China:The Glorious Tang And Song Dynasties - Asian Art Museum ...

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An Introduction to the Tang and Song Dynasties By Martin Backstrom
An Introduction to the Tang and Song Dynasties The following pages explore aspects of two of the greatest periods of Chinese civilization, often referred to by Western authors as the “medieval” period of China. However the term medieval, sometimes understood to mean “backwards” or “unenlightened, ” in no way applies to the civilizations of the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties, cultures that were among the most advanced civilizations in the world at the time. Discoveries in the realms of science, art, philosophy, and technology—combined with a curiosity about the world around them—provided the men and women of medieval China with a worldview and level of sophistication that in many ways were unrivalled until much later times, even in China itself. When the rulers of the Tang dynasty (618–907) unified China in the early seventh century, the energies and wealth of the nation proved strong enough not only to ensure internal peace for the first time in centuries, but also to expand the Chinese realm to include large portions of neighboring lands such as Korea, Vietnam, northeast, central, and southeast Asia. The Tang became a great empire, the most powerful and influential of its time any place in the world. Flourishing trade and communication transformed China into the cultural center of an international age. Tang cities such as the capital of Chang’an (modern Xi’an), the eastern terminus of the great Silk Road, were global hubs of banking and trade as well as of religious, scholarly, and artistic life. Their inhabitants, from all parts of China and as far away as India and Persia, were urbane and sophisticated. Tang society was liberal and largely tolerant of alien views and ideas; in fact the royal family of Tang, surnamed Li, was of non-Han Chinese origin (perhaps originally from a Turkish-speaking area of Central Asia), and leaders of government were drawn from many parts of the region. Government was powerful, but not oppressive; education was encouraged, with the accomplished and learned well rewarded. Great wealth was accumulated by a few, but the Tang rulers saw that lands were redistributed, and all had some measure of opportunity for material advancement. This was also a time when many women attained higher status at court, and a greater degree of freedom in society. This dynamic, affluent, liberal, and culturally diverse environment produced a great efflorescence of culture unparalleled in Chinese history. Buddhism, originally imported from India, thrived to such an extent that China itself became a major center of Buddhist learning, attracting students and pilgrims from other countries. In East Asia, Chinese, rather than Sanskrit, became the “church language” of Buddhism, and Chinese Buddhist texts served to transmit Chinese culture, ideas, and philosophy abroad. Significantly, Buddhist influence also resulted in the compilation of huge encyclopedias of knowledge during the Tang, preserving much earlier Chinese cultural material for posterity, and inspiring advances in mathematics and the applied sciences such as engineering and medicine. The Tang was also an age of great figure painters, whose religious frescoes filled caves along the Silk Road through central Asia, and covered the walls of royal tombs. New styles of ceramics, bold and colorful with variegated glazes, embraced Indian, Persian, and Greek forms. Above all poetry flourished during the Tang, and indeed the Chinese think of Tang poetry as the greatest of all literary achievements. Tang poets like Du Fu, Li Bo, Wang Wei, and Bo Juyi created works of art that powerfully explored the relationships between sounds, images, and philosophy. Tang poets aimed to capture the fleeting and profound, influencing Chinese writers until the present day. Together with the surviving examples of painting and sculpture, Tang poetry manifests a 4
Page 1 and 2: China: The Glorious Tang and Song D
Page 3: Table of Contents 3 An Introduction
Page 7 and 8: of life. Most of its ideas and prac
Page 9 and 10: Tang and Song Religion and Philosop
Page 11 and 12: Enlightenment is not a tree to begi
Page 13 and 14: trines freely throughout the empire
Page 15 and 16: ZHU XI (1130-1200) The intellectual
Page 17 and 18: Tang and Song Literature By Zhaoyan
Page 19 and 20: ureaucrat; he loved wine and travel
Page 21 and 22: career and eventually retired to pu
Page 23 and 24: Children Children don’t know what
Page 25 and 26: But my mind is clearer than the riv
Page 27 and 28: Science in the Tang and Song Dynast
Page 29 and 30: Above: Ming dynasty armillary spher
Page 31 and 32: PRINTING Among the most globally si
Page 33 and 34: types of kilns: Ding Kiln, Ru Kiln,
Page 35 and 36: BIBLIOGRAPHY [1]. Joseph Needham,
Page 37 and 38: PERSONAL CONNECTIONS Confucianism T
Page 39 and 40: The role of the teacher in Chinese
Page 41 and 42: PERSONAL CONNECTIONS Floating on Cl
Page 43 and 44: advances in his learning and spirit
Page 45 and 46: enough, everyone in the class assum
Page 47 and 48: Introduction to the Arts of the Tan
Page 49 and 50: ased on court styles or through ind
Page 51 and 52: mented the use of hammered metal cu
Page 53 and 54: • Sancai: Literally “three colo
Page 55 and 56:
Despite these persecutions and cont
Page 57 and 58:
The importance of calligraphy is un
Page 59 and 60:
ate, and painted in colorful washes
Page 61 and 62:
CHARACTER STROKES All Chinese chara
Page 63 and 64:
Mantou (northern) Kiln Long (southe
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SLIDE 1A SLIDE 1B Camel, approx. 69
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SLIDE 2A SLIDE 2B Dancer, probably
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SLIDE 3A SLIDE 3B Plate in the shap
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SLIDES 4A SLIDES 4B Pair of tomb gu
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SLIDE 5A SLIDE 5B Vase with broad m
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Why are kiln sites so important whe
Page 77 and 78:
What are these paintings? Both pain
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SLIDE 7A SLIDE 7B Pillow in the for
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particular the beauty of the intera
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SLIDES 8A SLIDES 8B SLIDES 8C SLIDE
Page 85 and 86:
What was ru ware and why is it impo
Page 87 and 88:
What are these objects? These objec
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SLIDE 10A SLIDE 10B Vase, approx. 1
Page 91 and 92:
SLIDE 11A SLIDE 11B Bowl with plum
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sumption, it was usually boiled lik
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insisted that a cup stand be fashio
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What are these buildings? The first
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SLIDE 14A SLIDE 14B SLIDE 14C SLIDE
Page 101 and 102:
SLIDE 15A SLIDE 15B Stele with the
Page 103 and 104:
SLIDE 16A SLIDE 16B The Bodhisattva
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What is an arhat/luohan? The luohan
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time, this was Liao territory. One
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What is this painting? Illustrated
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SLIDE 19A SLIDE 19B Solitary Temple
Page 113 and 114:
One writer commented that Li Cheng
Page 115 and 116:
Ma Yuan, and a contemporary artist
Page 117 and 118:
in the style of Wang Xizhi (mention
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What are these images? Each image i
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These two works are about a thousan
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Classroom Applications The purpose
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History and Social Science Connecti
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HISTORICAL LITERACY: HANDOUT A1 Tan
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1. What actions, goals and accompli
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Xiaozong, emperor of Southern Song
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SOCIAL SCIENCE: HANDOUT B1 Poetry A
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HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: HANDOUT D1
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FINE ARTS CONNECTIONS Literati Pain
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The Tang and Song Dynasties: Art Ac
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EVIDENCE OF ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT: 1
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There are several parts to your ass
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FINE ARTS ACTIVITY: HANDOUT D Daois
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Language Arts Connections By Donna
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LANGUAGE ARTS CONNECTIONS DEVELOPED
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Xuanzang is given the religious nam
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Monkey was so excited that he did a
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LANGUAGE ARTS: HANDOUT A3 Cloze Key
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grew darker and darker. When it gre
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egan to out of his head. At the sig
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eyes began to bulge, pop, burst out
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LANGUAGE ARTS: HANDOUT B2 Summary R
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LANGUAGE ARTS: HANDOUT C1 Story Ana
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LANGUAGE ARTS: HANDOUT C2 Story Ana
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LANGUAGE ARTS: HANDOUT D Hands-on V
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Xuanzang’s Horse, 2005. China. Sh
Page 173 and 174:
Xuanzang 172
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Pigsy Instructions: Make two legs a
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Classroom Connections, Bibliography
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FOR STUDENTS: Ames, Roger T. The Zh
Page 181 and 182:
Further Reading GENERAL BOOKS ON CH
Page 183 and 184:
Maps
Page 185 and 186:
Northern Song and Liao Dynasties Na
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