One Painting, Two Emperors, and Their Cultural Agendas

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-117
Author(s):  
Cheng-hua Wang
Keyword(s):  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Painting ◽  
Production Mechanism ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
The Third ◽  
Artistic Vision ◽  
Second Year

Abstract This research focuses on one of the most famous paintings made at the court of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911)—Qingming shanghe (Up the River during Qingming). Commissioned by the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1723–1735) and completed in the second year of the Qianlong emperor's reign (1736–1795), the painting is a rare example of Qing court art that reveals how Qianlong furthered his father's artistic vision while formulating his own in the first fifteen years of his long tenure as ruler. This vision involved how to reinterpret and reinvent the Chinese painting tradition through time-honored themes. The article is divided into four sections. In the first, it brings attention to the salient and crucial but long neglected stylistic features of the painting—those that emphasize theatricality and spectatorship. These interconnected features link and characterize the paintings commissioned by Yongzheng. The second section shifts to discuss the emerging cultural agenda of Yongzheng as seen through the manner in which court art references the Chinese painting tradition. The most remarkable act regards the reinterpretation of old painting themes that include Qingming shanghe and Baijun tu (One Hundred Horses). The third section analyzes how the paratextual elements of Qingming shanghe, especially Qianlong's poem and inscription, inform us of the emperor's views about the production mechanism of court painting and the political meaning of this work. The last section, based on Qianlong's understanding of the painting, highlights the emperor's cultural agenda associated with the idea of yuanben, which pointed to new versions of old themes made by his painting academy.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Spatial Structure of “Lao Can Travels” from the Perspective of Spatial Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. p151
Author(s):  
Shuhui Peng
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
Real Space ◽  
Space Structure ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
The Third

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Liu E’s “Lao Can’s Travels” showed obvious spatial structure in both content and ideological level, and its space writing showed the characteristics of “endorsement” for the writer’s psychology. Therefore, exploring the space structure of “Lao Can’s Travels” is an important perspective for understanding the text of the novel. The space structure of the novel can be divided into three levels: The first is the real space, including the landscape space such as Shandong Wufu, the peach blossom mountain cave and other living spaces; the second is the virtual space including the dream space and the hell space; the third is the author’s psychology shown through the protagonist’s behavior and consciousness space. In addition, the effect of the spatial structure itself also makes the novel open to readers and expands the interactivity of the novel.

The Solon Sable Tribute, Hunters of Inner Asia and Dynastic Elites at the Imperial Centre

Inner Asia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-63
Author(s):  
Ning Chia
Keyword(s):  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Imperial Authority ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Cultural Importance

Abstract This article discusses the political and cultural importance of the Qing sable tribute for the expression and maintenance of imperial authority by focusing on the Solon, the largest sable-hunting group of the Qing dynasty in Heilongjiang. The political use of fur tribute items at the Qing centre reveals how the privilege of wearing fur defined the boundaries of the ruling hierarchy and, therefore, why sable tribute throughout the dynasty was a mechanism for maintaining relations between the Manchu court and the hunting population. The high demand for sable and other furs by the Qing emperor and other members of the political elite explains why the Qing empire needed the hunting population and their native places in the borderlands.

scholarly journals Research on the Distribution and Scale Evolution of Suzhou Gardens under the Urbanization Process from the Tang to the Qing Dynasty

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 281
Author(s):  
Tiantian Zhang ◽  
Zefeng Lian
Keyword(s):  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urbanization Process ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Suzhou City ◽  
World Cultural Heritage ◽  
Urban Pattern ◽  
The City ◽  
Historical Periods

Suzhou city was the cultural centre of ancient south China. It continues the urban pattern of more than 800 years ago. Suzhou gardens are the essence of Chinese gardening art, as well as the valuable world cultural heritage site. This paper compared the evolution in the distribution and scale of Suzhou gardens among five historical periods, and discussed the influence of urbanization on gardening. It revealed that: (1) The distribution of Suzhou gardens was affected by the layout and changes of the political centre and commercial centre of Suzhou city; (2) The scale of Suzhou gardens was mainly affected by the available land scale within the city and the wealth of its owner; (3) The cityscape of ‘half city occupied by gardens’ was largely resulted from the rapidly increasing number of small courtyard gardens in the Qing Dynasty; (4) The evolution of Suzhou gardens’ distribution and scale affected interior layouts. The evolution and social development of ancient cities can affect the distribution and scale of gardens. At the same time, the popularization of gardening art also optimizes the cityscape.

Grammatical Descriptions in Manchu Grammar Books from the Qing Dynasty

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-55
Author(s):  
Takashi Takekoshi
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Scholars ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The 19Th Century

In this paper, we analyse features of the grammatical descriptions in Manchu grammar books from the Qing Dynasty. Manchu grammar books exemplify how Chinese scholars gave Chinese names to grammatical concepts in Manchu such as case, conjugation, and derivation which exist in agglutinating languages but not in isolating languages. A thorough examination reveals that Chinese scholarly understanding of Manchu grammar at the time had attained a high degree of sophistication. We conclude that the reason they did not apply modern grammatical concepts until the end of the 19th century was not a lack of ability but because the object of their grammatical descriptions was Chinese, a typical isolating language.

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