Chinese Traditional Arts

Allusions

余音绕梁： The sound of the song was still echoing in the hall.

塞翁失马： He lost his horse, but gained good luck.

卧薪尝胆： To sleep on the firewood and taste gall bladder---to experience all the hardships in preparation for revenge.

Chinese Traditional Arts

Chinese Painting Chinese Operas Chinese Musical Instruments Chinese Folk Arts

Chinese Painting

The ancient Chinese painted or drew patterns of flowers and plants or figures of animals on pottery, which formed the art of the most primitive paintings.

In Qin and Han dynasties, the artistic skills of painting saw a further improvement. Surviving Han paintings include mainly tomb( 墓碑 ) paintings and colored paintings on clay and lacquer.

Chinese Painting

Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern periods experienced great development and changes in Chinese painting. Buddhist painting was improved greatly with the spread of Buddhism and dominated much of the achievements at these periods. Meanwhile, painting techniques advanced and significant achievement was made in figure painting( 人物画 ).

Gu Kaizhi（顾恺之） Gu Kai zhi(346-407), was a painter of the

Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was so talented he was not only good at poems but also at painting, especially the paintings of portraits, historical figures, birds, animals and landscapes as well. He is considered by many the greatest and the father of landscape painting ( 山水画 ).

His famous works

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies (女史箴图 )

Ode to the Luo Goddess（洛神赋图）

Ladies of Virtues（列女仁智图）

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies ( 女史箴图 )

Height:25cm Length:249 ． 5 cm It shows the lives of

noble women in ancient China

Ode to the Luo Goddess（洛神赋图）

• 曹植的作品中，除了“七步诗”，最有名的就是《洛神赋》了，后来，著名的画家顾恺之依据《洛神赋》，画了流传千古的名画《洛神赋图》，其中最感人的一段描绘是曹植与洛神相逢，但是洛神却无奈离去的情景。

Ladies of Virtues（列女仁智图）• 汉成帝沉湎于酒色，宠信赵飞燕姐妹，朝政大权旁落于外戚手中，

危及刘氏政权。楚元王四世孙光禄大夫刘向（前 77 －前 6 年）针对这一情况，采摘自古以来诗书上所记载的贤妃、贞妇、宠姬等资料，编辑成《列女传》一书呈送汉成帝，希望他从中吸取经验教训，以维护刘氏政权。全书按妇女的封建行为道德准则和给国家带来的治、乱后果，分为母仪、贤明、仁智、贞顺、节义、辩通、孽嬖七卷，此即其中“仁智卷”部分。

Zhan Ziqian (展子虔 )

Zhan Ziqian was a painter of the Sui Dynasty. His birth and death date are unknown. He had been a government official during the period of North Qi, North Zhou and Sui, and was a versatile( 多才多艺 ) and creative painter whose landscape painting was the most influential of that time. His representative work is Sightseeing in Spring （游春图）

Sightseeing in Spring （游春图）

Wu Daozi（吴道子）

He was the first to make full use of flexibility of the brush and to employ wave-like lines instead of wire-like lines, arriving at a third-dimensional effect.

吴道子（ 680-759 ）是唐代第一大画家。苏东坡在《书吴道子画后》一文中说：“诗至杜子美（杜甫），文之于韩退之（韩愈），书至于颜鲁公（颜真卿）， 画至于吴道子，而古今之变，天下能事毕矣！”。

吴道子作品

八十七神仙图

吴道子作品

六尊者像（人物工笔淡彩类）

吴道子作品维摩诘像

Paintings in Song Dynasty

During the Song Dynasty, The emperors gave support to painting and as a result enjoyed wide popularity, with a variety of paintings flourishing. A royal painting academy was established, and many fine artists were patronized( 支持 ) by the court. Bird and flower themes were always popular with the royal family. The Song period is best known, however, for landscape painting, and then many painting masters were very active both in the Northern Song and the Southern Song.

Four Great Masters in Song Dynasty

• 李思训所创之勾听方法，笔线遭劲，运笔多顿挫曲折，有如刀砍斧劈，故称为斧劈皴，这种皱法宜于表现质地坚硬、棱角分明的岩石

Li Tang ( 李唐 )was a master of monumental style who painted with a wrinkle method and axe-cut strokes （釜劈皴 [cūn] ） , which ultimately became a unique feature of academic landscape painting.

雪窗读书图　（李唐）

Liu Songnian（刘松年） excelled in landscape painting 山水画using the blue-and-green style. 青绿彩画风格

十八学士图

• Ma Yuan （马远） and Xia Gui （夏圭） developed a big wrinkle method 大皱法 under the influence of Li Tang, which eventually formed a landscape painting style known as the Ma-Xia school.

Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festival

《清明上河图》 Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festiva is a

marvelous hand-scroll of 5.25 meters in length and 0.24 meter in height by Zhang Zeduan （张择端）北宋 , a master painter. It is a minute depiction of the scenery and life along a river in Bianliang （卞粱（开封）） , the capital of Northern Song, on the day of Tomb Sweeping Festival.

This masterpiece is painted in ink with light colors and is full of surprising details. This painting also vividly depicts water, bridge, boats, streets, markets, carts, crowds and human figures. It is not only a wonderful work or art but also an invaluable record of history.

Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festival

《清明上河图》

Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festival

《清明上河图》

Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festival

《清明上河图》

Riverside Scenes at Qingming Festival

《清明上河图》

Painting in Ming Dynasty

At the beginning of Ming dynasty, the court continued to patronize a royal painting academy, but the individual styles were restrained. The court painters were not free to follow their own inclinations. Therefore, some of them revived the colorful style of flower-and-bird painting popular at the court of Song and made it grander(更加华丽 ) and more decorative in conformity with the court taste of Ming.

Painting in Ming Dynasty

Outside the court, many painters practiced a freer, less restrained form of painting and formed different schools of distinctive styles: the Zhejiang School （浙派） represented by Dai Jin （戴进） , the Jiangxia School （江夏派） by Wu Wei （吴伟） , the Songjiang School （松江派） by Dong Qichang （董其昌） and Four Schools of Wu （吴门四派） , which included many famous painters such as the Four Great Masters of Ming （明朝四大家） Shen Zhou（沈周） , Wen Zhengming （文徵明） , Tang Yin （唐寅） and Qiu Ying （仇英） .

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唐寅作品

函光雪霁图

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唐寅作品

Paintings in Qing Dynasty

In Qing Dynasty, some of the most prominent groups of painters were the Eight Masters in Jinling （金陵八家） , the Eight Eccentrics [ik'sentrik] of Yangzhou（扬州八怪） , and the Shanghai Group. The greatest of Jinling was Gong Xian （龚贤） , whose paintings are different for the strong effects of chiaroscuro[ki,ɑ:rə'skjuərəu] ( 明暗对比法 ), a contrastive distribution of light and shade. The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, represented by Zheng Banqiao （郑板桥） and Jin Nong （金农） , ignored the tradition and adopted a more individual attitude in painting.

郑燮 Zheng Xie ：(1693--1765) ，字克柔，号板桥，江苏兴化人，应科举为康熙秀才，雍正十年举人，乾隆元年进士。擅画兰、竹、石、松、菊等，而画兰竹五十余年，成就最为突出

Chinese Operas 中国戏曲 Chinese Operas have been acknowledged

as one of the greatest ancient dramas in the world, paralleling the Comedies and Tragedies of Greece and the Sanskrit ['sænskrit] （梵文） Drama of India. Drama of India. Chinese operas are a traditional drama form embracing literature, music, dance, martial arts (武术 ) and acrobatics （特技） . Their origin can be traced back to primitive society but the prototype for Chinese opera actually appeared in the Song dynasty about 800 years ago.

Types of Chinese Operas

Beijing Opera （京剧） Yue Opera （越剧） Huangmei Opera （黄梅戏） Yu Opera （豫剧） Ping Opera （评剧） Kun Opera （昆剧） Hebei Clapper Opera （河北梆子） Chuan Opera （川剧） Yue Opera （越剧）

Beijing Opera （京剧） Beijing Opera, once called 'Peking

Opera', is the most influential and representative of all operas in China and has a history of over 200 years.

Beijing Opera is noticeable for four highly systemized categories of singing, acting, reciting and acrobatic fighting.

Four Categories in Beijing Opera

生：小生；旦：花旦；净：花脸；丑：小丑

Famous Plays in Beijing Opera

The Gathering Of Heroes 《群英会》 The Empty City 《空城计》 The Orphan of the Zhao 《赵氏孤儿》 The Female Generals of the Yang 《杨门女将》

Red Lantern 《红灯记》 The Sparks in Reed Marshes 《芦荡火种》 To Take the Weihu Mountain by Strategy

《智取威虎山》

Yue Opera越剧 Yue Opera is a local opera popular in

the southern regions of the Changjiang River. Yue Opera has a history of nearly 100 years. The famous performer Yuan Xuefen （袁雪芬） , contributed significantly to the reform of this opera. Well known plays include The Butterfly’s Love《梁山伯与祝英台》 , The Dream of Red Mansions 《红楼梦》 and The West Chamber 《西厢记》 .

Huangmei Opera黄梅戏 Huangmei Opera, once called 'Huangmei

Tune' （黄梅调） , is a local opera in Anhui Province, was basically derived from the 'Caicha Tune' （采茶调 , tea-picking tunes） of Huangmei county. The Huangmei Opera uses the talents of the well-known performer, Yan Fengying （阎凤英） , and the traditional plays are The Heavenly Maid and the Mortal 《天仙配》 and Female Son-in-Law of the Emperor 《女驸马》。

Yu Opera豫剧 Yu Opera, also called 'Henan Clapper

Opera' （河南梆子） or 'Henan High Tune' （河南高调） , is a major local opera in Henan Province and enjoys nationwide popularity. There are more than 600 traditional plays in the repertoire of Yu Opera, among them are Playing Short Spears 《对花枪》 and The Beheading of Chen Shimei 《铡美案》 . The most famous performer is Chang Xiangyu （常香玉） .

Ping Opera评剧 Ping Opera is a traditional opera widely

popular in Beijing, Tianjin, North and Northeast China. It is especially good at reflecting life of urban people and has gained great favor from people both in rural and urban areas. Classic plays include Flower, a Matchmaker 《花为媒》 and Du Shi Niang 《杜十娘》 , to name just a few. Representative performers are Xiao Bai Yushuang （小白玉霜） and Xin Fengxia （新风霞） .

Kun Opera昆曲 Kun Opera, also called 'Kunshan Qiang'

(昆山腔 )', originated in the Kunshan region of Jiangsu Province. It is one of China's classical operas with a history of more than 600 years. The traditional plays of Kun Opera include The Injustice to Dou E《窦娥冤》 , The West Chamber 《西厢记》 , The Peach Blossom Fan 《桃花扇》 , The Peony Pavilion 《牡丹亭》 and Palace of Eternal Youth 《长生殿》 . The representative performers are Yu Zhenfei（俞振飞） and Hong Xuefei （洪雪飞） .

Hebei Clapper Opera河北梆子

Hebei Clapper Opera is a local opera which originated in Hebei Province, yet also became very popular in Beijing, Tianjin and some regions of Hebei, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Shandong Provinces. Representative plays include The Generals of the Yang《杨家将》 , Lotus Lantern 《宝莲灯》 and Qin Xianglian 《秦香莲》 .

Chuan Opera川剧 Chuan Opera is one of the oldest local

operas in China, mainly prevalent in Sichuan province and parts of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. There are some unique and rare features of Chuan Opera used to depict certain characters. For example, the actors with a third eye on their forehead can suddenly open it and have an insight into the past and the future; some actors can change their facial make-ups with a quick swing of the head; and some are proficient at jumping through burning hoops or hiding swords. They are perfectly integrated with the plot of the play, the mood and the personality of the characters.

Yue Opera粤剧 Yue Opera is a major opera prevalent in

areas where people speak Guangdong dialect, such as Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Its orchestra has adopted Western instruments such as violin, saxophone, cello and double bass, in addition to Chinese traditional instruments like Erhe （二胡） , Gaohu （高胡） , Sanxian （三弦） , and Yueqin （月琴） . In acting, stage scenery and lighting, the techniques of modern drama and Western opera have been integrated. A leading actress is Hong Xiannu （红线女）

Chinese Musical Instruments

wind instruments (吹奏乐器 ) bowed string instruments(拉弦乐器 ) plucked string instruments (弹拨乐

器 ) percussion instruments.(打击乐器 )

Wind or Blowing Instruments 吹奏乐器

The wind instruments are mainly made of bamboo or wood and are in the form of a pipe. They can produce smooth and sonorous (调子高的，响亮的 )sound by wind blowing through the pipe. There is a variety of wind instruments used in Chinese music, among them are the Dizi, Xiao and Sheng. These play a key role in various musical ensembles （重奏） .

Bowed String Instrument拉弦乐器

The bowed string instruments produce from the vibration of the strings sweet sound and rich tone colors. Most of Chinese bowed string instruments belong to the Huqin （胡琴） group, such as the Erhu二胡 , the Gaohu高胡 and the Banhu板胡 , the former two have sounding membranes(薄膜 ) made of python skin[‘paiθən蟒蛇皮 , while the later one has a wooden sounding board木质共鸣板 . They can express profound feelings and display exquisite skills of the performer

高胡

二胡

板胡

Plucked String Instrument弹拨乐器

The plucked string instruments are played by plucking the strings with fingers or plectrums(弦拨 ). There are various kinds of plucked string instruments made of different forms. The group of the plucked string instrument mainly includes the Guqin, Zheng and Pipa.

古琴

筝

琵琶

Percussion[pə:'kʌʃən]打击乐器

The history of percussion instruments in China is longer than any other category of traditional instruments. The character of 'drum' was first found in the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty. China has an enormous variety of percussion instruments and the more popular ones are the Gu, Zhong, Bo and Luo, which can make sounds full of appeals and local color.

Chinese Folk Arts 中国民间艺术

China has a wide variety of arts and crafts with exquisite workmanship. They can reflect people’s aesthetic sense and flavor. Throughout the ages, Chinese folk arts have had a strong local flavor as well as a national style. We will mainly introduce the following folk arts: Seal Engraving篆刻 , Silk embroidery, Paper-cuts, kite, and Chinese Puppet Art (皮影戏 )

Seal Engraving印章雕刻 To the Chinese, a seal was for many

centuries a symbol of power. The emperor's seal was called Xi （玺） , which gave authority to all his inferiors. Even today the governments at different levels issue orders that are endorsed with official seals. Engraved seals could be found in the scrolls of painting and calligraphy. In fact, traditional Chinese painting is a harmonious combination, often with poems attached, of the arts of painting, calligraphy and engraving skills. Today, stone is the most widely used material in seal engraving and Shoushan stones （寿山石） , from Shoushan County of Fujian province, are the most famous.

Silk Embroidery丝绣 According to archeological evidence, silk

and silk fabric emerged in China at least 5,500 years ago. Chinese silk still enjoys its reputation for high quality through the world. Once the cloth had been woven, embroidery is then applied to give the cloth its delicate and brilliant patterns. The Four Renowned Embroideries of China were regional in their origin: Su embroidery originated in Jiangsu, Yue embroidery in Guangdong, Xiang embroidery in Hunan and Shu embroidery in Sichuan.

Paper-cuts剪纸 Chinese paper-cut, as a traditional folk art, can

be traced back about 1,500 years. It has been a favorable practice, especially in the vast countryside. Chinese rural women, from teenage girls to white-haired grandmothers, cut papers with scissors into various designs, making paper-cut works of great charms. Chinese paper-cuts are rich in content and design, and nearly everything could be the theme of paper-cuts, from animal to human figures, from flowers to birds. They often have close links with traditional Chinese festivals and customs in the rural areas and are pasted in courtyards, rooms and on everyday goods to decorate the domestic environment and to add a cheerful atmosphere.

Kite 风筝

Early kites were made and flown in the imperial court. Once a bamboo whistle was attached to a kite and it produced the sound of a whistle when the kite was flying. The whistling is similar to the Zheng （筝） , a kind of Chinese traditional music instrument, thus got the name Fengzheng （风筝） up to these days.

Kites made in Tianjin, Beijing and Weifang （潍坊） are considered superior to other made anywhere else. Each year, Weifang International Kite Festival is held in April, and kite enthusiasts from all over the world take part and compete in the festival.

Chinese Puppet Art 皮影戏

Chinese puppet art is a special folk art with a history of over 1,000 years. It originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties.

溯源

　　 两千多年前，汉武帝爱妃李夫人染疾故去，武帝思念心切神情恍惚，终日不理朝政。大臣李少翁一日出门，路遇孩童手拿布娃娃玩耍，影子倒映于地栩栩如生。李少翁心中一动，用棉帛裁成李夫人影像，涂上色彩，并在手脚处装上木杆。入夜围方帷，张灯烛，恭请皇帝端坐帐中观看。武帝看罢龙颜大悦，就此爱不释手。这个载入《汉书》的爱情故事，被认为是皮影戏最早的渊源。