The Heavenly Court: a Study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist Temple Painting Gesterkamp, L

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Heavenly Court: a Study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist Temple Painting Gesterkamp, L The heavenly court: a study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist temple painting Gesterkamp, L. Citation Gesterkamp, L. (2008, March 5). The heavenly court: a study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist temple painting. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/12632 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the License: Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/12632 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). THE HEAVENLY COURT A Study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist Temple Painting Lennert Gesterkamp PhD Dissertation Leiden University The Heavenly Court: A Study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist Temple Painting Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof.mr. P.F. van der Heijden, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 5 maart 2008 klokke 15:00 uur door Lennert Gesterkamp geboren te Oosterhout (NB) in 1971 2 Promotor: Prof.dr. B.J. ter Haar Referent: Prof.dr. E.Y. Wang (Harvard University) Leden Promotiecommissie: Prof.dr. R.L. Falkenburg Prof.dr. J.A. Silk Dr. O.J. Moore Deze promotie is mogelijk gemaakt door een beurs van de Hulsewé-Wazniewski Stichting (HWS) ter bevordering van onderwijs en onderzoek aan de Universiteit Leiden op het gebied van de archeologie, kunst en materiële cultuur van China. 3 Abstract The Heavenly Court A Study on the Iconopraxis of Daoist Temple Painting Lennert Gesterkamp For more than two thousand years, the Chinese have imagined paradise as an imperial court situated in heaven where celestial officials, similar to their terrestrial counterparts, govern and decide over the affairs of the human world. The traditional Chinese name for paintings depicting this Heavenly Court, chaoyuan tu 朝元圖 (“paintings of an audience with the origin”), reveals the close link with the core element of Daoist liturgy, the chao 朝-audience ritual, which consists of addressing deities with written memorials in a visualised heavenly court audience. The wall paintings found in the main ritual hall of a Daoist temple complex or the hanging scroll-paintings on an open-air altar exactly depict this heavenly court audience, and the paintings are therefore a visual representation of the practice of the chao-audience ritual. This focus on viewing images as a representation of practice rather than for example style, symbolic meaning, language, or social relationships, is a methodology I have devised and termed iconopraxis. This study investigates the iconopraxis of four complete sets of Heavenly Court paintings – the Yongle gong murals, the so-called Toronto murals in the Royal Ontario Museum, the Nan’an murals, and the Beiyue miao murals – all wall paintings dating to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and aims to explain how Daoist ritual and related practices inform the particular layout and representation of these Heavenly Court painting. After a historical survey outlining the development of Heavenly Court painting from the fifth century to the present and providing an inventory of extant materials and related sources on these images, I demonstrate in the first chapter that Daoist Heavenly Court paintings are an elaboration on a traditional, indigenous theme in Chinese pictorial art, the chao-audience theme. Before the emergence of the first Heavenly Court paintings and sculptures in the fifth century, the same format is witnessed in the so-called homage scenes of the Later Han dynasty in the second century AD, in Buddhist donor scenes, and in tomb 4 procession scenes. I argue that these various scenes are in fact different representations of the same practice of the chao-audience ritual. The chao-audience theme, primarily because the chao-audience ritual also formed the main element of Daoist liturgy, was then adopted in the depiction of Daoist Heavenly Court paintings. In the second chapter, I demarcate the ritual foundations of Heavenly Court paintings that provided the conceptual framework on which painters based their composition. The conceptual framework consists of a left-right division (i.e. east and west) on the walls of a temple hall; an arrangement in three tiers of an altar mound and the so-called Six Curtains; a division into the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth and Water; a Northwest-Southeast axis; and an arrangement of the Eight Trigrams. The third chapter deals with practical matters of murals production, explaining how the social organisation and working procedures of the wall painters in early modern China determined the design of a Heavenly Court painting. The use of preparatory drawings in the design of Heavenly Court, of which several examples have survived, demonstrates the close overlap between design and the construction of a ritual area with hanging-scroll paintings, resulting in either a loose, joined, or integrated design which in turn provides potent clues on the quality of the painting workshop and eventually on the price of a Heavenly Court painting. The fourth and final chapter explains how Heavenly Court paintings are “personalised” to fit the wishes of the patrons, accounting for many of the irregularities and differences among the four versions under discussion. The personalisations of the patrons, chiefly Daoist priests or the religious community as a whole, pertain to the inclusion of irregular deities or portraits or semi-historical figures, or to the conscious adoption of a particular ritual format linking the site to a certain liturgical tradition. Such personalisations have invariably distinct political connotations and reflect the interests of the religious community on a local level or the high-minded ideals and aspirations of the Daoist patrons on a more national level. Lastly, a conclusion summaries the most important results of the study and provides suggestions for future research. The appendix contains a discussion of the historical background and a detailed iconographical analysis of the four Heavenly Court paintings of this study. 5 Samenvatting Het Hemelhof Een studie naar de iconopraxis van daoïstische tempelschilderingen Lennert Gesterkamp Al meer dan tweeduizend jaar stellen de Chinezen het paradijs voor als een keizerlijk hof in de hemel waar hemelse bureaucraten over de mensenwereld regeren, net zoals hun evenknieën op aarde. De traditionele Chinese naam voor de schildervoorstellingen van een Hemelhof, chaoyuan tu 朝元圖 (“schilderijen van een audiëntie bij de oorsprong”), tonen het nauwe verband aan van de voorstellingen met het kernelement van de daoïstische liturgie, het chao 朝-audiëntie ritueel, dat bestaat uit het aanschrijven van goden door middel van petities tijdens een gevisualiseerde hofaudiëntie in de hemel. De muurschilderingen in de centrale rituele hal van een tempelcomplex of de hangende rolschilderingen op een openlucht altaar beelden precies dit hemelhof uit, en de schilderingen zijn daarom een visuele representatie van de praktijk van een chao-audiëntie ritueel. Deze nadruk op het aanschouwen van afbeeldingen als een representatie van een praktijk, anders dan bijvoorbeeld als een representatie van schilderstijl, symbolische betekenissen, taal, of sociale verhoudingen, is een methodologie van mijn hand die ik iconopraxis heb genoemd. Deze studie is een onderzoek naar de iconopraxis van vier complete sets Hemelhofschilderingen – de Yongle gong muurschilderingen, de zogenaamde Toronto muurschilderingen in het Royal Ontario Museum, de Nan’an muurschilderingen, en de Beiyue miao muurschilderingen – uit de dertiende en de veertiende eeuw, en heeft ten doel te verklaren hoe het daoïstische ritueel en aanverwante praktijken de compositie en representatie van deze Hemelhofschilderingen bepalen. Na een historisch overzicht dat de ontwikkeling van Hemelhofschilderingen van de vijfde eeuw tot heden aangeeft en een inventaris opmaakt van bestaande materialen en verwante bronnen omtrent deze afbeeldingen, toon ik in het eerste hoofdstuk aan dat daoïstische Hemelhofschilderingen voortborduren op een traditioneel, oorspronkelijk thema in de Chinese beeldkunst, het chao-audiëntie thema. Voor de verschijning van de eerste 6 Hemelhofschilderingen en –sculpturen in de vijfde eeuw was hetzelfde formaat al bekend in de zogenaamde hommagescènes in de tweede eeuw AD van de Late Han dynastie, in de boeddhistische donorscènes, en in processiescènes in graftombes. Ik beweer dat de verscheidene scènes in feite verschillende representaties zijn van dezelfde praktijk van het chao-audiëntie ritueel. Met name omdat het chao-audiëntie ritueel ook het centrale element in de daoïstische liturgie vormde, werd uiteindelijk het chao-audiëntie thema ook in gebruik genomen om daoïstische Hemelhofschilderingen af te beelden. In het tweede hoofdstuk markeer ik de rituele fundamenten van Hemelhofschilderingen, die een conceptueel raamwerk opleveren waarop de schilders hun compositie baseerden. Het conceptuele raamwerk bestaat uit een verdeling in links en rechts (d.w.z. oost en west) op de muren van een tempelhal; een indeling in de drie lagen van een altaarheuvel en de zogenaamde Zes Gordijnen; een verdeling in the Drie Sferen van Hemel, Aarde, en Water; een noordwest-zuidoost as; en een indeling volgens de Acht Trigrammen. Het derde hoofdstuk behandelt de praktische kant van de productie van muurschilderingen, en verklaart hoe de sociale organisatie en werkprocedures van muurschilderaars in vroegmodern China het ontwerp van een Hemelhofschildering bepaalden.
Recommended publications
  • Research on the Propagation Effect of the Painters Art in the Tang Dynasty
    2019 3rd International Workshop on Arts, Culture, Literature and Language (IWACLL 2019) Research on the propagation effect of the painters art in the Tang Dynasty Jin Xiaoyun Art College of Gansu University of Political Science and Law, Lanzhou 730070, China Keywords: Tang Dynasty; painters art; spread; effect; research Abstract: As the highest peak of feudal society development in Chinese history, the glory of the Tang Dynasty is reflected in all aspects, and painting is part of it. Throughout the painters art in the Tang Dynasty, the magnificent and positive spirits are revealed everywhere. It is one of the most brilliant pearls in the history of Chinese art, and it has written generous colour for the splendor of world culture. The creative environment of the Tang Dynasty painters was relatively free and there were many ways of communication. Therefore, many famous art and works were spread at that time, which had a great impact on the people at that time and in later generations. This paper mainly studies the spread and effect of the painters art in the Tang Dynasty. 1. Introduction The Tang Dynasty has achieved unprecedented development in economic, political, and cultural aspects, and which constituted the prosperous Tang Dynasty that the Chinese nation is proud of. The art of painting also showed an unprecedented prosperity in the Tang Dynasty. The painters art of the Tang Dynasty was supported by the famous masters of the Tang Dynasty. Because of the powerful national power and prosperous economy, the scale and artistic reached the level that the former generation could not match.
    [Show full text]
  • "Ancient Mirror": an Interpretation of Gujing Ji in the Context of Medieval Chinese Cultural History Ju E Chen
    East Asian History NUMBER 27 . JUNE 2004 Institute of Advanced Studies Australian National University Editor Geremie R. Barme Associate Editor Helen Lo Business Manager Marion Weeks Editorial Advisors B0rge Bakken John Clark Lo uise Edwards Mark Elvin (Convenor) John Fitzgerald Colin Jeffcott Li Tana Kam Lo uie Le wis Mayo Gavan McCormack David Marr Tessa Morris-Suzuki Benjamin Penny Kenneth Wells Design and Production Design ONE Solutions, Victoria Street, Hall ACT 2618 Printed by Goanna Print, Fyshwick, ACT This is the twenty-seventh issue of Ea st Asian History, printed August 2005, in the series previously entitled Papers on Far Ea sternHist ory. This externally refereed journal is published twice a year. Contributions to The Editor, Ea st Asian Hist ory Division of Pacific and Asian History Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Phone +61 2 6125 314 0 Fax +61 26125 5525 Email [email protected] Subscription Enquiries to Marion Weeks, East Asian History, at the above address, or to [email protected]. au Annual Subscription Australia A$50 (including GST) Overseas US$45 (GST free) (for two issues) ISSN 1036-6008 iii CONTENTS 1 Friendship in Ancient China Aat Vervoom 33 The Mystery of an "Ancient Mirror": An Interpretation of Gujing ji in the Context of Medieval Chinese Cultural History Ju e Chen 51 The Missing First Page of the Preclassical Mongolian Version of the Hs iao-ching: A Tentative Reconstruction Igor de Rachewiltz 57 Historian and Courtesan: Chen Yinke !l*Ji[Nj. and the Writing of Liu Rushi Biezhuan t9P�Qjll:J,jiJf� We n-hsin Yeh 71 Demons, Gangsters, and Secret Societies in Early Modern China Robert].
    [Show full text]
  • Title of Thesis Or Dissertation, Worded
    “USING THE PEAK OF THE FIVE ELDERS AS A BRUSH”: A CALLIGRAPHIC SCREEN BY JUNG HYUN-BOK (1909-1973) by HAN ZHU A THESIS Presented to the Department of Art History and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2012 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Han Zhu Title: “Using the Peak of the Five Elders as a Brush”: A Calligraphic Screen by Jung Hyun-bok (1909-1973) This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of Art History by: Charles Lachman Chairperson Akiko Walley Member Yugen Wang Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2012 ii © 2012 Han Zhu iii THESIS ABSTRACT Han Zhu Master of Arts Department of Art History June 2012 Title: “Using the Peak of the Five Elders as a Brush”: A Calligraphic Screen by Jung Hyun-bok (1909-1973) Korean calligraphy went through tremendous changes during the twentieth century, and Jung Hyun-bok (1909-1973), a gifted calligrapher, played an important role in bringing about these changes. This thesis focuses on one of Jung’s most mature and refined works, “Using the Peak of the Five Elders as a Brush,” owned by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. In addition to translating and explicating the poems on the screen, through a close examination of both the form and content of the work I explore how it reflects Jung’s values, intentions, and background.
    [Show full text]
  • An Explanation of Gexing
    Front. Lit. Stud. China 2010, 4(3): 442–461 DOI 10.1007/s11702-010-0107-5 RESEARCH ARTICLE XUE Tianwei, WANG Quan An Explanation of Gexing © Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract Gexing 歌行 is a historical and robust prosodic style that flourished (not originated) in the Tang dynasty. Since ancient times, the understanding of the prosody of gexing has remained in debate, which focuses on the relationship between gexing and yuefu 乐府 (collection of ballad songs of the music bureau). The points-of-view held by all sides can be summarized as a “grand gexing” perspective (defining gexing in a broad sense) and four major “small gexing” perspectives (defining gexing in a narrow sense). The former is namely what Hu Yinglin 胡应麟 from Ming dynasty said, “gexing is a general term for seven-character ancient poems.” The first “small gexing” perspective distinguishes gexing from guti yuefu 古体乐府 (tradition yuefu); the second distinguishes it from xinti yuefu 新体乐府 (new yuefu poems with non-conventional themes); the third takes “the lyric title” as the requisite condition of gexing; and the fourth perspective adopts the criterion of “metricality” in distinguishing gexing from ancient poems. The “grand gexing” perspective is the only one that is able to reveal the core prosodic features of gexing and give specification to the intension and extension of gexing as a prosodic style. Keywords gexing, prosody, grand gexing, seven-character ancient poems Received January 25, 2010 XUE Tianwei ( ) College of Humanities, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumuqi 830054, China E-mail: [email protected] WANG Quan International School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China E-mail: [email protected] An Explanation of Gexing 443 The “Grand Gexing” Perspective and “Small Gexing” Perspective Gexing, namely the seven-character (both unified seven-character lines and mixed lines containing seven character ones) gexing, occupies an equal position with rhythm poems in Tang dynasty and even after that in the poetic world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Daoist Tradition Also Available from Bloomsbury
    The Daoist Tradition Also available from Bloomsbury Chinese Religion, Xinzhong Yao and Yanxia Zhao Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed, Yong Huang The Daoist Tradition An Introduction LOUIS KOMJATHY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 175 Fifth Avenue London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10010 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com First published 2013 © Louis Komjathy, 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Louis Komjathy has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author. Permissions Cover: Kate Townsend Ch. 10: Chart 10: Livia Kohn Ch. 11: Chart 11: Harold Roth Ch. 13: Fig. 20: Michael Saso Ch. 15: Fig. 22: Wu’s Healing Art Ch. 16: Fig. 25: British Taoist Association British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 9781472508942 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Komjathy, Louis, 1971- The Daoist tradition : an introduction / Louis Komjathy. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4411-1669-7 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4411-6873-3 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-4411-9645-3 (epub) 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Painting Outside the Lines: How Daoism Shaped
    PAINTING OUTSIDE THE LINES: HOW DAOISM SHAPED CONCEPTIONS OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE IN MEDIEVAL CHINA, 800–1200 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN RELIGION (ASIAN) AUGUST 2012 By Aaron Reich Thesis Committee: Poul Andersen, Chairperson James Frankel Kate Lingley Acknowledgements Though the work on this thesis was largely carried out between 2010–2012, my interest in the religious aspects of Chinese painting began several years prior. In the fall of 2007, my mentor Professor Poul Andersen introduced me to his research into the inspirational relationship between Daoist ritual and religious painting in the case of Wu Daozi, the most esteemed Tang dynasty painter of religious art. Taken by a newfound fascination with this topic, I began to explore the pioneering translations of Chinese painting texts for a graduate seminar on ritual theory, and in them I found a world of potential material ripe for analysis within the framework of religious studies. I devoted the following two years to intensive Chinese language study in Taiwan, where I had the fortuitous opportunity to make frequent visits to view the paintings on exhibit at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Once I had acquired the ability to work through primary sources, I returned to Honolulu to continue my study of literary Chinese and begin my exploration into the texts that ultimately led to the central discoveries within this thesis. This work would not have been possible without the sincere care and unwavering support of the many individuals who helped me bring it to fruition.
    [Show full text]
  • Empresses, Bhikṣuṇῑs, and Women of Pure Faith
    EMPRESSES, BHIKṢUṆῙS, AND WOMEN OF PURE FAITH EMPRESSES, BHIKṢUṆῙS, AND WOMEN OF PURE FAITH: BUDDHISM AND THE POLITICS OF PATRONAGE IN THE NORTHERN WEI By STEPHANIE LYNN BALKWILL, B.A. (High Honours), M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © by Stephanie Lynn Balkwill, July 2015 McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2015) Hamilton, Ontario (Religious Studies) TITLE: Empresses, Bhikṣuṇīs, and Women of Pure Faith: Buddhism and the Politics of Patronage in the Northern Wei AUTHOR: Stephanie Lynn Balkwill, B.A. (High Honours) (University of Regina), M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. James Benn NUMBER OF PAGES: x, 410. ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is a study of the contributions that women made to the early development of Chinese Buddhism during the Northern Wei Dynasty 北魏 (386–534 CE). Working with the premise that Buddhism was patronized as a necessary, secondary arm of government during the Northern Wei, the argument put forth in this dissertation is that women were uniquely situated to play central roles in the development, expansion, and policing of this particular form of state-sponsored Buddhism due to their already high status as a religious elite in Northern Wei society. Furthermore, in acting as representatives and arbiters of this state-sponsored Buddhism, women of the Northern Wei not only significantly contributed to the spread of Buddhism throughout East Asia, but also, in so doing, they themselves gained increased social mobility and enhanced social status through their affiliation with the new, foreign, and wildly popular Buddhist tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power of an Alleged Tradition: a Prophecy Flattering Han Emperor Wu and Its Relation to the Sima Clan*
    The Power of an Alleged Tradition: A Prophecy Flattering Han Emperor Wu and its Relation to the Sima Clan* by Dorothee Schaab-Hanke . es muß stets eine lange Übermittlerkette vorhanden sein, damit sich die Hinweise oder Gedanken, die Kommentare, wie immer man es nennt, dehnen. Sie müsen durch zehn Hirne hindurch, um einen Satz zu ergeben.** (Alexander Kluge) Introduction During the early reign of Liu Che ᄸ࿺, posthumously honored as Emperor Wu r. 141–87) of the Han, a severe struggle for infl uence and power seems to) ܹن have arisen among competing groups of experts concerned with the establishment of new imperial rites. This is at least the impression that the Shiji͑৩ (The Scribe’s Record) conveys to the reader in chapter 28, the “Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifi ces” (Fengshan shuܱᑐए). According to the account given there, the compet- ing partners in this struggle were mainly the ru ኵ (here used in the sense of scholars who maintained that any advice in the question of ritual should entirely be based upon evidence drawn from the “Classics”) and a group of specialists called fangshī ʦ (a term which should be translated by “masters of techniques” rather than by the often used, but rather biased term magicians). * I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Hans Stumpfeldt (Hamburg), Dr. Achim Mittag (Essen) and Dr. Monique Nagel- Angermann (Münster) for their helpful and inspiring comments on the text. Special thanks to Dr. Martin Svens- son Ekström (Stockholm), Prof. Dr. E. Bruce Brooks and Dr. A. Taeko Brooks (Amherst, Mass.) as well as two anonymous readers for the BMFEA for their competent and engaged revising of the draft.
    [Show full text]
  • Daily Life for the Common People of China, 1850 to 1950
    Daily Life for the Common People of China, 1850 to 1950 Ronald Suleski - 978-90-04-36103-4 Downloaded from Brill.com04/05/2019 09:12:12AM via free access China Studies published for the institute for chinese studies, university of oxford Edited by Micah Muscolino (University of Oxford) volume 39 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/chs Ronald Suleski - 978-90-04-36103-4 Downloaded from Brill.com04/05/2019 09:12:12AM via free access Ronald Suleski - 978-90-04-36103-4 Downloaded from Brill.com04/05/2019 09:12:12AM via free access Ronald Suleski - 978-90-04-36103-4 Downloaded from Brill.com04/05/2019 09:12:12AM via free access Daily Life for the Common People of China, 1850 to 1950 Understanding Chaoben Culture By Ronald Suleski leiden | boston Ronald Suleski - 978-90-04-36103-4 Downloaded from Brill.com04/05/2019 09:12:12AM via free access This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc License at the time of publication, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org. Cover Image: Chaoben Covers. Photo by author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Suleski, Ronald Stanley, author. Title: Daily life for the common people of China, 1850 to 1950 : understanding Chaoben culture / By Ronald Suleski.
    [Show full text]
  • Download File
    On the Periphery of a Great “Empire”: Secondary Formation of States and Their Material Basis in the Shandong Peninsula during the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1000-500 B.C.E Minna Wu Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMIBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 @2013 Minna Wu All rights reserved ABSTRACT On the Periphery of a Great “Empire”: Secondary Formation of States and Their Material Basis in the Shandong Peninsula during the Late Bronze-Age, ca. 1000-500 B.C.E. Minna Wu The Shandong region has been of considerable interest to the study of ancient China due to its location in the eastern periphery of the central culture. For the Western Zhou state, Shandong was the “Far East” and it was a vast region of diverse landscape and complex cultural traditions during the Late Bronze-Age (1000-500 BCE). In this research, the developmental trajectories of three different types of secondary states are examined. The first type is the regional states established by the Zhou court; the second type is the indigenous Non-Zhou states with Dong Yi origins; the third type is the states that may have been formerly Shang polities and accepted Zhou rule after the Zhou conquest of Shang. On the one hand, this dissertation examines the dynamic social and cultural process in the eastern periphery in relation to the expansion and colonization of the Western Zhou state; on the other hand, it emphasizes the agency of the periphery during the formation of secondary states by examining how the polities in the periphery responded to the advances of the Western Zhou state and how local traditions impacted the composition of the local material assemblage which lay the foundation for the future prosperity of the regional culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Flowers Bloom and Fall
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository Flowers Bloom and Fall: Representation of The Vimalakirti Sutra In Traditional Chinese Painting by Chen Liu A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved November 2011 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Claudia Brown, Chair Ju-hsi Chou Jiang Wu ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY December 2011 ABSTRACT The Vimalakirti Sutra is one of the classics of early Indian Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra narrates that Vimalakirti, an enlightened layman, once made it appear as if he were sick so that he could demonstrate the Law of Mahayana Buddhism to various figures coming to inquire about his illness. This dissertation studies representations of The Vimalakirti Sutra in Chinese painting from the fourth to the nineteenth centuries to explore how visualizations of the same text could vary in different periods of time in light of specific artistic, social and religious contexts. In this project, about forty artists who have been recorded representing the sutra in traditional Chinese art criticism and catalogues are identified and discussed in a single study for the first time. A parallel study of recorded paintings and some extant ones of the same period includes six aspects: text content represented, mode of representation, iconography, geographical location, format, and identity of the painter. This systematic examination reveals that two main representational modes have formed in the Six Dynasties period (220-589): depictions of the Great Layman as a single image created by Gu Kaizhi, and narrative illustrations of the sutra initiated by Yuan Qian and his teacher Lu Tanwei.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case and Treatment of Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Hearing Congressional-Executive Commission on China
    THE CASE AND TREATMENT OF PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER GAO ZHISHENG HEARING BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 14, 2012 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 74–543 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS House Senate CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, SHERROD BROWN, Ohio, Cochairman Chairman MAX BAUCUS, Montana FRANK WOLF, Virginia CARL LEVIN, Michigan DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California EDWARD R. ROYCE, California JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon TIM WALZ, Minnesota SUSAN COLLINS, Maine MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio JAMES RISCH, Idaho MICHAEL HONDA, California EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS SETH D. HARRIS, Department of Labor MARIA OTERO, Department of State FRANCISCO J. SA´ NCHEZ, Department of Commerce KURT M. CAMPBELL, Department of State NISHA DESAI BISWAL, U.S. Agency for International Development PAUL B. PROTIC, Staff Director LAWRENCE T. LIU, Deputy Staff Director (II) CO N T E N T S Page Opening statement of Hon. Chris Smith, a U.S. Representative from New Jersey; Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ................ 1 Brown, Hon. Sherrod, a U.S. Senator from Ohio; Cochairman, Congressional- Executive Commission on China ........................................................................ 4 Wolf, Hon. Frank, a U.S. Representative from Virginia; Member, Congres- sional-Executive Commission on China ............................................................
    [Show full text]