Chinese History Timeline & other Background Info
Timeline of Chinese History and Dynasties:
- Chinese History & Culture: Timeline of Chinese History
- Timeline of Chinese Dynasties and Other Key Events
- "The Dynasties Song" for Remembering the Major Chinese Dynasties
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The History and Spirit of Chinese Art
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- Series:
- The History and Spirit of Chinese Art
- Authors:
- Fa Zhang
- Publication Information:
- Honolulu : Silkroad Press. 2016
- Resource Type:
- eBook.
- Description:
- Art is always a product of cultural evolution, and The History and Spirit of Chinese Art looks at this universal process as it unfolded in ancient China. With “mountain-water” landscape paintings, works of classical Chinese calligraphy, and blue and white porcelain widely displayed in museums and fetching high prices in auction houses worldwide, Chinese art is no longer foreign to the Western world. However, to many, the making of such cultural artefacts remains an enigmatic process. Indeed, Chinese art, the product of such an old civilization, was shaped by an ongoing process of evolution along the ebbs and flows of China's history as a nation. In The History and Spirit of Chinese Art, aesthetics expert Zhang Fa deciphers the philosophies and thoughts that have defined Chinese art since the very beginning of the Chinese civilization, moving through the dynastic landmarks of artistic development with discussions of numerous art forms including paintings, architecture, dance and music, calligraphy, and literature.
Chinese Art: Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms
Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms (907-960):
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Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
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- Authors:
- Lorge, Peter Allan
- Publication Information:
- [S.l.] : The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. 2011
- Resource Type:
- eBook.
- Description:
- The period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907960) has long been treated as an anomaly in the history of China, an age of great disunity between the empires of the Tang and the Song dynasties. Breaking with previous scholarship on China's middle period, this edited volume presents individual studies that focus on the art, culture, and politics of the interregnum, challenging underlying assumptions about the unitary nature of dynastic culture and its value as a category of historical analysis. It understands these decades as a time of important transition in which the incipient cultural shifts of the mature Tang dynasty turned into the foundations of Song society. Consequently it highligh
- The Art Accomplishments in Five Dynasties & Ten KingdomsSummarizing the major art achievements during the Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms: portrait painting, architecture and sculpture. The article also mentioned blue ceramic and Dunhuang murals.
Chinese Art: Song & Yuan Dynasties
- 宋代艺术，领先世界1000年！ Song Dynasty Art, Ahead of the World by 1000 YearsA brief article summarizing visually the key accomplishments of art in the Song Dynasty.
- Song Dynasty Lu Zhongyuan: Ten King Yama Paintings10 paintings of Yama, in Buddhism, is a wrathful and worldly god or the Enlighted Protector of Buddhism that is said to judge the dead and preside over the Narakas ("Hell" or "Purgatory") and the cycle of rebirth.
- "Companions in Solitude" By Zhao Xu in New York | China Daily | Updated: 2021-10-30Analysis about the exhibit in MET: Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art - https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/companions-in-solitude
- The Four Great Painters of the Yuan DynastyFour Great Painters of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368): Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, Wu Zhen and Wang Meng, who were all excellent painters of mountains and water scenes.
- A Study on the Design of Cizhou Kiln Ceramic Pillows in Song and Yuan Dynasties in China"Abstract:
Pillows are a kind of essential bedding in people's lives. Chinese people had a history of using pillows for more than 2000 years. Normally, pillows are made of cotton, silk or other soft materials, but in the Song and Yuan Dynasties which lasted more than 400 years, hard ceramic pillows became prevailing. It is not only a daily article, but also a kind of art that conveys rich cultural connotation and historical information. This study takes the
collection of 57 pieces of ceramic pillows produced in Hebei Cizhou kiln in the Song and Yuan Dynasties as the research object, conducts design analysis and qualitative research on the shape and decoration of ceramic pillows, and excavates the internal reasons why ceramic pillows were prevalent in this period. The study found that the popularity of ceramic pillows in Song and Yuan Dynasties was related to the warming of the climate, the change of
social class and the reasonable product design of ceramic pillows themselves. This research provides inspiration for contemporary designers to better inherit and innovate traditional designs." - Pillows Were More Than Props in Old ChinaHow Chinese people look at pillows - hard or soft materials? What is the significance about pillows made of hard materials?
Suggested Resources for Asian Art
Mural/Scroll Paintings:
- East Asian Scroll Paintings - A magnificent collection of handscroll paintings from the University of Chicago.
- Mogao Caves (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/440/): Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art.
- 14 Fascinating Facts about the Cave Temples of Dunhuang (https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/14-facts-cave-temples-dunhuang/): Highlights from this 1,700-year-old treasury of Chinese art, history, and culture
- Shanxi Museum - Shanxi Museum is the largest center for the collection, preservation, research and exhibition of cultural property in Shanxi Province in northern China. The museum has a fascinating collection of around 200,000 pieces of Shanxi cultural relics. Other special discoveries in Shanxi are listed below:
- Handscroll Tomb Murals from Northern Dynasty in Shanxi (in Chinese) - See video clip (pay attention to the eyes of the horse in the center)
Statue Collections
- Buddhist Statue Monuments from Northern Dynasty in Shanxi - multiple images
- Statues from Yongning Temple, Luoyang, Henan Province - North Wei (Six Dynasties Era; 220-589 C.E.)
- Echoes of Tianlongshan Grottoes - from Eastern Wei Dynasty (part of Northern Wei 386 - 534 CE), Sui Dynasty (589-618 CE) and Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE in Shanxi Province. Many were rescued from abroad; the most recent Tang statue was returned from Japan and exhibit on 2/11/2021 at the Chinese Spring Festival Gala Show.
Architecture Decorative Arts
Architecture Decorative Arts & Religious Murals in Ancient China - across different dynasties
Calligraphy Art
- Yan Zhenqing - Tang Dynasty - Yan Zhenqing (顏真卿, 709–785) was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang Dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy parallels the greatest master calligraphers throughout the history. His “Yan style” of the Regular Script is the textbook-style that most calligraphy beginners imitate today. The “Yan style”, which brought Chinese calligraphy to a new realm, emphasizes on strength, boldness and grandness.
Tomb Complexes of Zhaoling and Qianling
- To Dig or Not to Dig: Qianling Mausoleum in the Spotlight Again
- Zhaoling Mausoleum Museum Highlights - Text in Chinese, but with multiple images