocious concubine, Empress Wu, who favoured Buddhism and
even fell under the spell of a Rasputin-like monk. Her successor, the Confucianist
emperor, Xuanzong (Hsuan-tsung), presided over a most brilliant court and
founded the Academy of Letters; he loved music, painting and poetry, as well as
horses. Tang society was bursting with vitality and optimism. Tang dynamism is
felt in all the arts. The sculpture in stone, influenced by the Gupta style from
India, displays round, swelling forms, combining Indian fleshiness with Chinese
linear rhythm.

The Tang fresco paintings of Dunhuang show a dynamic brush-line and the same
fullness of form in garish colours. The secular tomb-paintings are even more
lively; they depict powerful men and opulent women in ample robes and
theatrical attitudes, displaying a keen enjoyment of life. Little painting on silk or
paper has survived - enough to testify to the same love of vivid colour and an
interest in landscape painting which was to bear fruit under succeeding dynasties.
This was the age when the art of poetry, intimately connected with painting and
calligraphy, produced its first masterpieces, including those by Bai Juyi (Po-chu-i),
Ling-po, and the painter Wang-wei.

As for goldsmithing and precious metalwork, particularly silver, it reveals the

influence of Ancient Persian art: a number of Iranian artists, fleeing the Arab
conquerors, settled in China, but as with all other foreign influences, the Persian
was absorbed and became unmistakably Chinese, in spirit and inform. Some of
the finest examples of Tang decorative art are to be seen in the Shoso-in treasure
at the Todai-ji temple complex in Nara, Japan. For the Japanese were already
looking to China for their inspiration.

Note: To see how Chinese-style arts and crafts spread across East Asia, see:
Korean Art (c.3,000 BCE onwards).

Developments in Tang Painting

Chinese landscape painting was revitalized at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty,
when artists began creating landscapes in a sparse monochromatic style - not so
much to reproduce the true reality of the scenery but in order to grasp the
atmosphere or mood of the location. Thirteen centuries later, Impressionist
painters like Claude Monet would use similar reasoning to create an entirely
different type of landscape.
In addition, figure drawing staged a comeback. Using vivid colours and elaborate
detail, artists such as Zhou Fang portrayed the splendor of Tang court life in
paintings of the Emperor, his palace ladies, and horses. In contrast to Zhou Fang's
rich colourful style, the Tang artist Wu Daozi used only black ink and free-flowing
brushstrokes to produce such exciting ink paintings that crowds gathered to
watch him paint. Henceforth, so it is said, ink paintings were no longer thought to
be merely drawings to be filled in with colour; instead they were valued as
finished works of art.
Tang Pottery and Porcelain

Contemporary pottery, and particularly the tomb figures (ming-chi) provides us

with a vivid insight into Tang society: the horses, of which the Tang were so fond,
the camels, the musicians, jugglers, itinerant merchants, many with strongly
emphasised foreign features, the dancing-girls, the dignitaries and generals, the
tomb-guardians and earth-spirits; all these witnesses to the period are brightly
coloured in rich, polychrome, freely-flowing glazes - a recent Chinese invention
made with the oxides of copper, iron and cobalt, as were the vases and other
vessels in stoneware or earthenware. These are round, beautifully made and
always superbly balanced.

By then the Chinese had rediscovered and brought to perfection another of their
inventions, the art of making porcelain, (a hard translucent ware fused at high
temperatures with the aid of 'Chinese stone' (petuntse) and feldspar). This art had
been lost since the days of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1050 BCE). White porcelain
of the finest quality was made during the era of Tang Dynasty art and it soon
found its way to Japan, Persia and the Near East. China never opened her
frontiers so widely to foreign trade and to foreign ideas as during the Tang period,
when the merchant navy was flourishing and when Chinese armies penetrated
into western Turkestan. Along the Silk Road a string of Chinese-influenced oasis-
kingdoms assured a two-way traffic in objects and in ideas between East and
West. China sold its porcelain, its silk rolls and garments and in return it imported
Persian cobalt, metallurgical techniques and stylistic ideas. All this ceased in 751
CE when the Chinese army suffered a crushing defeat at Tallas in Turkestan by the
hands of the Muslim invaders, who had conquered Persia and were overrunning
central Asia. One link remained with the outer world: the ports of southern China
with their large colonies of foreign merchants; but these were wiped out by a
wave of nationalism at the end of the dynasty and China inaugurated a policy of
isolation which still continued.
Vairocana Buddha

Song Dynasty Art (960-1279)

After a period of disorder known as the Five Dynasties Period (907-60), a vigorous
general reunited China again by founding the Song dynasty. In spite of a constant
threat of invasion Kaifeng, the new capital, became one of the most refined
centres of civilization ever known, particularly under the reign of the emperor-
painter Huizong who was surrounded by artists and acquired a fabulous collection
of their work. He devoted too much time to the arts at the expense of his army,
for in a lightning raid Donghu barbarians called the Jurchen captured the court
and destroyed Kaifeng and the entire art collection. The whole of northern China
fell to the Jurchen; the survivors from the Song settled in Hangchow on the
Yangtze river in the south where they continued in their pursuit of culture and
beauty until they were submerged for good under the Mongol onslaught which
had already reduced Asia and was threatening Europe. The dominant ideology
during the era of Song Dynasty Art (960-1279) was Neo-Confucianism, a blend of
the ideas of Confucius and those of Daoism with some Buddhist asceticism as
well. This went with a renewed interest in the earlier traditions of China, the
writings of the classical authors and a strong antiquarian bias, leading to the
copying of Shang and Zhou bronzes. Buddhism of the Amitabha persuasion was
on the wane and degenerating into superstition.

But a new spiritual outlook appeared on the scene with dhan philosophy
(Japanese Zen) in which man comes to terms with himself and nature through a
momentary flash of intuition. This ideology was to influence painting, calligraphy
and pottery. Muqi Fachang (Mu-ch'i) was one of its most famous exponents. Song
sculpture continued the Tang tradition, but with greater elegance and a masterful
rhythm of flowing lines as can be seen in the representations of the Bodhisattva
Kuan-yin, the spirit of mercy who became to the Chinese what the Madonna had
become to many Europeans.

NOTE: For an interesting comparison with South-East Asian sculpture of the Song
period, see the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas at the 12th century Angkor
Wat Khmer Temple (1115-45) in Cambodia.

Song Painting
It is in the realms of painting and pottery that the civilization of Song reached its
summit. Before the fall of Kaifeng there were two distinct schools of painting: that
of the court artists, virtuosi who, displayed supreme but soulless competence
whether in colour or ink, on silk or paper, their subjects being flowers and
animals, bamboo shoots and landscapes; and that of the amateurs and
individualists. These civil servants, scholars and poets painted as a form of
personal expression, intellectual as well as spiritual, a way for the individual to
come to terms with himself through communion with nature, in the rendering of
the essence of a landscape, a bamboo sprig or a dragonfly. The experience was so
personal that there were a hundred styles, a hundred ways of outlining a leaf, a
rock, a cloud, just as there are a hundred ways of depicting a character, for the
stroke of the brush on silk or paper does not allow for hesitation or correction; it
proceeds straight from the mind and this can not be done spontaneously without
deep contemplation beforehand. The Chinese invented the art of landscape
painting as a genre, but it was never purely descriptive, however close to reality.
It was a spiritual exercise that went to the heart of things.

In fact, after calligraphy, landscape is considered to be the highest form of

Chinese painting. Classical Chinese landscape painting was supposedly begun by
the famous Jin Dynasty artist Gu Kaizhi (344-406). However, the period (907-
1127) is known as the 'Great age of Chinese landscape'. In the north of the
country, Chinese artists like Fan Kuan, Guo Xi and Jing Hao produced images of
towering mountains, using strong black lines, ink wash, and sharp, dotted
brushstrokes to suggest rough stone. In the south, Ju Ran, Dong Yuan, and others
depicted rolling hills and rivers with softer, rubbed brushwork. These two types of
outdoor subjects and techniques evolved into the main classical styles of Chinese
landscape painting. Several new painting techniques appeared. Artists began
depicting depth through the use of blurred outlines and impressionistic treatment
of elements in the middle and far distance of their painting. At the same time, a
Daoist-like emphasis was placed on the emotional/spiritual qualities of the
picture, and on the ability of the artist to display the harmony between man and
nature.
Song Pottery

These painters and poets were also great lovers of ceramic art, for a beautiful
vase, like a piece of jade, was at the same time a poem and a painting. Ceramics
were designed both for use and for contemplation. Their quality resided in the
balance between their form, reduced to essentials, and their glaze, through which
they appealed to visual and tactile senses. The wealth of craftsmanship
underlying their elegant reticence was satisfying to the Confucian mind. There
were kilns all over China working with different clays and glazes. Among the most
famous were those producing the "crackled" "kuan" ware and the rare "ju".
Porcelain like the creamy white Ting ware or the pale blue Ch'ing-pai ware with
their incised decoration come the closest to perfection.
Yuan Dynasty Art (1271-1368)
The Mongols who overran China during the 1270s and proclaimed their new Yuan
Dynasty, quickly adopted the Chinese culture. We have a description of the court
of Kublai Khan written by the Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, the first European
to visit China (1275). Lack of official patronage during the era of Yuan Dynasty art
caused many Chinese painters and calligraphers to withdraw from public life into
seclusion, where they created a more erudite and spiritual style of art. The Yuan
period was especially notable for its painters, particularly the "Four Great
Masters" who stayed aloof from the Mongol court. As well as fine art (which also
included Buddhist sculpture), the Yuan era is noted for its decorative arts, notably
its underglazed blue-and-white porcelain, along with its lacquerware and jades.

Ming Dynasty Art (1368-1644)

The Mongols were overthrown by a popular insurrection led by a shepherd and

guerrilla leader who founded the Ming dynasty, with its capital in Nanjing
(Nanking), which was transferred later to Beijing (Peking). The Ming court was as
glamorous as that of the Tang but ridden with corruption and paralysed by
internal conflicts. Painting continued as before becoming over refined at the end
of the dynasty. More styles of painting emerged, including the Wu School and the
Zhe School. But Ming Dynasty art is particularly famous for its blue and white
porcelain, where cobalt blue is applied on the paste under a transparent glaze.
Later ceramicists took to using bright enamels in three or five colours. (Note:
enamelling - principally Cloisonné enamelling - became a speciality of both the
Ming and Qing dynasties.) The pieces were decorated with allegories, Daoist and
Buddhist symbols and a variety of bird, flower and dragon motifs. Much of
Chinese architecture that has survived dates from this period, but it lacks the
imagination of the Song buildings with their cantilevered eaves and brackets.

Art Under the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

In 1644 the Manchus in the north took advantage of economic and social unrest
in China. They were a military race with a great admiration for Chinese culture.
Their emperors were powerful men who administered the country with a strong
hand until the end of the 19th century, but the Chinese elite did not mix with the
Manchus for a long time. This was detrimental to the progress of Chinese
civilization, at the moment when the Europeans were becoming important in
Asia.

A reaction against the traditional rules of painting occurred during the era of Qing
Dynasty art, as painters known as "Individualists" began using a looser, freer style
of brushwork. This new method was encouraged in the 1700s and 1800s, when
rich patrons in commercial centres like Yangzhou and Shanghai began to
commission artists to produce bold new paintings.

But the Kangxi Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor will always be associated with
types of porcelain known as famille-verte and famille-rose, more appreciated by
Europeans than by the Chinese who preferred subtle monochromes. (Note:
Famille verte [called Kangxi wucai, or Susancai] uses green and iron red with other
coloured glazes. Famille rose [called Fencai or Ruancai, meaning 'soft colours', or
Yangcai, meaning 'foreign colours'] used mostly pink or purple and was in great
demand during the 18th and the 19th centuries.) Between the abdication of
Qianlong in 1795 and the 20th century, China continued to produce objects of
quality but the inspiration failed and forms became cluttered with decorative
details.

NOTE (1) A fashion for pseudo-Chinese decoration, known as Chinoiserie, spread

across Europe during the 17th & 18th century.
NOTE (2) See also the two great Ukiyo-e artists from the Edo Period in Japan:
Hokusai (1760-1849) and Hiroshige (1797-1858).

Traditional Chinese painting came under further pressure during the late 1800s
and early 1900s, as artists became increasingly influenced by Western art,
culminating in the introduction of oil painting to the Chinese mainland.

History of Chinese art

Chinese jade ornament with dragon and phoenix design, late Spring and Autumn
Period (722 B.C.E.-481 B.C.E.).

Chinese art traditions are the oldest continuous art traditions in the world. Early
so-called "stone age art" in China, consisting mostly of simple pottery and
sculptures, dates back to 10,000 B.C.E.. This early period was followed by a series
of dynasties, most of which lasted several hundred years. Through dynastic
changes, political collapses, Mongol and Manchurian invasions, wars, and
famines, Chinese artistic traditions were preserved by scholars and nobles and
adapted by each successive dynasty. The art of each dynasty can be distinguished
by its unique characteristics and developments.

Contents

[hide]

1 Historical development to 221 B.C.E.

1.1 Neolithic pottery

1.2 Jade culture

1.3 Bronze casting

1.4 Early Chinese music

1.5 Early Chinese poetry

1.6 Chu and Southern culture

2 Early Imperial China (221 B.C.E.– 220 C.E.)

2.1 Qin sculpture

2.2 Pottery

2.3 TLV Mirrors

2.4 Han poetry

2.5 Han paper art

2.6 Other Han art

3 Period of Division (220–581)

3.1 Influence of Buddhism

3.2 Poetry

3.3 Calligraphy

4 The Sui and Tang dynasties (581–960)

4.1 Buddhist architecture and sculpture

4.2 Golden age of Chinese poetry

4.3 Li Po and Du Fu

4.4 Late Tang poetry

4.5 Painting

5 Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368)

5.1 Song poetry

5.2 Song painting

5.3 Yuan drama

5.4 Yuan painting

6 Late imperial China (1368-1911)

6.1 Ming poetry

6.2 Ming prose

6.3 Ming painting

6.4 Qing drama

6.5 Qing poetry

6.6 Early Qing painting

6.7 Shanghai School (1850 – 1890)

6.8 Qing fiction

7 New China Art (1912-1949)

7.1 Transformation

7.2 The Big Three

7.3 Comics

7.4 Painting

7.5 Guohua

8 Communist art (1950-1980s)

8.1 The loss of the Big Three

8.2 Painting

8.3 Poetry

9 Redevelopment (Mid-1980s - 1990s)

9.1 Contemporary Art

9.2 Visual art

10 Contemporary Chinese art market

10.1 The new visual art market

11 See also

12 Notes

13 References

14 External links

15 Credits

Jade carvings and cast bronzes are among the earliest treasures of Chinese art.
The origins of Chinese music and poetry can be found in the Book of Songs,
containing poems composed between 1000 B.C.E. and 600 B.C.E.. The earliest
surviving examples of Chinese painting are fragments of painting on silk, stone,
and lacquer items dating to the Warring States period (481 - 221 B.C.E.). Paper,
invented during the first century C.E., later replaced silk. Beginning with the
establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (265–420)|, painting and calligraphy
were highly appreciated arts in court circles. Both used brushes and ink on silk or
paper. The earliest paintings were figure paintings, followed later by landscapes
and bird-and-flower paintings. Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism powerfully
influenced the subjectmatter and style of Chinese art.
Historical development to 221 B.C.E.

Neolithic pottery

Black eggshell pottery of the Longshan culture (c. 3000–2000 B.C.E.)

Early forms of art in China are found in the Neolithic Yangshao culture (Chinese:
仰韶文化; pinyin: Yǎngsháo Wénhuà), which dates back to the sixth millennium
B.C.E. Archeological findings such as those at the Banpo have revealed that the
Yangshao made pottery; early ceramics were unpainted and most often
ornamented by with marks made by pressing cords into the wet clay. The first
pictorial decorations were fish and human faces, which eventually evolved into
symmetrical-geometric abstract designs, some painted.

The most distinctive feature of Yangshao culture was the extensive use of painted
pottery, especially human facial, animal, and geometric designs. Unlike the later
Longshan culture, the Yangshao culture did not use pottery wheels in pottery
making. According to archaeologists, Yangshao society was based around
matriarchal clans. Excavations have found that children were buried in painted
pottery jars.

Jade culture

Jade bi from the Liangzhu culture. The ritual object is a symbol of wealth and
military power.

Tools such as hammer heads, ax heads and knives were made of jade nephrite
during the Neolithic period (c. 12,000 – c. 2,000 B.C.E.). The Liangzhu culture, the
last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River delta, lasted for a period of about
1300 years from 3400 - 2250 B.C.E. The jade from this culture is characterized by
finely worked, large ritual jades such as Cong cylinders, Bi discs, Yue axes,
pendants and decorations in the form of chiseled open-work plaques, plates and
representations of small birds, turtles and fish. Liangzhu jade has a white, milky
bone-like aspect due to its origin as Tremolite rock and the influence of water-
based fluids at the burial sites.

Shang Dynasty (Yin) bronze ritual wine vessel, dating to the thirteenth century
B.C.E.

Bronze casting

The Bronze Age in China began with the Xia Dynasty (ca. 2100 – 1600 B.C.E.).
Examples from this period have been recovered from ruins of the Erlitou culture,
in Shanxi, and include complex but unadorned utilitarian objects. In the following
Shang Dynasty (商朝) or Yin Dynasty (殷代) (ca. 1600 - ca. 1100 B.C.E.), more
elaborate objects, including many ritual vessels, were crafted. The Shang are
recognized for their bronze casting, noted for its clarity of detail. Excavations
show that Shang bronzesmiths usually worked in foundries outside the cities and
made ritual vessels, weapons and sometimes chariot fittings. The bronze vessels
were receptacles for storing or serving various solids and liquids used in the
performance of sacred ceremonies. Some forms such as the ku and jue can be
very graceful, but the most powerful pieces are the ding, sometimes described as
having an "air of ferocious majesty."

It is typical of the developed Shang style that all available space is decorated,
most often with stylized forms of real and imaginary animals. The most common
motif is the taotie, a symmetrical zoomorphic mask, presented frontally, with a
pair of eyes and typically no lower jaw area. The early significance of taotie is not
clear, but myths about it existed around the late Zhou Dynasty (周朝; 1122 B.C.E.
to 256 B.C.E.). It was considered to be variously a covetous man banished to
guard a corner of heaven against evil monsters; or a monster equipped with only
a head which tries to devour men but hurts only itself.

The function and appearance of bronzes altered gradually from the Shang to the
Zhou, and they began to be used for practical purposes as well as in religious rites.
By the Warring States Period (fifth century B.C.E. to 221 B.C.E.), bronze vessels
had become objects of aesthetic enjoyment. Some were decorated with scenes of
social life, such as banquets or hunts; while others displayed abstract patterns
inlaid with gold, silver, or precious and semiprecious stones.

A Zhou Dynasty bronze musical bell

Shang bronzes became appreciated as works of art during the Song Dynasty (960
– 1279 C.E.), when they were collected and prized not only for their shape and
design but also for the various green, blue green, and even reddish patinas
created by chemical action as they lay buried in the ground. The study of early
Chinese bronze casting is a specialized field of art history.

Early Chinese music

The origins of Chinese music and poetry can be found in the Book of Songs,
containing poems composed between 1000 B.C.E. and 600 B.C.E.. The text,
preserved among the canon of early Chinese literature, contains folk songs,
religious hymns and stately songs. Originally intended to be sung, the music
accompanying the words has unfortunately been lost. The songs were written for
a variety of purposes, including courtship, ceremonial greetings, warfare, feasting
and lamentation. The love poems are among the most appealing in the freshness
and innocence of their language.
Early Chinese music was based on percussion instruments such as the bronze bell.
Chinese bells were sounded by being struck from the outside, usually with a piece
of wood. Sets of bells were suspended on wooden racks. Inside excavated bells
are grooves, scrape marks and scratches made as the bells were tuned to the
right pitch by removing small amounts of metal. Percussion instruments gradually
gave way to string and reed instruments toward the Warring States period.

Chinese pu vessel with interlaced dragon design, Spring and Autumn Period (722
B.C.E.-481 B.C.E.).

Significantly, the Chinese character for the word music (yue) was the same as that
for joy (le). Confucians believed music had the power to make people harmonious
and well balanced, or to cause them to be quarrelsome and depraved. According
to Xun Zi, music was as important as the li (rites, etiquette) stressed in
Confucianism. Mozi, philosophically opposed to Confucianism, dismissed music as
useless and wasteful, having no practical purpose.

Early Chinese poetry

In addition to the Book of Songs (Shi Jing), a second early and influential poetic
anthology was the Songs of Chu (Simplified Chinese: 楚辞; Traditional Chinese: 楚
辭; pinyin: Chǔ Cí), made up primarily of poems ascribed to the semilegendary Qu
Yuan (c. 340–278 B.C.E.) and his follower Song Yu (fourth century B.C.E.). The
songs in this collection are more lyrical and romantic and represent a different
tradition from the earlier Classic of Poetry (Shi Jing).

Chu and Southern culture

A rich source of art in early China was the state of Chu (722 – 481 B.C.E.), which
developed in the Yangtze River valley. Painted wooden sculptures, jade disks,
glass beads, musical instruments, and an assortment of lacquerware have been
found in excavations of Chu tombs. Many of the lacquer objects are finely
painted, red on black or black on red. The world's oldest painting on silk
discovered to date was found at a site in Changsha, Hunan province. It shows a
woman accompanied by a phoenix and a dragon, two mythological animals that
feature prominently in Chinese art.

An anthology of Chu poetry has also survived in the form of the Chu Ci, which has
been translated into English by David Hawkes. Many of the works in the text are
associated with Shamanism. There are also descriptions of fantastic landscapes,
examples of China's first nature poetry. The longest poem, "Encountering
Sorrow," is reputed to have been written by the tragic Qu Yuan as a political

Pottery

Porcelain is made from a hard paste comprised of the clay kaolin and a feldspar
called petuntse, which cements the vessel and seals any pores. The word china
(chinaware) has become synonymous with high-quality porcelain. Most china
comes from the city of Jingdezhen in China's Jiangxi province. Jingdezhen, under a
variety of names, has been central to porcelain production in China since at least
the early Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.).

The most noticeable difference between porcelain and other pottery clays is that
it "wets" very quickly (that is, added water has a noticeably greater effect on the
plasticity of porcelain clays), and that it tends to continue to "move" longer than
other clays, requiring experience in handling to attain optimum results. Porcelain
is fired at very high temperatures and the result is a translucent quality, allowing
light to penetrate the finished product.
In medieval Europe, Chinese porcelain was very expensive and much sought after
for its beauty.

TLV Mirrors

Bronze mirrors, called TLV mirrors because symbols resembling the letters T, L,
and V are engraved into them, became popular during the Han Dynasty. They
were produced from around the second century B.C.E. until the second century
C.E.. The dragon was an important symbol on early TLV mirrors, appearing as
arabesques on early mirrors and later as fully-fledged figures.[1] In the later part
of the Western Han period, the dragons were replaced by winged figures,
monsters and immortals.

Mirrors from the Xin Dynasty (8-23 C.E.) usually have an outer band with cloud or
animal motifs, and an inner circle with a square containing a knob. The inner circle
often contains a series of eight 'nipples,' and various mythological animals and
beings, including the Queen Mother of the West.[2] The central square could have
an inscription, or contain the characters of the Twelve Earthly Branches.
Inscriptions placed in between the mirror's sections frequently discuss Wang
Mang and his reign.[3]

Period of Division (220–581)

A scene of two horseback riders from a wall painting in the tomb of Lou Rui at
Taiyuan, Shanxi, Northern Qi Dynasty (550–577)

Influence of Buddhism

A Chinese Northern Wei Buddha Maitreya, 443 C.E.

Buddhism arrived in China around the first century C.E. (although some traditions
tell of a monk visiting China during Asoka's reign), and for the next seven
centuries China became very active in the development of Buddhist art,
particularly in the area of statuary. Strong Chinese traits were soon incorporated
in Buddhist artistic expression.

From the fifth to sixth century, the Northern Dynasties, physically distant from the
original sources of inspiration, developed symbolic and abstract modes of
representation with schematic lines. Their style is solemn and majestic. The lack
of corporeality of this art, and its distance from the original Buddhist objective of
expressing the pure ideal of enlightenment in an accessible, realistic manner,
progressed towards more the natural and realistic expression of Tang Buddhist
art.

Northern Wei wall murals and painted figurines from the Yungang Grottoes,
dated fifth to sixth centuries.

Poetry

Historical records indicate Cao Cao (155 – 220), the father of the well-known
poets Cao Pi (187 – 226) and Cao Zhi (192 – 232), was himself a brilliant ruler and
poet. Cao Pi is known for writing the first Chinese poem using seven syllables per
line (七言詩), the poem 燕歌行. Cao Zhi demonstrated his spontaneous wit at an
early age and was a favorite candidate for the throne; his brother Cao Pi quickly
took control after their father’s death and Cao Zhi was never allowed to enter
politics. Instead, he devoted his ability to Chinese literature and poetry, and
surrounded himself with a group of poets and officials with literary interests. The
poems of Cao Zhi, Cao Cao, and Cao Pi were representative of the solemn and
stirring jian'an style (建安風骨), a transition from earlier folksongs into scholarly
poetry. Lament over the ephemerality of life was a central theme of works from
this period. More than 60 of the 90 poems by Cao Zhi still in existence are five-
character poems (五言詩), considered to have strongly influenced the later
development of five-character poetry.

The poetry of Tao Qian (365 – 427) was an important influence on the poetry of
the Tang and Song Dynasties. Approximately 120 of his poems survive, depicting
an idyllic pastoral life of farming and drinking.

Calligraphy

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, an Eastern Jin (265-420) tomb painting from
Nanjing, now located in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum.

Strolling About in Spring, by Zhan Ziqian, artist of the Sui Dynasty (581–618).

Part of the scroll for Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies, a Tang
Dynasty duplication of the original by Gu Kaizhi.

In ancient China, painting and calligraphy were the most highly appreciated arts in
court circles and were produced almost exclusively by amateurs, aristocrats and
scholar-officials who had the leisure to perfect the technique and sensibility
necessary for great brushwork. Calligraphy was considered the highest and purest
form of painting. The implements were the brush pen, made of animal hair, and
black inks, made from pine soot and animal glue. Writing as well as painting was
done on silk until the invention of paper in the first century. Original writings by
famous calligraphers have been greatly valued throughout China's history.

Wang Xizhi (Chinese: 王羲之, 303–361), a famous Chinese calligrapher who lived
in the 4th century C.E., is known for Lanting Xu, the preface to a collection of
poems written by a number of poets who gathered at Lan Ting near the town of
Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, to engage in a game called "qu shui liu shang."

His teacher was Wei Shuo (Simplified Chinese: 卫铄; Traditional Chinese: 衛鑠;
pinyin: Wèi Shuò, 272–349), commonly addressed as Lady Wei (衛夫人), a well-
known calligrapher who established consequential rules for Regular Script. Her
works include Famous Concubine Inscription (名姬帖 Ming Ji Tie) and The
Inscription of Wei-shi He'nan (衛氏和南帖 Wei-shi He'nan Tie).

Gu Kaizhi (Traditional Chinese: 顧愷之; Simplified Chinese: 顾恺之; Hanyu Pinyin:

Gù Kǎizhī; Wade-Giles: Ku K'ai-chih) (ca. 344-406), a celebrated painter born in
Wuxi, wrote three books on painting theory: On Painting (画论), Introduction of
Famous Paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties (魏晋胜流画赞) and Painting Yuntai
Mountain (画云台山记). He wrote, "In figure paintings the clothes and the
appearances were not very important. The eyes were the spirit and the decisive
factor."

Three of Gu's paintings still survive: "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court
Ladies," "Nymph of the Luo River" (洛神赋), and "Wise and Benevolent Women."
Other examples of Jin Dynasty painting have been found in tombs. Seven Sages of
the Bamboo Grove, painted on a brick wall of a tomb located near modern
Nanjing and now found in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, depicts a famous group
of seven Daoist scholars, each labeled and shown either drinking, writing, or
playing a musical instrument. Other tomb paintings portray scenes of daily life,
such as men plowing fields with teams of oxen.

The Sui and Tang dynasties (581–960)

A Chinese Tang Dynasty tri-color glazed porcelain horse (ca. 700 C.E.), using
yellow, green and white colors.

The Tang period was considered the golden age of Chinese literature and art.

Buddhist architecture and sculpture

Following a transition under the Sui Dynasty, Buddhist sculpture of the Tang
evolved towards markedly lifelike expression. Buddhism continued to flourish
during the Tang period and was adopted by the imperial family, becoming
thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. As a
consequence of the Dynasty's openness to foreign influences, and renewed
exchanges with Indian culture due to the numerous travels of Chinese Buddhist
monks to India from the fourth to the eleventh century, Tang dynasty Buddhist
sculpture assumed a classical form, inspired by the Indian art of the Gupta period.
Towards the end of the Tang dynasty foreign influences came to be negatively
perceived. In the year 845, the Tang emperor Wu-Tsung outlawed all "foreign"
religions (including Christian Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism) in
order to support the indigenous Daoism. He confiscated Buddhist possessions and
forced the faith to go underground, affecting the further development of the
religion and its arts in China.

Seated Mahayana Buddha statue, Tang dynasty

Most wooden Tang sculptures have not survived, though representations of the
Tang international style can still be seen in Nara, Japan. Some of the finest
examples of Tang stone sculpture can be seen at Longmen, near Luoyang,
Yungang near Datong, and Bingling Temple, in Gansu.

One of the most famous Buddhist Chinese pagodas is the Giant Wild Goose
Pagoda, built in 652 C.E..

A Man Herding Horses, by Han Gan (706-783 C.E.), Tang Dynasty original.

Golden age of Chinese poetry

From the second century C.E., yue fu (Chinese poems composed in the style of
folk songs) began to develop into shi—the form which was to dominate Chinese
poetry until the modern era. The writers of these poems took the five-character
line of the yue fu and used it to express more complex ideas. The shi poem was
generally an expression of the poet's personal nature rather than the adopted
characters of the yue fu; many were romantic nature poems heavily influenced by
Daoism.
The Chinese term gushi ("old poems") refers either to the mostly anonymous shi
poems, or more generally to the poems written in the same form by later poets.
Gushi are distinct from jintishi (regulated verse); the writer of gushi was under no
formal constraints other than line length and rhyme (in every second line).

Jintishi, or regulated verse, developed from the 5th century onwards. By the Tang
dynasty, a series of set tonal patterns had been developed, which were intended
to ensure a balance between the four tones of classical Chinese in each couplet:
the level tone, and the three deflected tones (rising, falling and entering). The
Tang dynasty was the high point of the jintishi.

Notable poets from this era include Bai Juyi, Du Mu, Han Yu, Jia Dao, Li Qiao, Liu
Zongyuan, Luo Binwang, Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, and Zhang Jiuling.

Li Po and Du Fu

Li Po and Du Fu, regarded by many as the greatest of the Chinese poets, both
lived during the Tang Dynasty.

The Leshan Giant Buddha, 71 meters tall, construction began in 713 C.E.,
completed 90 years later.

Over a thousand poems are attributed to Li Po, but the authenticity of many of
these is uncertain. He is best known for his intense and imaginative yue fu poems.
Li Po is associated with Daoism, but his gufeng ("ancient airs") often adopt the
perspective of the Confucian moralist. He composed approximately 160 jueju
(five- or seven-character quatrains) on nature, friendship, and acute observations
of life. Some poems, like Changgan xing (translated by Ezra Pound as A River
Merchant's Wife: A Letter), record the hardships or emotions of common people.

Since the Song dynasty, critics have called Du Fu the "poet historian." The most
directly historical of his poems are those commenting on military tactics or the
successes and failures of the government, or the poems of advice which he wrote
to the emperor.

Tang Dynasty mural painting from Dunhuang.

One of the Du Fu's earliest surviving works, The Song of the Wagons (c. 750), gives
voice to the sufferings of a conscript soldier in the imperial army, even before the
beginning of the rebellion. Du Fu mastered all the forms of Chinese poetry and
used a wide range of registers, from the direct and colloquial to the allusive and
self-consciously literary.

Late Tang poetry

Li Shangyin, a Chinese poet typical of the late Tang dynasty, wrote works that
were sensuous, dense and allusive. Many of his poems have political, romantic or
philosophical implications.

Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang Kingdom, composed his best-known
poems during the years after the Song formally ended his reign in 975 and
brought him back as a captive to the Song capital, Bianjing (now Kaifeng). Li's
works from this period dwell on his regret for the lost kingdom and the pleasures
it had brought him. He was finally poisoned by the Song emperor in 978. Li Yu
developed the ci by broadening its scope from love to history and philosophy,
particularly in his later works. He also introduced the two-stanza form, and made
great use of contrasts between longer lines of nine characters and shorter ones of
three and five.

Painting

Painting by Dong Yuan (c. 934–962).

During the Tang dynasty (618–907), landscape painting (shanshui) became highly
developed. These landscapes, usually monochromatic and sparse, were not
intended to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature but to evoke an emotion
or atmosphere and capture the "rhythm" of nature.

The oldest known classical Chinese landscape painting is a work by Zhan Ziqian of
the Sui Dynasty (581–618), Strolling About In Spring in which the mountains are
arranged to show perspective.

Painting in the traditional style involved essentially the same techniques as

calligraphy and was done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink on paper and
silk. The finished work was then mounted on scrolls, which could be hung or
rolled up. Traditional painting was also done in albums and on walls, lacquer
work, and other media.

Dong Yuan, a painter of the Southern Tang Kingdom, was known for both figure
and landscape paintings, and exemplified the elegant style which would become
the standard for brush painting in China over the next 900 years. Like many
Chinese painters, he was a government official. Dong Yuan studied and emulated
the styles of Li Sixun and Wang Wei, but added new techniques including more
sophisticated perspective and the use of pointillism and crosshatching to build up
vivid effect.

Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368)

Song Dynasty ding-ware porcelain bottle with iron pigment under a transparent
colorless glaze, eleventh century.

A wooden Bodhisattva from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 C.E.)

The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, 1173-1176 C.E., Song Dynasty

period.

Playing Children, by Song artist Su Hanchen, c. 1150 C.E..

Song poetry

Beginning in the Liang Dynasty, Ci lyric poetry followed the tradition of the Shi
Jing and yue fu; lyrics from anonymous popular songs (some of Central Asian
origin) were developed into a sophisticated literary genre. The form was further
developed during the Tang Dynasty, and was most popular in the Song Dynasty.

Ci most often expressed feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona, but the
greatest exponents of the form (such as Li Houzhu and Su Shi) used it to address a
wide range of topics.
Well-known poets of the Song Dynasty include Zeng Gong, Li Qingzhao, Lu You,
Mei Yaochen, Ouyang Xiu, Su Dongpo, Wang Anshi, and Xin Qiji.

Song painting

During the Song dynasty (960–1279), landscapes of more subtle expression

appeared; immeasurable distances were conveyed through the use of blurred
outlines, mountain contours disappearing into the mist, and impressionistic
treatment of natural phenomena. Emphasis was placed on the spiritual qualities
of the painting and on the ability of the artist to reveal the inner harmony of man
and nature, as perceived according to Daoist and Buddhist concepts.

Liang Kai, a Chinese painter who lived in the thirteenth century (Song Dynasty),
called himself "Madman Liang." He spent his life drinking and painting, eventually
retiring to become a Zen monk. Liang is credited with inventing the Zen school of
Chinese art.

Wen Tong, who lived in the eleventh century, was famous for ink paintings of
bamboo. He could hold two brushes in one hand and paint two different bamboos
simultaneously. He did not need to look at bamboo while he painted because he
was so familiar with their appearance and character.

Zhang Zeduan is noted for his horizontal cityscape Along the River During
Qingming Festival, which has been copied many times throughout Chinese
history.[9] Other famous paintings include The Night Revels of Han Xizai, originally
painted by the Southern Tang artist Gu Hongzhong in the tenth century. The best-
known version of his painting is a twelfth century copy from the Song Dynasty.
The large horizontal hand scroll shows men of the gentry class being entertained
by musicians and dancers while enjoying food, beverage, and being offered wash
basins by maidservants.

Yuan drama

Chinese opera has its origins in the Tang dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong (712–755)
founded the "Pear Garden" (梨园), the first known opera troupe in China, to
perform for his personal enjoyment. Chinese operatic professionals are still
referred to as "Disciples of the Pear Garden" (梨园子弟). In the Yuan dynasty
(1279–1368), forms like the Zaju (杂剧, variety plays), in which dramas are based
on rhyming schemes and incorporate specialized character roles like "Dan" (旦,
female), "Sheng" (生, male) and "Chou" (丑, Clown), were introduced into the
opera.

Yuan dynasty opera exists today as Cantonese opera. It is universally accepted

that Cantonese opera was imported from the northern part of China and slowly
migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in late thirteenth century,
during the late Southern Song Dynasty. In the twelfth century, there was a
theatrical form called Narm hei (南戲), or the Nanxi (Southern opera), which was
performed in public theaters of Hangzhou, then capital of the Southern Song
Dynasty. When the Mongol army invaded in 1276, Emperor Gong (Gong Di (恭帝
Gōngdì)) fled from Zhao Xian (趙顯 Zhào Xiǎn) to the province of Guangdong with
hundreds of thousands of Song people. Among these people were some narm hei
artists who introduced narm hei into Guangdong where it developed into the
earliest kind of Cantonese opera.

Many well-known operas performed today, such as The Purple Hairpin and
Rejuvenation of the Red Plum Flower, originated in the Yuan Dynasty, with the
lyrics and scripts in Cantonese. Until the twentieth century all the female roles
were performed by males.

Yuan painting

Wang Meng was a Chinese painter during the Yuan dynasty. One of his well-
known works is Forest Grotto.

Zhao Mengfu, a Chinese scholar, painter and calligrapher during the Yuan
Dynasty, rejected the refined, gentle brushwork of his era in favor of the cruder
style of the eighth century and is considered to have brought about a revolution
that resulted in modern Chinese landscape painting. Qian Xuan (1235-1305), a
patriot from the Song court who refused to serve the Mongols and instead
turning to painting, revived and reproduced the vivid and detailed Tang Dynasty
style.

Late imperial China (1368-1911)

Detail of Dragon Throne used by the Qianlong Emperor of China, Forbidden City,
Qing Dynasty. Artifact circulating in U.S. museums on loan from Beijing

Ming poetry

Gao Qi (1336 – 1374) is acknowledged by many as the greatest poet of the Ming
Dynasty. His style was a radical departure from the extravagance of Yuan dynasty
poetry, and led the way for three hundred years of Ming dynasty poetry.

Ming prose
Zhang Dai (张岱; pinyin: Zhāng Dài, courtesy name: Zhongzhi (宗子), pseudonym:
Tao'an (陶庵)) (1597 - 1689) is acknowledged as the greatest essayist of the Ming
dynasty.

Wen Zhenheng, (Chinese: 文震亨; pinyin: Wén Zhènhēng; Wade-Giles: Wen

Chen-heng, 1585–1645) the great grandson of Wen Zhengming, a famous Ming
dynasty painter, wrote a classic on garden architecture and interior design, Zhang
Wu Zhi (On Superfluous Things).

Ming painting

Peach Festival of the Queen Mother of the West, early seventeenth century, Ming
Dynasty.

Chinese painting from 1664

Chinese culture bloomed during the Ming dynasty. Narrative painting, with a
wider color range and a much busier composition than the Song paintings,
became very popular. As techniques of color printing were perfected, illustrated
manuals on the art of painting began to be published. Jieziyuan Huazhuan
(Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden), a five-volume work first published in 1679,
has been in use as a technical textbook for artists and students ever since.

Wen Zhengming (Traditional Chinese: 文徵明; Simplified Chinese: 文征明; Hanyu

Pinyin: Wén Zhēngmíng; Wade-Giles: Wen Cheng-ming, 1470–1559), a leading
Ming Dynasty painter and calligrapher, painted subjects of great simplicity, such
as single trees or rocks. His discontent with official life is expressed as a feeling of
strength through isolation in his works. Many of his works celebrate the contexts
of elite social life for which they were created.

Painting by Wen Zhengming

Xu Wei (Chinese: 徐渭; pinyin: Xú Wèi, 1521—1593), a Ming Chinese painter, poet
and dramatist, is considered the founder of modern painting in China.
Revolutionary for its time, his painting style influenced and inspired countless
subsequent painters, such as Zhu Da, the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, and the
modern masters Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi.

Matteo Ricci (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610; Traditional Chinese: 利瑪竇;
Simplified Chinese: 利玛窦; pinyin: Lì Mǎdòu; courtesy name: 西泰 Xītài), an
Italian Jesuit priest, arrived in China in 1583 and introduced Western geography,
science, music, painting and technology for the first time to Chinese scholars.

Qing drama

The best-known form of Chinese opera, Beijing opera, assumed its present form
in the mid-nineteenth century and was popular during the Qing Dynasty (1644–
1911). It originated in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei. Its two main
melodies, Xipi and Erhuang, come from Anhui and Hubei operas, and much of the
dialogue is carried out in an archaic dialect originating partially from those
regions. It is commonly believed that Beijing Opera was born when the Four Great
Anhui Troupes came to Beijing in 1790. Originally staged for the court, it later
became a form of public entertainment. In 1828, some famous Hubei troupes
came to Beijing, where they performed on stage with Anhui troupes. Beijing
opera's main melodies evolved from this combination. Music and arias were also
absorbed from other operas and musical arts such as the historic Qinqiang.
In Beijing Opera, traditional Chinese string and percussion instruments provide a
strong rhythmic accompaniment to the acting, in which stylized gestures,
footwork, and other body movements express such actions as riding a horse,
rowing a boat, or opening a door.

Qing poetry

Yuan Mei, a well-known poet who lived during the Qing Dynasty, produced a large
body of poetry, essays and paintings. His works reflected his interest in Zen
Buddhism and the supernatural, at the expense of Daoism and institutional
Buddhism—both of which he rejected. Yuan is most famous for his poetry, which
has been described as "unusually clear and elegant language." His views on
poetry, elaborated on in the Suiyuan shihua (隨園詩話), stressed the importance
of personal feeling and technical perfection.

Early Qing painting

The Yongzheng Emperor Enjoying Himself During the 8th Lunar Month, by
anonymous court artists, 1723-1735 C.E., Palace Museum, Beijing.

Bada Shanren (Template:Zh-cwl, (ca. 1626—1705), born as Zhu Da (朱耷), was a

calligrapher and ink-and-wash (shuimohua) painter. His paintings feature sharp
brush strokes which are attributed to the sideways manner by which he held his
brush.

"Eleven Pigeons" painting by Jiang Tingxi

Jiang Tingxi (Traditional Chinese: 蔣廷錫; Simplified Chinese: 蒋廷锡; Hanyu
Pinyin: Jiǎng Tíngxí; Wade-Giles: Chiang T'ing-hsi, 1669–1732), courtesy name
Yangsun (杨孙), was an editor of the 5020-volume state-sponsored encyclopedia
Gǔjīn Túshū Jíchéng (Traditional Chinese: 古今圖書集成; Simplified Chinese: 古今
图书集成; literally "Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the
Earliest to Current Times"), published in 1726 and compiled in collaboration with
Chen Menglei during the reigns of Qing emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. An
official painter and grand secretary to the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Jiang Tingxi
used a wide variety of artistic styles, and focused particularly on paintings of birds
and flowers. He was also proficient in calligraphy.

Yuanji Shih T'ao (born Zhu Ruoji (1642 - 1707) was a member of the Ming royal
house who narrowly escaped in 1644 when the Ming dynasty fell to invading
Manchurians and civil rebellion. He assumed the name Yuanji Shih T'ao and
became a Buddhist monk, then converted to Daoism in 1693. One of the most
famous individualist painters of the early Qing dynasty, he transgressed the rigidly
codified techniques and styles of painting tradition. His formal innovations include
drawing attention to the act of painting itself through the use of washes and bold,
impressionistic brushstrokes; an interest in subjective perspective; and the use of
negative or white space to suggest distance.

Shanghai School (1850 – 1890)

After the bloody Taiping rebellion broke out in 1853, wealthy Chinese refugees
flocked to Shanghai where they prospered by trading with British, American, and
French merchants in the foreign concessions there. Their patronage encouraged
artists to come to Shanghai, where they congregated in groups and art
associations and developed a new Shanghai style of painting. The new cultural
environment, a rich combination of Western and Chinese lifestyles, traditional
and modern, stimulated painters and presented them with new
opportunities.[10]The Shanghai School (海上画派 Haishang Huapai or 海派
Haipai) challenged the literati tradition of Chinese art, while paying technical
homage to the ancient masters and improving on existing traditional techniques.
One of the most influential painters of the Shanghai school was Ren Xiong.
Members of the Ren family and their students produced a number of innovations
in painting between the 1860s and the 1890s, particularly in the traditional genres
of figure painting and bird-and-flower painting.

In an era of rapid social change, works from the Shanghai School were widely
innovative and diverse, and often contained thoughtful yet subtle social
commentary. The most well-known figures from this school are Ren Xiong (任熊),
Ren Yi (任伯年, also known as Ren Bonian), Zhao Zhiqian (赵之谦), Wu
Changshuo (吴昌硕), Sha Menghai (沙孟海, calligrapher), Pan Tianshou (潘天寿),
Fu Baoshi (傅抱石). Other well-known painters are: Wang Zhen, XuGu, Zhang
Xiong, Hu Yuan, and Yang Borun.

Peonies and Daffodils (牡丹水仙图), Wu Changshuo, Jilin Provincial Museum

Qing fiction

Many great works of art and literature originated during the period, and the
Qianlong emperor in particular undertook huge projects to preserve important
cultural texts. The novel became widely read and Dream of the Red Chamber, by
Cao Xueqin, perhaps China's most famous novel, was written in the mid-
eighteenth century. Handwritten copies of this work, consisting of 80 chapters,
were in circulation in Beijing shortly after Cao's death, before Gao Ê, who claimed
to have access to the former's working papers, published a complete 120-chapter
version in 1792.
Pu Songling was a famous writer of Liaozhai Zhiyi 《聊齋志異》during the Qing
dynasty. He opened a tea house and invited his guests to tell stories, and then
compiled the tales in collections such as Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.