1) The document discusses the history and culture of China from the Shang Dynasty (1700-1100 BCE) through the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE). It covers major dynasties, philosophical traditions like Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, artistic achievements in ceramics, calligraphy, sculpture and architecture. 2) Key developments include the unification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE, the prosperity and influence of the Han Dynasty, and the spread and adoption of Buddhism from India. Major artistic periods mentioned are the Tang and Song Dynasties. 3) The document also briefly outlines some history of Korea, including the Three Kingdoms Period and artistic traditions in Gory

1. T, R, 12-1:20PM
Professor Paige Prater

2. • Covers an area slightly larger than the continental United
States!
• Jade objects
• Oracle bones
• Writing
• Taotie – ancient mask motif (so-called by historians)
• Buddhism
• Daoism
• Confucianism

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Shang Dynasty (1700-1100 BCE)
Zhou Dynasty (1100-221 BCE)
Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-206 BCE)
Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE)
Six Dynasties period (265-589 CE)
Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-618 CE; 618-907 CE)
Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE)

4. • Yellow River Valley: walled cities, palaces, vast royal
tombs
• Stratified society
• Bronze weaponry
• “Shangdi” = chief deity + ancestors, nature, and fertility
deities
• Oracle bones>writing
• Warrior culture: splendor and violence
• Human and animal sacrifices

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Feudal society
Peaceful for 300 years, then warring states
25‟ long, 65 bronze bells, two tones (center/rim)
Taotie on front and back of each bell
433 BCE, Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Suixian, Hubei. Bronze with bronze
and timber frame. 9‟ high.

7. 221 BCE-206 BCE)
• Unity under SINGLE RULER: Shihuangdi
• Mausoleum at Lingtong in Shaanxi province
• 1974: mound uncovered – thousands of terracotta
soldiers/horses

8. • Peaceful,
prosperous, stable
• Silk Road – land
route to Rome (silk
and spices)
• Daoism
• Confucianism

9. • Dao = “The Way” of the
universe; like water
• Book: Daodejing, or The
Way and its Power
• Immortality achievable on
earth: experimentation
with diets, exercise, etc.
• Yin-yang and feng-shui
Incense Burner, Tomb of Prince Liu
Sheng, Mancheng, Hebei. Han

10. • Emphasizes propriety, deference, duty, and selfdiscipline
• Goal: attainment of equity
• Han Emperor, Wudi (141-87 BCE) – made it official
imperial philosophy; rituals added, mixed with Chinese
cosmology
Detail form rubbing of a stone relief in the Wu Family Shrine, Jiaxiang, Shandong.
Han dynasty, 151 CE, 27 ½”x 66 ½”

11. • Three warring dynasties; nomadic central Asian attacks,
court fled South; Northern and Southern developed
separately for 300 years.
• Chinese painting: spiritual value
• Six principles by scholar Xie He (fl.c. 500-535 CE)
• Spirit consonance (Daoist „qi‟) imbues art with “life‟s
movement”
• Brushstrokes= bones of a picture
• Buddhism
• Calligraphy

13. •
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Pictographs>ideographs
Radicals
Brushwork
Different dialects, ONE
written form of
communication!
• Maintains unity of civilization
Wang Xizhi Portion of a Letter from the
Feng Ju Album, mid-4th century CE, 24.7
x46.8 cm.

14. • India, 5th century BCE, spread north into central Asia
• Consolation in life, promise of salvation after death
• Temples and monasteries built; monks and nuns
Seated Buddha, Cave 20, Yungang, Datong, Shanxi.
Northern Wei dynasty, c. 460 CE, stone, 45‟ high.

15. • General from the north reunified the
empire; Buddhist
• Pure Land sect
• Altar to Amitabha Buddha, 593 CE,
bronze, 30 1/8” height
• Indian style
• Central Asian abstraction
• Chinese emphasis on rhythm

16. • Strong, vigorous, noble, idealistic, realistic, and
pragmatic
Great Wild Goose Pagoda at Ci‟en Temple, Chang „an, Shanxi. 645 CE; rebuilt
mid 8th century CE.

17. • Stupas (Buddhist Relic Mounds) + Han dynasty
watchtowers = multistoried, stone/wood structures with
tile, projected-upward-curving roofs
http://www.buddhanet.net/elearning/buddhism/pbs2_unit07.htm

18. • Earliest important example of surviving Chinese
architecture
• Mount Wutai, eastern Shanxi, constructed 782 CE
• Elaborate BRACKETING system for overhanging, curved
eaves
• Bay = basic unit/module of construction for Chinese
architecture
3 bays in Nanchan Temple
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s-7YKEe9QI

19. • New capital at Bianjing
(present-day Kaifeng) until
Manchurian, Jurchen tribes
invaded> new capital at
Hangzhou.
• Introspective, weaker military,
greater wealth (advances in
agriculture, commerce, and
technology)
• Seated Guanyin Bodhisattva,
Liao dynasty, 10-12th century,
95x65”, wood, paint, and gold.
• Bodhisattva = close to
enlightenment but voluntarily
stay on earth to help others

20. • “ I merely transmit, I do not create; I love and revere the
ancients.” –Confucius
• Copying = an acceptable practice
Attributed to Emperor Huizong. Detail of Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk,
copy after a lost Tang dynasty painting by Zhang Xuan. Early 12th century, CE,
handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 14.5 x 57.5”

21. • Daoist and Buddhist ideas
to strengthen Confucianism
• Universe: two forces, li
(principle or idea) and qi
(matter)
• Eternal first principle-“Great
Ultimate” – completely
present in every object
• Rid qi of impurities through
education/self-cultivation to
realize oneness with Great
Ultimate
• LANDSCAPE painting: study
of nature and matter, passion
for realistic detail (selfcultivation)
Fan Kuan, Travelers Among Mountains and
Streams, early 11th century CE, 6‟ x 9.5”

23. • Imperial use
• Crackle glaze technique
• 1279 – Kublia Khan
conquered China; Mongol
Empire
Southern Song Dynasty, 13th century CE,
Gray stoneware with crackled grayish blue
glaze, 6 5/8” high.

24. • 57BCE – 668 CE - Three Kingdoms Period
• 3 independent nation-states:
• Silla (southeast)
• Baekje (southwest)
• Goguryeo (north)
• Tomb mound monuments

25. • From Gold Crown Tomb,
Gyeongju, North
Gyeongsang province
• Gold with jadeite
ornaments
• 17 ½”
• Made for burial
• Gold wire holding together
thin cut gold sheet

26. • Gray stoneware, natural
ash glaze
• 23 1/8” high
• Three Kingdoms period,
Silla kingdom
• Stoneware: impervious to
liquids

27. • Probably Silla kingdom,
Three Kingdoms Period,
early 7th century
• 35 7/8” high
• Gilt bronze
• 372 – Buddhism
introduced from China
• 527 – Buddhism made
official religion of Silla
state

28. • 660-935 Unified Silla Period
• 660 Silla conquers Baekje
• 668 Silla allies with Tang dynasty and defeats Goguryeo
• Gyeongju = Silla capital
• Buddhism
• Temple construction
• Goryeo Dynasty, est 918 - 1392
• 935 – eliminated Unified Silla
• Gaeseong (northwest of present-day Seoul)
• Celadon-glazed ceramics!

29. • Artificial cave temple
• Buddhism in Korea
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=KBFqBC89hG4

30. • Late 12th-early 13th
century, Korea, Goryeo
dynasty.
• Inlaid celadon ware
• 13 ¼”
• Black and white slips inlaid
into intaglio lines
• http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=2vSpWt7qC_M
• http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=kPza4Ot_Dfc

31. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thvh5PdR6yM