IAH 211B, section 003 Asian Arts and Cultures with Focus on China

Asian Arts and Cultures with Focus on China
Name
Institution Affiliation
Outline
The Song Dynasty Art
The Song dynasty dates between 960 and 1276. The invasion of the Jurchens, a nomadic people from the North saw the dynasty split into two and the eventual settlement of the Song Court in the Southern part of China until when it was overthrown by the Yuan dynasty. The North remained under the jurisdiction of the Jurchens based in Beijing, while the Song dynasty court retreated to Hangzhou city, near the Yangzi river delta. While the Song dynasty is considered one of the greatest eras in China’s history, their military prowess was not at par with that of the Tang or Han. Canton and Nanjing cities grew in this period.The Song dynasty held onto cultural Confucianism which emphasized on a civil government as opposed to military rule and fostered education sponsorship.
Chinese art during the Song dynasty was in the form of a mixture of calligraphy and paintings where artists used writings and varieties of materials to create beautiful objects in clay, bronze, jade, and many more that reflected their values, perspectives and culture. The genres of painting and calligraphy emerged during the Song dynasty to become a revered form fine art. The civil examination system was nurtured during this period and became part of the Chinese culture carried into the twentieth century.
The art of writing or calligraphy was highly regarded above all other forms of art in traditional China because of its visual form. Emperors engraved their pronouncements on stone and mounted them on mountains for posterity. Chinese paintings captured both the outer appearance of a subject as well as inner essence. Color, contrast and light were not essential to Chinese painters as they were considered a distraction, but the inked brush was treasured.
Asian Arts and Cultures with Focus on China
Introduction
China is home to a fifth of the world’s population, most of who belong to the Han ethnic group. Each of the country’s fifty five minority groups has their own language and culture, but mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China. Cultural exchange has been a norm among the Asians for many centuries. Often, the systems of writing, forms of government, city planning, and even painting adopted by peoples of Korea and Japan heavily borrow from the Chinese culture. Confucianism as a form of religion originated from China spreading to other Asian peoples. Conversely, there are other aspects of cultural exchanges that the Chinese people also borrowed from other Asian cultures like the Buddhist religion, which originated from India, spreading to Korea and Japan. Art in Asia comes in many forms such as paintings, pottery, weaving, and musical instruments which date back to many centuries. Chinese art lay emphasis on tradition and simplicity. Ancient art has continued to exist because of the influence of both tradition and religion on the people’s way of life. This influence is depicted in many cultural aspects such as music, dance, paintings, writing, theatre and printing. Communism majorly determines what artists are able to do since most forms of art must be sanctioned by the authorities. This was ...