Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Aesthetics
In reflection of the Chinese character (
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), Chinese aesthetics have
traditionally been marked by restraint and understatement, a preference for
oblique references over direct explanation, vagueness in place of specificity
and an avoidance of the obvious in place of a fondness for the veiled and
subtle.
For millennia, Chinese aesthetics were highly traditionalist and, despite
coming under the influence of occupiers from the Mongols to the Europeans,
defiantly conservative. It was not until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and
the appearance of the New Culture Movement that China's great artistic tradi-
tions began to rapidly transform. In literature the stranglehold of classical
Chinese loosened to allow breathing space for
baihua
(colloquial Chinese) and
a progressive new aesthetic began to flower, ultimately leading to revolutions
in all of the arts, from poetry to painting, theatre and music.
Painting
Traditional Painting
As described in Xie He's 6th century AD treatise, the
Six Principles of Painting
, the chief aim of Chinese painting is to capture the innate essence or spirit
(qi)
of a subject and imbue it with vitality. As a general rule, painters were less con-
cerned with achieving outward resemblance (that was the third principle) than
with conveying intrinsic qualities.
Early painters dwelled on the human figure and moral teachings, while also
conjuring up scenes from everyday life. By the time of the Tang dynasty, a new
genre, known as landscape painting, had begun to flower. Reaching full bloom
during the Song and Yuan dynasties, landscape painting meditated on the en-
vironment around man. Towering mountains, ethereal mists, open spaces,
trees and rivers, and light and dark were all exquisitely presented in ink
washes on silk.
