Much of Eastern Asian artwork is perceived as interchangeable by those who live in western societies who don’t know the differences between the art from Indonesia, China, Korea, and Vietnam. However, there are many qualities that set these cultures apart. In China, they emphasize a love of nature, delicate and simplistic brushwork, and the lessons that can be taught through art.
China is often thought of as being righteous and bright, and the country reflects these attributes significantly throughout nearly every aspect of their civilization. The most commonly seen and overlooked piece being their architecture.
The most ancient Chinese architecture was built out of wood, which is a very fragile substance, especially for buildings that need to withstand natural forces. The oldest structure left standing in China is the main hall of the Nanchan Temple. The temple was dated to have been built before 782 C.E. and restored that year. The hall is a small, one-story, square building made out of cedar and cypress wood but fortified with bricks and stones.
This square shape for buildings was one of the most well known staples of Chinese structures. These would often be paired with curving roofs made of tiles or shingles. They are built this way because in Chinese culture, circles represent Heaven, and squares represent the Earth. Combining the two is meant to balance someone between the two and help them find tranquility and health throughout their life. Additionally, the roofs would help to deter lightning and drain water.
This can also be seen in Chinese gardens, such as the Lion Grove Garden. The Lion Grove Garden (Shi Zi Lin) was constructed in 1342, under the rule of Emperor Shun of Yuan in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368); it was originally a monastery built by the students of Master Tianru and had many names such as, “Lions Grove Monastery”, “Pujiti Zhengzong Monastery”, “Pujiti Zhengzong Monastery”, and finally named the Lions Grove Garden after a long process of breaking down and reassembling.
The monastery fell into disrepair when Master Tianru’s passing caused his disciples to disperse. Years later in 1373, a painter named Ni Zan came to help create a story for the monastery. Hundreds of years later in the Kangxi Period, the garden was separated from the monastery and titled the Lion Grove Garden. Beneath its thousands of bamboo trees were rocks in the shape of lions leading to the title of the garden.
Many people were involved in the reconstruction of the temple. For example, Ni Zan was a famous Chinese painter born in 1301, and he died in 1374. He was born wealthy but chose to follow a path of artistic expression rather than continuing to serve the Mongol dynasty of the Yuan. His paintings, often landscapes, were known for being simplistic and what many people described as quiet. He would use very little ink for his pieces; the uncluttered style of his painting suggested that there was little to no human interference with the purity of the land that was depicted.
Ni Zan was one of the “Four Masters Of the Yuan Dynasty”, which was a group of the most outstanding painters from 1279 to 1368. The other three masters were Wu Zhen, Wang Meng, and Huang Gongwang.
These four artists were revered because they each pioneered a form of Chinese art by taking inspiration from predecessors, such as the Five Dynasties masters that people would imitate for years to come:
Ni Zan for his thin, simple style. Wu Zhen for his delicate mix of historical technique and the newer more conservative Yuan techniques. Wang Meng created pieces that were based on people but took an imaginary and sometimes magical approach. The eldest of the famed painters, Huang Gongwang, painted in his retirement in the Fuchun Mountains, leading him to an incredible link with nature that impacted his artwork immensely.
The Chinese have a phrase to express the way they appreciate art and it is du hua, meaning ‘to read a painting’. This can mean the seals (marks or stamps of ownership) of people who had owned the painting such as the Night-Shining White, a painting created by Han Gan in 750. It was a realistic painting of a horse that had been owned by many families and accumulated many different seals over time.
Du hua could also mean the calligraphy that is often included in artistic pieces in China. The art of Chinese calligraphy began long before painting was thought of as a fine art. Calligraphy was said to have been invented in the 28th century BCE by mythological Emperor Fu Hsi.
The system that was created, that is to say the Chinese writing system, was made by having each individual word have its own symbol or character. 50,000 characters are said to exist, each meaning a different concept, however, nearly two thirds of these characters are never seen in common life.
Each word having a different symbol, while being challenging to memorize, allows for a spiritual connection for people and nature to each phrase. According to myths two main symbols were created by Fu Hsi, those being a long line representing Yang and two dashes representing Yin.
Yin and Yang are famous for their symbolism in China, however, along with Yin and Yang, eight other symbols were created called trigrams. Heaven, Earth, water, fire, thunder, river, wind, and mountain. These symbols use different combinations of the diagrams for Yin and Yang to create meaningful words. Heaven is three layers of Yang, and it can also represent energy, jade, and creativity as well as many other attributes while Earth is three Yins as well meaning yielding and mother.
All of these symbols were said to create a spiritual connection between nature and the Chinese language and are littered throughout the art of calligraphy.
Calligraphy was used on both paintings and artefacts of ancient China. Artifacts, such as pottery, were discovered in China dating back to the Neolithic age. Evidence was found of instruments, such as a flute, lacquer, writing, and the symbolism of tigers and dragons.
Similar to Rome and Greece, China was also famous for its vases and sculptures. However, its popularity did not stem from towering sculptures or artfully painted pots of western society, but rather for fragile jade and porcelain statues and practical clay vases.
Chinese pottery was the oldest known evidence of art in China, dated back to 5000 B.C.E.. The pots from this time were known as the Yangshao culture which is named after the Neolithic site where they were discovered. The Yangshao pots were frequently decorated only on the top half with geometric designs. They were painted on with meticulous brush work in black and red ink. This delicate brushwork was the preface for the Chinese brush painting to come.
Ancient China was known to have been more polished and elegant, while western countries had larger than life cultures. The empire of China pioneered much of Eastern Asian art but it still retained its own differences.
