Phantom Porcelains: Zhangzhou and Yoshida Polychrome Dishes with Seal Design

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-201
Author(s):  
Diana X. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Maritime Trade ◽  
Seal Design ◽  
Late Ming ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Wanli Period ◽  
Fierce Competition ◽  
Native Resources

Abstract Zhangzhou ceramics, coarsely potted with thick glaze and sandy feet, were mass-produced in southern Fujian during the late Ming and early Qing periods. The rise of the Zhangzhou kiln complex was an outcome of expanding maritime trade since the Jiajing period (1522–1566) and Zhangzhou production reached a climax in the Wanli period (1572–1620). The Fujianese workshops created a whole spectrum of porcelain products, ranging from monochrome pieces to blue-and-white and polychrome ones. Of the decorative vocabulary that is unique to Zhangzhou kilns, the pavilion and seal design (previously known as the “Split Pagoda” motif) is noteworthy for its decorative originality and transnational appeal. Through a close examination of typical Zhangzhou dishes with seal design, the paper points out that the intriguing theme fuses Daoist ideals with Confucian-recluses’ pursuits. The pluralism in the symbolic meanings of the pattern enhances the marketability of this type of Zhangzhou ware. Around the 1650s, Japanese potters in the Yoshida workshops of Ureshino, Hizen province on the Island of Kyushu started to incorporate the Zhangzhou designs into their local decorative repertoire. But instead of faithfully imitating the seal pattern from the Fujianese prototype, Yoshida decorators seamlessly wove Japanese fashion into Chinese-inspired motifs. Popular designs from nearby Arita, the porcelain capital of Japan, further stimulated Yoshida artisans to create affordable fusion-style products for Southeast Asian markets that were yet to be dominated by prestigious Hizen porcelains. However, the efflorescence of Yoshida porcelains with seal design was rather short-lived due to limited native resources and fierce competition in and outside Kyushu.

scholarly journals Landscape-style Maps in Traditional Chinese Local Government

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Akihiro Osawa
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Jiangxi Province ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
National Library ◽  
Old Maps ◽  
Late Ming ◽  
Chinese Local Government ◽  
Wanli Period ◽  
National Library Of China

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The various landscape-style maps that we have recently been learning about were originally painted at Local government offices. It is thought that they were not made for printing and publication but were kept as government materials.</p><p>This becomes clear by looking at the <i>Daming Yitongzhi</i> 大明一統志 and various regional gazetteers, but the focus of traditional Chinese gazetteers was chronology: which individuals came from that area (like a family’s ancestors), who was appointed to that location, or whether any literary works are associated with the place. In other words, the importance of geographic texts in traditional China lay in exploring a location’s past and recognizing that area and its people.</p><p>On the other hand, maps placing importance on practical utility were also drawn to meet actual political and military demands. The annotated maps compiled by government offices in the late Ming recorded the actual state of affairs from the vantage point of administrative needs.</p><p>This change, which attached importance to local realities, became quite pronounced from the Wanli 萬暦 era onwards and can be confirmed on the basis of extant atlases and annotated maps from local government offices. An early example indicative of this trend is the <i>Linghai yutu</i> 嶺海輿圖 by Yao Yu 姚虞, which is included in the <i>Siku quanshu</i> 四庫全書 and is judged to be valuable for providing detailed information about contemporary affairs and defences and for having established a different format for local gazetteers. It is said to have been compiled when Yao Yu was regional inspector (<i>xun’an yushi</i> 巡按御史) of Guangdong and to have a preface by Zhan Ruoshui 湛若水 dated Jiajing 嘉靖 21 (1542). One reason that various maps from around the country, including annotated maps, have survived may be that a need for them came to be widely felt in government offices.</p><p>It used to be extremely rare to see the originals of maps created by late-Ming regional government offices. Subsequently, photographic reproductions of the <i>Nanjing fuxian ditu ce</i> 南京府縣地圖冊in the Zhenjiang 鎭江 Museum, the <i>Jiangxi quansheng tushuo</i> 江西全省圖説(江西輿地圖説)[Map of <i>Jiangxi Province with Explanations</i>] in the National Library of China, and other provincial maps and explanatory descriptions made using traditional techniques of the Ming and Qing periods have been included in collections like Cao Wanru曹婉如, et al. (eds.), <i>Zhongguo gudai ditu ji: Ming dai</i> 中國古代地圖集：明代 [Collection of Chinese Old Maps: The Ming Period] (Wenwu Press, 1994) and <i>Zhonghua gu ditu zhenpin xuanji</i> 中華古地圖珍品選集 [Collection of Rare Chinese Old Maps] (Ha’erbin ditu Press, 1998).</p><p>The reason for the attention paid to this early-Wanli-period <i>Jiangxi yudi tushuo</i> 江西輿地圖説 is partially because it is thought to be one of the earliest paintings by a government office, but it is also because of the existence of Zhao Bingzhong 趙秉忠’s <i>Jiangxi yudi tushuo</i> (<i>Jilu huibian</i> 紀録彙編, fasc. 208) and Wang Shimao王世懋’s Rao Nan Jiu sanfu tushuo饒南九三府圖説 (<i>Jilu huibian</i>, fasc. 209), works from the same period that can be contrasted with this map book.</p><p>I have discussed this in detail elsewhere, but we have confirmed, from photographs of picture map and explanatory descriptions of Taihe 泰和 County contained in the <i>Zhonghua gu ditu zhenpin xuanji</i>, that the original early-Wanli-period <i>Jiangxi yudi tushuo</i> is extant in the collection of the National Library of China in Beijing, making it possible to investigate the specifics of government-office illustrations. It also became clear that the textual contents of the <i>Jiangxi yudi tushuo</i> (held by the National Library of China in Beijing) and the <i>Jilu huibian</i> version are nearly identical.</p>

scholarly journals Urban Tissue of Traditional Chinese and Southeast Asian Port Cities: The Influence of Maritime Trade

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Han Wang ◽  
Beisi Jia
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Tissue Level ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Maritime Trade ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Special Rules

In the process of urban development and regeneration, a city always gradually derives multiple morphological characteristics from its original single form. The transformation of urban form can be viewed as representation of consequence of overlapping of cultural attributes, an urban quality which is often ignored by property developments. This paper addresses that culture is a starting point to analyze traditional urban forms of Chinese and Southeast Asian traditional port cities. On the one hand, it analyzes their urban morphological characteristics focusing on the urban tissue level, which can reflect a process of urban evolution based on multi-culture brought by the ancient maritime trade. On the other hand, four port cities with similar cultural attributes including Quanzhou and Guangzhou in China, Hanoi in Vietnam and Malacca in Malaysia are analyzed comparatively to demonstrate their morphological differences and similarities. Based on the analysis of the two aspects, the paper recovers the relationship between cultural attributes and urban morphology, as well as some universal and special rules of urban development.

Art | Adrift

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-179
Author(s):  
Einor K. Cervone
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Social Distinction ◽  
Experimental Installation ◽  
Late Ming ◽  
Fierce Competition ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Continuum

Abstract A floating gallery, a drifting studio where sprawling waterscapes set off artwork on display and inspire original creation—the painting-and-calligraphy boat (shuhua chuan) may sound like a postmodern experimental installation. For its Ming patrons, however, it was nothing of the sort. Traceable to Mi Fu's floating gallery-cum-studio, the “art boat” was perceived as a beacon of cultural orthodoxy by generations of aesthetes like Mi Wanzhong, Dong Qichang, and Li Rihua. A nod to antiquity, it situated them in the continuum of long-standing tradition. The practice reached its acme in the mid- and late Ming, against currents of growing social mobility and dynamic imbalance that gave rise to a culture of connoisseurship as part of a fierce competition for social distinction. This paper examines the lure of waterborne art connoisseurship as cultural capital. Unique to the art boat is the act of collecting pieces for display and appraisal—an act akin to modern curatorial discernment. The selection of works that accompanied the patron onboard became an expressive medium. The painting-and-calligraphy boat also privileged a sense of fortuity. Chance encounters and spontaneous inspiration complemented the boats' movement along their free-form routes. Yet, the most prominent feature distinguishing the art boat was its visibility. Open panoramas of outstretched waterscape conjured a new creative avenue, a self-aestheticizing of both participant and vessel. This paper extricates the painting-and-calligraphy boat from its perception as a passing curiosity and shows it to be an enduring phenomenon that permeated premodern Jiangnan—the choice of the waterscape as a space of creation and recreation.

China’s Legacies in Southeast Asia

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-135
Author(s):  
David Shambaugh
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Maritime Trade ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Tribute System ◽  
Economic Exchanges ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

This chapter traces the history of China’s legacies in Southeast Asia. Historically, China has loomed large—geographically, culturally, militarily, and economically—over Southeast Asia. This was particularly the case before the sixteenth-century arrival of European colonial powers, which encroached upon not only Southeast Asia but China itself, and began to limit earlier Sino-Southeast Asian interactions. Prior to that time, they were a mixture of cross-border migration and economic exchanges; a flourishing maritime trade; outright occupation and subjugation in one case (Vietnam); and ritualistic expressions of the “tribute system” for many others. These four legacies are all extraordinarily complex, for which there are not particularly good historical records. Thus, how one interprets these pre-modern interactions between China and Southeast Asia really does have to do with the available sources, and it seems that the lack of preserved Southeast Asian sources has had the impact of tilting interpretations in favor of the Chinese tributary paradigm. The chapter then describes this long sweep of Sino-Southeast Asian pre-modern and modern interactions in a relatively condensed fashion before turning to the post-1949 period.

How Sexual Objectification Generates Dehumanization in Western and Eastern Cultures

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Wollast ◽  
Elisa Puvia ◽  
Philippe Bernard ◽  
Passagorn Tevichapong ◽  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Objectification Theory ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Sexual Objectification ◽  
Intense Pain ◽  
Eastern Cultures ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
Self Objectification ◽  
Asian Sample

Abstract. Ever since Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) proposed objectification theory, research on self-objectification and – by extension – other-objectification has experienced a considerable expansion. However, most of the studies on sexual objectification have been conducted solely in Western populations. This study investigates whether the effect of target sexualization on social perception differs as a function of culture (Western vs. Eastern). Specifically, we asked a Western sample (Belgian, N = 62) and a Southeast Asian sample (Thai, N = 98) to rate sexualized versus nonsexualized targets. We found that sexual objectification results in dehumanization in both Western (Belgium) and Eastern (Thailand) cultures. Specifically, participants from both countries attributed less competence and less agency to sexualized than to nonsexualized targets, and they reported that they would administer more intense pain to sexualized than to nonsexualized targets. Thus, building on past research, this study suggests that the effect of target sexualization on dehumanization is a more general rather than a culture-specific phenomenon.

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