戰 楚 國 王 年 國 代

Renowned for providing evidence of ancient music, and three lateral bands of knobs. The second is made by striking the The two figurines shown here are part of a larger group of The long, graceful sleeves and sweeping gestures of the dancing Warring States celebrated around the world for their exquisite craftsmanship, forward edge of one of the two tapered corners at the base of kingdom musicians and dancing figures recovered from the tomb of the figure ouer visual evidence of popular Chu dance; the arms and the 65 serial bells discovered in the tomb of the Marquis the bell. What makes these bells so significant for musicologists king of Chu at Tuolanshan in 1989–90. Although the kingdom sleeves were separately moulded, and each bears the character period Yi of Zeng constitute the largest set of bells found anywhere is that each of these striking points is labelled with an inlaid Dancing Figure and Musician, of Chu, which dominated southern in the centuries wu, five. The realistic rendition of the se instrument facilitates in Chinese archaeological history. character. Combining these characters with the tones has made 2nd century bc prior to the conquests of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, reconstructions of Chu music. The se was a 25-stringed instru - Marquis Yi’s Bell Set, 433 bc Unlike Western bells, ancient Chinese bells did not feature it possible for scholars to begin reconstructing the scales and Earthenware was ozcially incorporated into the Han empire, it nevertheless ment that was played flat on the ground like the better-known Bronze, 11 × 5 m / 36 × 16 ft 5 in clappers, but were struck on the outside like gongs. Each notation systems of ancient Chinese music, revolutionizing our H: c.40 cm / 15 in retained much of its distinctive culture. qin, a type of zither. The figures functioned as a simulacrum of Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan of the bells in the set has two tones. The first is produced by understanding of the functions of sound in early China. Museum, Province A wealth of recent archaeological discoveries in the region contemporary performance for Chu royalty in the afterlife. striking the bell on the central panel, which vertically bisects is gradually shedding light on the particularities of Chu society.

14 15 元 刘 朝 建 华

These spectacular vases are among the earliest dated blue-and- Celsius (2,370 degrees Fahrenheit). This resulted in complete A room is strewn with shattered fragments of white porcelain, the event adds a realistic dimension. Liu Jianhua (b. 1962) is white porcelains in existence. Although ceramic artisans in vitrification of the glaze and body, forming a seal and giving Liu Jianhua the remnants of an explosion. This ceramic installation was primarily a ceramic artist, who worked in the porcelain centre China had long experimented with the application of cobalt in the finished piece the three distinguishing characteristics of made as a reflection on the tragic destruction in 2003 of of Jingdezhen from the age of 12. He emerged on the Chinese David Vases, 1351 glaze, it was not until the fourteenth century that craftsmen ‘true’ porcelain: pure white color, resonance and translucence. Dream, 2005–08 the American space shuttle Columbia, which exploded while art scene in the 1990s, becoming known for making headless Underglaze blue porcelain at Jingdezhen in southern China succeeded in mastering the Blessed with abundant supplies of kaolin clay and firewood, Porcelain and dvd projection re-entering earth’s atmosphere, killing seven astronauts. ceramic female figures with highly decorated surfaces; he later H: 63.5 cm / 25 in technique of sealing cobalt oxide-based pigment to a pure white ezcient canal networks and imperial sponsorship, the kilns Dimensions variable The fragmented objects recall the aftermath of the event, developed a more conceptual ceramic-based practice. His work British Museum, London kaolin clay body under a clear glaze. Using long, cylindrical at Jingdezhen monopolized the global market for high-end Galleria Continua, San Gimignano arranged to echo the outline of the space shuttle – a poignant frequently references the modernization of China and the ‘dragon kilns’, they succeeded in firing these porcelains in low porcelain. Their dominance in the international ceramics trade, expression of the fragility of the human dream of progress. excess of consumption. oxygen environments at temperatures in excess of 1,300 degrees although challenged in later centuries, continues to this day. A dvd projection showing contemporary news coverage of

100 101 蘇 黄 軾 永 玉

The Cold Food Festival was celebrated just prior to the scholar–artists developed powers of self-expression in painting, ‘One eye open, one eye closed’ is a traditional Chinese saying by Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s wife. Jiang’s attack on traditional Su Shi spring festival of (p.284). Its religious implications so they did too in calligraphy, allowing stroke formation and Huang Yongyu of similar meaning to the English phrase ‘turn a blind eye’. art was part of the anti- campaign of 1974, a veiled are uncertain, but fires were extinguished and people ate cold brushwork to interpret their ideas spontaneously. Nowhere This ink painting, which evokes the phrase, became infamous vilification of Zhou Enlai (1898–1976), the first Premier of Cold Meal in Huangzhou, 1082 food before fresh fires were lit for the new agricultural year. demonstrates this better than these famous Cold Food Festival Winking Owl, 1973 for its role in a political clash at the highest level of Chinese the People’s Republic of China, following his order for newly Handscroll, ink on paper About the time of the festival in 1082, the poet-ozcial Su Shi poems. Here, Su’s emotion is displayed not in the relationship Print, ink on paper politics during the latter years of the Cultural Revolution commissioned traditional paintings to be hung in hotels at a 1 3 1 1 34 × 119 cm / 13 ⁄2 × 46 ⁄4 in (1037–1101; see also p.305) was beginning a third year of exile of characters to each other but in their individual formation, 60 × 92 cm/23 ⁄2 × 36 ⁄4 in (1966–76). Interpreted by the Gang of Four as implying that time when foreigners were cautiously being welcomed back National Palace Museum, Taipei at Huangzhou, where he wrote two poems in semi-cursive the dynamics of constituent strokes and the flow of ink. From a Various locations government ozcials were ignoring wrongdoings within the into China. Huang (b. 1924) had already been punished for his script. The first was morose, but in the second he recovered stuttering start to the first poem, self-confidence grows through regime, the work was shown at the ‘Black Paintings’ exhibition series of animal aphorisms in 1966. After this incident, almost a sense of detached Daoist equilibrium. Just as Song the second, providing a lesson in ‘calligraphic philosophy’. of artworks that departed from the socialist ideal, organized ten years later, he was imprisoned and exiled to the countryside.

126 127 清 何 朝 英 白

Manchu-style semi-formal robes of this sort were worn at early . Although reserved for the greatest In this series of portraits, 400 passersby were photographed late nineteenth-century photographic portraiture of Westerners ozcial banquets, and according to the strict sumptuary laws of of the foreign Qing dynasty elite, the auspicious symbolism of Grace Lau in a studio set in the town of Hastings, on the south coast in China, Lau (b. 1939) reverses the role of the ‘exotic subject’, the Qing court, yellow garments were reserved for the emperor, the robe is almost entirely derived from long-standing Chinese of England, replete with a painted classical backdrop and using a random cross-section of contemporary British subjects. Semi-formal Court Robe, after 1759 empress and dowager empress. The robe is embroidered motifs. Their presence thus heralds the degree to which the 21st Century Types: Hastings, 2005 traditional Chinese objects. The contemporary paraphernalia The project followed her investigation into nineteenth-century Satin with gold and silk embroidery with nine dragons, as well as constellations and other icons Manchu emperors wrapped themselves in symbolic trappings Colour photograph – pink bikinis, sunglasses, flipflops and handbags – of these imperialist representations of China in photography, ranging 3 H: 1.45 m / 4 ft 6 ⁄4 in representing imperial power. The five-toed claws of the dragon that their conquered subjects recognized as legitimate. This 61 × 61 cm / 24 × 24 in four young women contrast sharply with the highly formalized from the time of the Opium Wars (1839–42 and 1856–60) Palace Museum, Beijing signify the emperor (non-imperial dragons have four or fewer skilful use of many registers of legitimacy helps to explain Private collection setting, which is rendered ironic through objects such as the to the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1901), for her book Picturing the toes), and the circular arrangement of the toes, as if they were how they were able to rule over a vast, multi-ethnic empire for absurd panda rug that replaces the tiger and bear skins favoured Chinese: Early Western Photographs and Postcards of China. the spokes of a wheel, recalls the classic dragon talons of the nearly three centuries. by Western colonialists. Deliberately re-creating the style of

174 175 岳 耿 敏 建 君 翌

A crowd of laughing young men – half-threatening and a historic commemoration of the French Revolution, which Four heads repeat against a black void, with each face caught Active since the 1980s, Geng (b. 1962) is primarily a Yue Minjun half-absurd – stage a riot. Smoke rises against a blue sky (b. 1962) distorts using his characteristic grinning characters. Geng Jianyi in a slightly diuerent moment of expression. The now famous conceptualist, exploring philosophical concepts through dotted with clouds, and modern buildings are revealed in the Drawing inspiration from the European tradition of painting, painting emits a forceful psychological impact as the portraits a practice comprised of research, experimentation and Freedom Leading the People, 1996 distance. All grinning manically, the feckless looking youths Yue is renowned for his surreal re-creations of scenes that The Second State, 1987 shift between hysterical laughter and crying. Each face displays documentation. He was a founding member of the Pond Society Oil on canvas are identically dressed in a uniform of grey shorts, white suggest a cultural vacuum within the contemporary condition. Oil on canvas a plastic quality similar to a mask, with no discernible neck in Hangzhou and was highly influential as a teacher and early 3 1 1 1 350 × 250 cm / 11 ft 5 ⁄4 in × 8 ft 2 ⁄2 in T-shirts and plastic slippers. They wave their fists feebly, with a His paintings came to fore in the 1990s and were instantly 100 × 130 cm / 39 ⁄4 × 51 ⁄4 in or body, producing a feeling of disconnection and menace. On innovator. This work predates numerous paintings of laughing Private collection central figure cajoling the crowd behind a group that has piled recognizable – the huge gaping mouths of his figures filled with Private collection close inspection, the eyes of each face are squeezed shut and men that became a predominant theme in China during the up horizontally in the forefront on large, grey rocks. The work large rows of teeth portray a looming sense of threat. are therefore unreadable, heightening the sense of uncertainty 1990s. Such a theme is evocative of a society frozen in a state of parodies Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830), in the picture. angst, brought about by rapid development and spiritual decline.

186 187 唐 彭 孙 朝 禹 原

Six well-dressed women are seated on cushioned stools on into the shell-shaped cups. A servant supports the lady in the A gathering of 13 extremely lifelike geriatric men appear slumped controversial subject matter and dark, acerbic humour. The either side of a lacquered table, under which a small dog sleeps. foreground, who may have drunk too much. Sun Yuan in motorized wheelchairs that veer about haphazardly, crashing artists infamously exhibited human foetuses in two early works, Signs indicate that they have finished their meal and are now The Tang dynasty (ad 618–907) was an age of affluence, around in the confined space of a gallery. Dressed in suits and during China’s highly experimental art scene in the late 1990s, Palace Music, 10th century? drinking, as four musicians seated at the head of the table when dress style mattered. In the later Tang period beauty and Peng Yu robes from various cultures and creeds, these elderly, bearded and they constantly experiment with the symbolic power of Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk play to them. A fifth musician wearing a plain robe, the leader was identified with the fuller figure, featuring soft, loose-fitting figures represent eminent leaders – politicians, dictators, bishops unusual materials and objects. They belong to a group of artists 1 1 48.7 × 69.5 cm / 19 ⁄4 × 27 ⁄4 in of the ensemble, stands back and directs the music with a set material with a high waist and long flowing skirt, wide sleeves Old Persons Home, 2007 – in a tragic-comic display of human frailty and mortality, at the whose work took a deeply cynical turn after graduating from National Palace Museum, Taipei of wooden clappers (paiban). The performers play a mouth and frequent use of the shawl. The dresses and coiuures of the 13 sculptures and dynamoelectric end of a lifetime of decoration, glory and power. art school, following a decade of rising materialism and the organ, zither, lute and vertical flute. The woman to the left of women seen here, though somewhat patterned, are not wheelchairs, Dimensions variable Sun Yuan (b. 1974) and Peng Yu (b. 1972) developed an artistic establishment of a growing Chinese presence in global politics. the flautist holds a long-handled spoon for ladling drink so elaborate as to suggest that this is a special occasion. Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing practice concerned with death and corporeality, known for its

200 201 群 潘 星 嘉 俊

A young woman joyfully holds up a red ribbon while her with her lover, a soldier. The ballet featured the best actors A woman dressed in army uniform takes a call in stormy the importance of telecommunications and infrastructure Various artists father looks on admiringly; behind them in the window are and dancers of the time, and the music was known and loved by Pan Jiajun weather, suspended high up on the telegraph pole that she in remote areas. Telegraph poles were featured in many red paper cuts, indicating New Year celebrations. This poster millions, ouering glamour and entertainment in an environment is testing. The scene is of a coastal area, with a glimpse of posters that aimed to integrate regions in the provinces and White-haired Girl, 1972 shows the opening scene of White-haired Girl by the Modern dominated by political unrest, Maoist mantras and mass rallies. I am Seagull, 1971 the sea receding in the background. Made for propaganda to nationalize the Communist message. Pan Jiajun (b. 1947), a Poster Revolutionary Ballet. It tells the story of Xi’er, daughter of Combining realism and romanticism with Chinese and Oil on canvas purposes, this classic painting sits within the Socialist realist committed Communist, here creates a softened tone, with a 3 1 z 1 53 × 77 cm / 20 ⁄4 × 30 ⁄4 in a poor farmer whom their landlord murders. Xi’er is captured Western elements, the ballet was one of the o cially sanctioned 127 × 85 cm / 50 × 33 ⁄2 in tradition first established in China during the 1950s. Women subject that is intimate, naturalistic and feminine. Nevertheless, Chinese Poster Collection, University and taken as a concubine but later flees, surviving in the wild ‘Eight Model Plays’ promoted by Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife. They Guangdong Museum of Art, were a popular subject in the early 1970s, following the more the recognizable features of the genre can be seen in the coat of Westminster, London and living in a cave while her hair turns white like that of were screened outdoors in remote villages by film troupes that Guangzhou strident images of political propaganda produced at the outset flowing romantically in the wind and in the upbeat posture and an immortal goddess. She finally joins the Communist Party travelled throughout the provinces. of the Cultural Revolution. Also promoted at this time was expression despite the dizcult terrain and weather conditions.

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