DOCSLIB.ORG

Back to the Red Cliff: Reflections on the Narrative Mode in Early Literati Landscape Painting Byjerome Silbergeld

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Back to the Red Cliff: Reflections on the Narrative Mode in Early Literati Landscape Painting Byjerome Silbergeld BACK TO THE RED CLIFF: REFLECTIONS ON THE NARRATIVE MODE IN EARLY LITERATI LANDSCAPE PAINTING BYJEROME SILBERGELD IN 1082, WRITING FROM POLITICAL EXILE IN SOUTH helped illuminate the study of broader topics. China, Su Shi, hao Dongpo @ $$ 9 @ (1037- Yet despite the frequent excursions into this 1101) described a moonlit journey down the material, I propose still another trip back to the Yangzi River past the famous historical battle site Red Cliff. Not only does the "hypnotic effect" of of the Red Cliff. He composed this in the fu ,k@ the topic encourage a periodic retelling, but all or "prose-poem" form, which was popular at the these previous studies still leave some of the most time of that ancient battle, in A.D. 208, and which basic issues unresolved: the authorship and dat- Su helped to revive after centuries of neglect. ' In ing of three major paintings on this theme; which 1601, the chief arbiter of taste for his time, Dong of Su's two prose-poems is illustrated by some of Qichang B g g, wrote on Su Shi's surviving these paintings; and, most importantly, the very manuscript of this "Red Cliff' prose-poem (now relationship of these painted images to the writ- preserved in the National Palace Museum, ten text. What can be learned from an explora- Taibei) , 'This fu of Mr. [Su] Dongpo transforms tion of this topic is broader than might be ex- the Chu Sao $$ & his handwriting transforms the pected, for these questions bear directly on our Orchid Pavilion Manuscript. Of all Song literature, understanding of Chinese literati painting in its this is the ~ltimate."~The spell of Su Shi's "Red formative years. Cliff' prose-poem lingers on in modern times, as described by Lin Yutang: "the poet establishes a prevailing mood that casts a hypnotic effect on The "Qiao Zhongchang " Handsmoll the reader, no matter how many times he has read [it] bef~re."~Even Su Shi himself, having gone At least five Song-period paintings on the ''Red there once and written of it in unforgettable Cliff' topic can still be studied. These include two terms, felt compelled to go back "for another trip versions that, arguably, illustrate the first prose- past the base of the Red Cliff' and risked writing poem: a tall handscroll now attributed to Wu about it a second time.4 Yuanzhi B $$ g of the late twelfth century (fig. The "Red Cliff' poems' theme of political ex- 5; National Palace Museum, Taibei) and a fan by ile had particular resonance in Su Shi's own time, Li Song 3 from the early thirteenth century when the scholar class was deeply rent by faction- (fig. 2; Nelson-Atkins Museum). And there are alism and public service was punctuated by rough three Song handscroll versions of the second dismissal from office. This was still truer in the prose-poem: one attributed to Qiao Zhongchang decades that followed, when half of China was {$ g, probably painted prior to 1123 (fig. 1; conquered by Jin Tartars and many northern Nelson-Atkins Museum); one after an original, scholars became exiles in their own land. Not now missing but (all too loosely) said to be by surprisingly, illustrations of Su's two prose-poems Zhao Bosu Wf @ a (1124-82), copied by Wen appeared almost immediately. Those works initi- Zhengming 2 @ in 1548 (fig. 4; National Pal- ated one of the longest standing pictorial tradi- ace Museum, Taibei);' and one by Ma Hezhi tions, dealing with the theme of political exile, ,% $12 , in the mid-twelfth century (fig. 2; Pal- and they now comprise some of the earliest sur- ace Museum, Beijing).8 Ultimately, it can be viving works in the literati tradition of painting shown which prose-poem each painting is relat- that emerged from the cultural circle of Su Shi ed to, and it can be shown that the paintings in and his friends. each group share a common stylistic source. Prob Popular through the centuries, Su Shi's "Red ably representing the oldest surviving illustration Cliff' prose-poems are now among the most fre- of each prose-poem, the scrolls attributed to Wu quently translated into English of any Chinese Yuanzhi and Qiao Zhongchang are the most im- verse. Paintings based on these poems have been portant of these and represent the focus of this the subject of a number of studies and have study. 20 JEROME SILBERGELD The Qiao Zhongchang attribution (fig. I), art, Li Gonglin 3 /i B9-was recorded in the based on Su's second "Red Cliff' prose-poem, is eighteenth-century imperial catalogue, Ship baqi supposedly the oldest of all these paintings, but ;6 E, in a colophon neither signed nor the work is without signature or artist seals, and even extant today. lo the attribution lacks any substantial evidence. The This historical murk contrasts with the visual oldest inscription, dated 1123, is by Zhao Ling- clarity of the scroll itself, which of all "Red Cliff' zhi Wf + @, a member of the Song royal family scrolls best illustrates the physical setting of Su and a painting collector who in his youth knew Shi's excursions. Of the two pictorial traditions Su Shi; but Zhao wrote only of his feelings for that emerge from Su's two poems, this work es this long-deceased acquaintance and left no clue tablishes for the latter poem a more literal ap- to the artist's identity. The only reference link- proach to the narrative treatment of text, with the ing this scroll to Qao Zhongchang-a cousin and repeated appearance of major figures, architec- painting student of Su Shi's close colleague in ture, and landscape settings in a long, narrative FIG.1 continued. BACK TO THE RED CLIFF 21 FIG.1. Qiao Zhongchang, attributed, LatterProse-Poem on the Red Cliff,handscroll, ink on paper, 29.5 x 560 cm. The Nelson-Atkins Museum. Kansas City. 22 JEROME SILBERGELD format (in nine distinct scenes; Su Shi is depict- and as a reliable guide to a kind of painting Su ed eight times and his home appears three times). himself must have admired. l3 Indeed, then, rath- Not ~erelyconservative, this approach is conspic- er than harboring the unsavory air of a pastiche, uously archaistic, adopting Li Gonglin's mode of this scroll reveals the ways in which, and the strik- reference to Six Dynasties and Tang narrative ing degree to which, the leading Yuan scholar traditions. The spatial treatment of architecture painters based their trademark styles-perhaps and many of the landscape motifs clearly dem- their whole landscape "revolution"-on Song pre- onstrate a knowledge of Tang painting, asJames cedents by Su Shi, Li Gonglin, and friends. Cahill suggested in describing "the strong bilat- An old-fashioned narrative following step by eral symmetry of the house and yard near the step the sequence of the second "Red Cliff'prose- end," "the strange shell-like forms of Qiao poem, the so-called Qiao Zhongchang painting Zhongchang's rocks," and "the square-cut formal- visually introduces, with greater credibility than ized drawing of fractured rock strata." l1 Even the can be found anywhere else, the setting for Su peculiarly modulated brushwork used for the Shi's Red Cliff excursions. By 1079, Su had spent rocks makes a knowing statement about mid- a decade in outspoken opposition to the politi- Tang traditions, and the looming scale of the poet cal reforms designed by Wang Anshi 3 9 6, compared to his diminutive companions looks reforms which would have reshaped the nature back to earlier norms. of Chinese government had they succeeded and Beyond the lack of proper documentation, the which from Su's "conservative" point of view chief connoisseurial problem obscuring the date would have undermined the hallowed indepen- and attribution of this work--or at least instill- dence of the Confucian scholar-official. In that ing my own doubts about them-arises from its year, his political adversaries charged Su with writ- more progressive features, from artistic details ing poetry "slanderous" of the emperor (that is, that too clearly anticipate later literati painters, of opposing Wang's policies, which the emperor especially those of the mid-to-late Yuan. Some of then favored), and he was cast into the imperial these progressive characteristics have already censorate prison for 130 days. In December, af- been noted by Cahill-willows like Zhao Meng- ter a lengthy trial and imperial review of the case, fu's Wf j& and Wang Meng's E and low, Su was demoted to low rank and ordered into rolling hills like Huang Gongwang's % fi %.I2 exile under tight travel restrictions. l4 Soon after In addition, there are texture strokes (at the very arriving in the small, rustic town of Huangzhou beginning and end) distinctively like Huang % $11 in February 1080, Su (and his family, which Gongwang's, slender tree trunks like Ni Zan's arrived shortly after) lived at a government way- B,thick-trunked pines like Wang Meng's, station intended to house officials traveling up Zhang Wu's 5 @, or Yao Tingmei's j& s, and down the Yangzi River. Located beneath a dried-mud embankments derived perhaps from hill known as Lin'gao g$ @ and set just a "few the Li-Guo 3-3 tradition by way of Huang Gong- dozen steps" above the north bank of the Yangzi wang, a bridge drawn just like one by Wang Meng, River, this crude abode was distinguished not by and so forth. Looked at from a skeptical perspec- its architecture but by a lovely view of the river tive, this work assumes the aura of a pastiche.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Characteristics of Chinese Poetic-Musical Creations
    Characteristics of Chinese Poetic-Musical Creations Yan GENG1 Abstract: The present study intoduces a series of characteristics related to Chinese poetry. It shows that, together with rhythmical structure and intonation (which has a crucial role in conveying meaning), an additional, fundamental aspect of Chinese poetry lies in the latent, pictorial effect of the writing. Various genres and forms of Chinese poetry are touched upon, as well as a series of figures of speech, themes (nature, love, sadness, mythology etc.) and symbols (particularly of vegetal and animal origin), which are frequently encountered in the poems. Key-words: rhythm, intonation, system of tones, rhyme, system of writing, figures of speech 1. Introduction In his Advanced Music Theory course, &RQVWDQWLQ 5kSă VKRZV WKDW ³we can differentiate between two levels of the phenomenon of rhythm: the first, a general philosophical one, meaning, within the context of music, the ensemble of movements perceived, thus the macrostructural level; the second, the micro-VWUXFWXUH ZKHUH UK\WKP PHDQV GXUDWLRQV « LQWHQVLWLHVDQGWHPSR « 0RUHRYHUZHFDQVD\WKDWUK\WKPGRHVQRWH[LVWEXWUDWKHUMXVW the succession of sounds in time [does].´2 Studies on rhythm, carried out by ethno- musicology researchers, can guide us to its genesis. A first fact that these studies point towards is the indissoluble unity of the birth process of artistic creation: poetry, music (rhythm-melody) and dance, which manifested syncretically for a very lengthy period of time. These aspects are not singular or characteristic for just one culture, as it appears that they have manifested everywhere from the very beginning of mankind. There is proof both in Chinese culture, as well as in ancient Romanian culture, that certifies the existence of a syncretic development of the arts and language.
    [Show full text]
  • Cataloguing Chinese Art in the Middle and Late Imperial Eras
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2010 Tradition and Transformation: Cataloguing Chinese Art in the Middle and Late Imperial Eras YEN-WEN CHENG University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Asian Art and Architecture Commons, Asian History Commons, and the Cultural History Commons Recommended Citation CHENG, YEN-WEN, "Tradition and Transformation: Cataloguing Chinese Art in the Middle and Late Imperial Eras" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 98. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/98 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/98 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tradition and Transformation: Cataloguing Chinese Art in the Middle and Late Imperial Eras Abstract After obtaining sovereignty, a new emperor of China often gathers the imperial collections of previous dynasties and uses them as evidence of the legitimacy of the new regime. Some emperors go further, commissioning the compilation projects of bibliographies of books and catalogues of artistic works in their imperial collections not only as inventories but also for proclaiming their imperial power. The imperial collections of art symbolize political and cultural predominance, present contemporary attitudes toward art and connoisseurship, and reflect emperors’ personal taste for art. The attempt of this research project is to explore the practice of art cataloguing during two of the most important reign periods in imperial China: Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty (r. 1101-1125) and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (r. 1736-1795). Through examining the format and content of the selected painting, calligraphy, and bronze catalogues compiled by both emperors, features of each catalogue reveal the development of cataloguing imperial artistic collections.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded 4.0 License
    86 Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Eloquent Stones Of the critical discourses that this book has examined, one feature is that works of art are readily compared to natural forms of beauty: bird song, a gush- ing river or reflections in water are such examples. Underlying such rhetorical devices is an ideal of art as non-art, namely that the work of art should appear so artless that it seems to have been made by nature in its spontaneous process of creation. Nature serves as the archetype (das Vorbild) of art. At the same time, the Song Dynasty also saw refined objects – such as flowers, tea or rocks – increasingly aestheticised, collected, classified, described, ranked and com- moditised. Works of connoisseurship on art or natural objects prospered alike. The hundred-some pu 譜 or lu 錄 works listed in the literature catalogue in the History of the Song (“Yiwenzhi” in Songshi 宋史 · 藝文志) are evenly divided between those on manmade and those on natural objects.1 Through such dis- cursive transformation, ‘natural beauty’ as a cultural construct curiously be- came the afterimage (das Nachbild) of art.2 In other words, when nature appears as the ideal of art, at the same time it discovers itself to be reshaped according to the image of art. As a case study of Song nature aesthetics, this chapter explores the multiple dimensions of meaning invested in Su Shi’s connoisseur discourse on rocks. Su Shi professed to be a rock lover. Throughout his life, he collected inkstones, garden rocks and simple pebbles. We are told, for instance, that a pair of rocks, called Qiuchi 仇池, accompanied him through his exiles to remote Huizhou and Hainan, even though most of his family members were left behind.
    [Show full text]
  • Esotericwriting Through Historical Allusions
    European Journal European Journal of of East Asian Studies 19 (2020) 237–262 East Asian Studies brill.com/ejea Esoteric Writing through Historical Allusions Qu Xuanying’s Poetry under Japanese Occupation Chiu Yi-hsuan Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan [email protected] Abstract This paper investigates the poetry of Qu Xuanying, a literatus who remained in the city of Beiping (now Beijing) following its occupation by the Japanese in 1937. Through historical allusions in his poetry, Qu communicated with friends about the ethical dilemmas that he faced under occupation, and reflected upon the choices that literati in earlier eras had made when facing dynastic transitions and foreign conquest. Qu’s ‘esoteric writing’ during the occupation contained a complex set of historical allusions which referenced various points in the Chinese past. Since Qu served in the collabo- rationist north China regime, he has often been perceived as a ‘traitor’ or a ‘collabo- rator’. Through this in-depth analysis of his literary works, however, this paper seeks to reveal the special exegetical strategies adopted by literati such as Qu under occupa- tion. Keywords Qu Xuanying – occupation – collaboration, Beiping (Beijing) – literati – poetry 1 Introduction: Living with ‘the Enemy’ and Esoteric Writing In July 1937, the ancient city of Beiping (now Beijing) was filled with a highly tense atmosphere—like a pressure cooker that was about to burst. People were aware that a historical turning point was approaching, but they could not pre- dict what would happen next. An undeclared Sino-Japanese war was about to break out.
    [Show full text]
  • Adaptive Fuzzy Pid Controller's Application in Constant Pressure Water Supply System
    2010 2nd International Conference on Information Science and Engineering (ICISE 2010) Hangzhou, China 4-6 December 2010 Pages 1-774 IEEE Catalog Number: CFP1076H-PRT ISBN: 978-1-4244-7616-9 1 / 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS ADAPTIVE FUZZY PID CONTROLLER'S APPLICATION IN CONSTANT PRESSURE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM..............................................................................................................................................................................................................1 Xiao Zhi-Huai, Cao Yu ZengBing APPLICATION OF OPC INTERFACE TECHNOLOGY IN SHEARER REMOTE MONITORING SYSTEM ...............................5 Ke Niu, Zhongbin Wang, Jun Liu, Wenchuan Zhu PASSIVITY-BASED CONTROL STRATEGIES OF DOUBLY FED INDUCTION WIND POWER GENERATOR SYSTEMS.................................................................................................................................................................................9 Qian Ping, Xu Bing EXECUTIVE CONTROL OF MULTI-CHANNEL OPERATION IN SEISMIC DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM..........................14 Li Tao, Hu Guangmin, Zhao Taiyin, Li Lei URBAN VEGETATION COVERAGE INFORMATION EXTRACTION BASED ON IMPROVED LINEAR SPECTRAL MIXTURE MODE.....................................................................................................................................................................18 GUO Zhi-qiang, PENG Dao-li, WU Jian, GUO Zhi-qiang ECOLOGICAL RISKS ASSESSMENTS OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATIONS IN THE YANCHENG RED-CROWN CRANE NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE BY SUPPORT
    [Show full text]
  • ICMSE2016 Table of Content.Pdf
    4th Annual International Conference on Material Science and Engineering (ICMSE) ISBN:978-94-6252-259-6 Table for ICMSE2016 Chapter 1: Sociology and Political Science ICMSE2016 Table of Content Chapter 1: Materials and Technologies in Energy Production and Environmental Engineering Catalytic Oxidation Desulfurization over PTA-dispersed MIL-101 under Mild Conditions ················································································· 1 Yong LIU, Jian-Fei BAI, Xiao-Hong YIN, Hong-Tao DUAN and Yan-Fei ZHANG Formic Acid Oxidation Catalytic Properties of Pd Nanoclusters Prepared by Physical Vapor Deposition ······························································· 8 Cheng-Wei LIN, Qing LUO, Meng LEI, Lai-Sen WANG and Dong-Liang PENG Synthesis of Monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 by Simple Precipitation Method and Photocatalytic Performance under Visible-light Irradiation ························ 14 Yong-Qing ZHAI, Yan-Jie YIN, Wan ZHANG, Cong-Cong LIU and Xiao LIU Arsenic BCR Three-Step Sequential Extraction and Microbial Community’s Response Research in Soil Polluted by Steel-Smelting with Depth ················ 20 Li-Kun LI, Ling-Chen KANG, Li-Jun LU, Lei ZHANG, Gai-Feng XUE Thiolate Complexes Catalyst in Noble-Metal-Free System for Light-driven Hydrogen Production ····································································· 25 Guang-Yan LI, Da-Tian FU and Xiu-Lan CAI Fe Thiolate Complexes Catalyst in Photocatalysis System for Hydrogen Production from Water ··················································································
    [Show full text]
  • The Poetic Theory and Practice of Huang Tingjian
    THE POETIC THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HUANG TINGJIAN BY LIANG DU B.A., HUNAN NORMAL UNIVERSITY, 1982 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i IN THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Asian Studies) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA JULY, 1991 (C) LIANG DU, 1991 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of ^,A-A! S>Tc/P>/gS The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT Huang Tingjian ffKpK<1045-1105) is one of the most important poets of the Song Dynasty. He is often associated with his contemporary Su Shi|||^ , just as the Tang Dynasty's most important poets Du Fu and Li Bai ^ are linked. Huang founded the Jiangxi School which exerted 150 years of influence _ i upon the creative theory and practice of succeeding generations of poets. Huang is also one of the most controversial poets in Chinese history. His position in poetic history and the controversy surrounding him, make it worthwhile to analyze his poetic theory and practice.
    [Show full text]
  • The Searching of “Dream Illusion” in Chinese Landscape Poetry of Liu Tsung-Yuan
    The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2013 Official Conference Proceedings Osaka, Japan The Searching of “Dream Illusion” in Chinese Landscape Poetry of Liu Tsung-yuan Yu-Ning Shen National ChengChi University, Taiwan 0266 The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2013 Official Conference Proceedings 2013 iafor The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org 337 The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2013 Official Conference Proceedings Osaka, Japan i. The foreword In Liu Tsung-yuan’s literary works, it is obviously divided into two periods. The former uses “make his people good (Li an yuan yuan)” as its purpose, filling with the author’s ambition and his political idealism; the later, however, desperation, explaining that there is no chance to carry out his ideals and focusing on the topics of mountains and rivers which seems to comfort his pain and lives in solitude. According to “History of the Early Tang,” point out ‘When Tsung-yuan as a provincial governor of Shao-Chou, later he relegated to Yuang-Chou and spent whole life in exile. He stayed in wastes land, emerged his sorrow as a poet. Readers always felt the same melancholy with him. ’ The things about the writing matters is of natural milieu and often with the appearance of melancholy What’s more, reviewers always put Liu’s poetry in the position with Qu Yuan and Hsieh Ling-Yun. A famous poet named Yuan Hao-Wen said’ 謝客風容映古今，發源誰似柳州深？朱弦一拂遺音在，卻是 當年寂寞心1。’ Shen Deqian also indicated that Liu Tsung-Yuan wrote down temperance plain as “The songs of Chou.” In conclusion, the art achievement of Liu’s poetry is poetic melancholy.
    [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]
  • Dissertation Section 1
    Elegies for Empire The Poetics of Memory in the Late Work of Du Fu (712-770) Gregory M. Patterson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 ! 2013 Gregory M. Patterson All rights reserved ABSTRACT Elegies for Empire: The Poetics of Memory in the Late Work of Du Fu (712-770) Gregory M. Patterson This dissertation explores highly influential constructions of the past at a key turning point in Chinese history by mapping out what I term a poetics of memory in the more than four hundred poems written by Du Fu !" (712-770) during his two-year stay in the remote town of Kuizhou (modern Fengjie County #$%). A survivor of the catastrophic An Lushan rebellion (756-763), which transformed Tang Dynasty (618-906) politics and culture, Du Fu was among the first to write in the twilight of the Chinese medieval period. His most prescient anticipation of mid-Tang concerns was his restless preoccupation with memory and its mediations, which drove his prolific output in Kuizhou. For Du Fu, memory held the promise of salvaging and creatively reimagining personal, social, and cultural identities under conditions of displacement and sweeping social change. The poetics of his late work is characterized by an acute attentiveness to the material supports—monuments, rituals, images, and texts—that enabled and structured connections to the past. The organization of the study attempts to capture the range of Du Fu’s engagement with memory’s frameworks and media. It begins by examining commemorative poems that read Kuizhou’s historical memory in local landmarks, decoding and rhetorically emulating great deeds of classical exemplars.
    [Show full text]
  • Tang and Song Dynasties
    Name Class Date China Literature Poems from the Tang and Song Dynasties ABOUT THE READING Poetry has been VOCABULARY created in China for more than 5,000 years. chasms deep gaps in the The first poems were songs. The Book of Songs, earth; gorges the earliest known collection of poems, was written on bamboo sticks around 600 b.c. TANG POETRY The Tang Dynasty (618–907) is often called the Golden Age of China. During this time, poetry flourished. Tang poems are considered the best classical poems in China’s two-thousand-year literary history. As you read the poems below, pay attention to the simplicity of the language and the poems’ imagery. Moon When I was little I thought the moon was a white jade plate, Or maybe a mirror in Heaven Flying through the blue clouds. Li Bai is generally considered —Li Bai China’s single best poet. The moon was one of his favorite subjects. Climbing Stork Tower The white sun sinks behind the hills, The Yellow River rushes to the sea. This poem is often recited to encourage Chinese children to try Want to see a thousand miles further? harder and accomplish more in life. Let’s climb a little higher! —Wang Zhi-Huan “Moon” by Li Bai and “Climbing Stork Tower” by Wwang Zhi-Huan from Maples in the Mist, translated by Minfong Ho, illustrated by Jean & Mou-sien Tseng. Copyright © 1996 by Minfong Ho. Reproduced by permission of McIntosh and Otis, Inc. Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. 13 China 6635_MS_iteratre_Ch0.indd3#5_MS(_)iterat/re_Ch03.indd 1313 3/11/06/11/06 44:3:54:3#:54 PMPM Name Class Date Poems from the Tang and Song Dynasties, continued Literature SONG POETRY The Song Dynasty (960–1279) was notable for the growth of the cities and the spread of printing and edu- cation.
    [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]