When studying the rich history of arts and recreation in the Song Dynasty, it is evident that there were many newly pioneered practices that completely captivated the populous and became the epitome of several long-established genres. When one observes the progression of visual arts through the Song Dynasty, landscape painting established itself as the most prevalent and important of the multitude of forms in this genre. Close examination of entertainment reveals that the dramatic arts, with emphasis on shadow-puppeteering, became the most enjoyed form of amusement in the Song Dynasty. Finally, nothing had become more delightful than the everyday life of a citizen, which never had a dull moment. Chinese art and recreation came to a pinnacle of excellence during the Song Dynasty as landscape painting became an ideal practice, the theater grew to be central entertainment, and the life of a citizen never lacked wondrous activities.
Landscape painting was the most important visual art form during the Song Dynasty. It was through the cultural stimulus of the Tang Dynasty that landscape painting was able to come to mastery during the Song Dynasty and take its place as the epitome of classical Chinese art (Morton and Lewis 2005). Landscape painting also exemplified how the East developed separately from the West through its art. While in the West the human form was central to most art, artists in China found their muse in Nature. Landscape painting was not represented in Europe until much later (Morton and Lewis 2005). During the reign of the penultimate Song emperor, Huizong, the Song Dynasty reached its cultured peak. Huizong had an imperial collection of six thousand works of art, many of them landscape, and he established...
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... was able to find that balance between mind and body, spirituality and physicality that then, in turn, appeased all its denizens. It is evident that this balance played a role in the longevity of the empire and its cultural imprint on China’s history. The arts and recreation in China truly came to a zenith during the shining cultural imperium that was the Song Dynasty.
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Bowman, John S., ed. Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Gernet, Jacques. Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1970.
Hook, Brian, and Denis Twitchett, . The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Morton, W. Scott, and Charlton M. Lewis. China: Its History and Culture. 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life.
Wang Meng (c. 1308 – 1385) was a Chinese landscape painter during the Yuan Dynasty (c.1271–1368). Within his life, the Yuan Dynasty was ruled by the Mongol Empire; lots of turmoils and conflicts between nations were happening. To away from the secular, Wang chose to live in mountains and perhaps to have a simple life. “The Simple Retreat” could be one of Wang’s paintings that suggest the balance between nature and human. This painting is in a vertical roll composition, painted in a Northern Song Monumental mode: high, level and deep distance can be seen. From viewing this painting, midst to top describes layers of imposing mountains and the empty sky; the bottom half shows the retreat and the relationship among trees, rocks and river. On the
During the Tang and Song dynasty, many excellent achievements have been accomplished which are still being preserved and used widely over centuries. Their citizens were excelled in many fields with several of new and practical inventions which all directly affected the citizens’ lives.
Gittings, John. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to market. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Schoenhals, Michael. China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Print.
Timothy Brook’s book, The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China is a detailed account of the three centuries of the Ming Dynasty in China. The book allows an opportunity to view this prominent time period of Chinese history. Confusions of Pleasure not only chronicles the economic development during the Ming dynasty, but also the resulting cultural and social changes that transform the gentry and merchant class. Brook’s insights highlight the divide between the Ming dynasty’s idealized beliefs, and the realities of its economic expansion and its effects. Brook describes this gap through the use of several first hand accounts of individuals with various social statuses.
Secondly, Emperor Huizong was a patron of arts and in his painting academy he highlighted 3 aspects of painting: realism, systematic study, and poetic idea. (source dri buku yg foto di library) These 3 aspects were clearly shown in Cranes above Kaifeng: Auspicious Cranes which indicates the amount of control Emperor Huizong had on the visualization of auspicious events.
One of the eras of a majestic ancient civilization that has left a lasting impression upon the world of today is the Chinese Song Dynasty. Established by General Zhao Kuangyin this dynasty lasted from 960–1279 AD and brought a new stability to China after many decades of civil war, and ushered in a new era of modernization. It was divided into the Bei (Northern) and the Nan (Southern) Song periods. This brilliant cultural epoch gave birth to major advances in economic reform, achievements in technology, and helped to further medical knowledge.
The second part of the journey visits, ancient China in 1500 BCE, a thousand years prior to the formation of the Daoism school of thought. (Brodd, Little and Ny...
The Song dynasty is actually divided into two separate periods: The Northern Song from 960-1126 A.D. and the Southern Song from 1126-1279 A.D. The northwestern part of the country had been taken over by the nomadic tribes, forcing the emperor move the capital to Kaifeng, then later to Hangzhou during the southern Song period. They also lost control of Tibet. (Duiker, & Spielvogel, 2009) While they struggled with territory control, the Song strived in economic development and cultural achievement.
Fairbank, John King. The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1986.
Wang, Z. Y., “The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A Historiographical Study,” California State University at Pomona, (http://www.csupomona.edu/~zywang/cultrev.pdf), pp. 1-13
The Tang and Song Dynasties are both pertinent to China’s development. During the Tang period, which is also considered the “Golden Age”, art and literature was embraced and thrived. During the Song Dynasties, many technical inventions allowed China to grow as a nation, and emerge as one of the greatest nations in the medieval world. Both dynasties played a key role in the history of China.
Hoobler, Dorothy, Thomas Hoobler, and Michael Kort, comps. China: Regional Studies Series. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Globe Fearon, 1993. 174-177.