For many millennia, Chinese painting has continued to develop and flourish. Eminent Chinese artists who create paintings in the traditional Guohua style sell their creations at auctions for huge amounts of more than one million dollars.
Landscape is one of the most demanded and favorite genres by artists. It is he who occupies a special place in all Chinese painting, the spirit of which lives on the slopes of silent mountains and in the valleys of fast rivers.
The traditional Chinese landscape is the basis for learning all painting techniques. Eastern culture. Due to the relatively small set visual means, an unimaginable fullness, relief and expressiveness of the picture is achieved. Such works of art are not only external beauty, but also with inner fullness, including poetry, philosophy, calligraphy, and even music.
Landscape painting is the basic style of Chinese aesthetics
Key points Chinese painting developed over many centuries, which determined the exceptional, original and unique style development visual arts China. It would be appropriate to recall the famous analytical treatise "A word about painting from a garden with a mustard seed", the first volume of which was published in 1679 and was devoted to landscape painting.
Each work of a Chinese artist contains and displays the foundations of the philosophy of Ancient China.
In the title itself Chinese landscape- "shan shui" - a description of the natural landscape characteristic of this territory, where the hieroglyph "shan" 山 means mountain, and "shui" 水 means water.
Chinese landscape painting depicts the surrounding reality in the form of a boundless, animated and multifaceted world, in which the single, great and powerful Deity is invisible, but tangibly present.
It is the element of spirituality that allows the viewer to fully experience the inner and outer harmony, which has a positive effect on psychological condition the person as a whole.
Subtly feeling all the features of the nature of China, over the years the artists have been able to develop special techniques in painting that can fully convey them in the process of creating a picture.
Most often, the landscape was made on silk with the help of ink. To create the impression of twilight, the artist used muted shades, halftones and paints. A peculiar asymmetry of the composition, gently curved lines river beds, waterfall streams, tree branches gave the landscape a special refinement. An incredible combination of different natural energies - trees, rocks, water, fog and clouds - conveyed to the viewer a comprehensive and harmonious picture of the world.
An important detail is that the Chinese landscape itself is not a real reflection of any part of the terrain, but the author’s own creation, the fruit of his perception surrounding reality, fantasy. Creating a picture, the artist seems to go on a journey to his inner world, through the prism of which he reflects reflections, memories and perception of reality. Thanks to this technique, the viewer studying the landscape, to a certain extent, is also its creator, as he tries to unravel the "secret" of the artist through own emotions and attitude.
The spiritual meaning of the landscape is often complemented philosophical statements or poetic lines filled with perfect calligraphy. Even the print is fully suited to the plot, the inner state of the artist or the area in which the picture was created.
A feature of the Chinese landscape is a clear drawing of details at the bottom of the foreground of the picture (figures of people, stones, trees, shrubs), separated from images in the background by air clouds, a veil of fog or water. This technique allows you to create a feeling of fullness and spaciousness. Tiny silhouettes of people harmoniously fit into the picture: tired travelers with luggage, vegetative fishermen in small boats, peaceful hermits on a winding path.
The artistic techniques inherent in the Chinese landscape make it possible to miraculously silently convey the distant cries of distant birds, silence and tranquility. autumn nature or its awakening and revival in the spring.
Interestingly, while working on the landscape, Chinese artists do not leave delineated boundaries, which allows us to guess about the master's ideas.
In ancient times, paintings were silk or paper canvases, sometimes reaching several meters. They were stored by gluing them on thick paper, which was folded around a wooden roller and placed in a special case. They were taken out exclusively for viewing, and unfolded gradually, allowing the audience to fully experience every detail of the landscape.
By the way, this is one of the main differences between Chinese painting and European painting. Chinese painting is symbolic and the viewer is encouraged to read the painting and understand.
Scroll with a landscape - an icon for the Chinese
How to find common features at the landscape and icons, how to see philosophical meaning and how is it appropriate to “get around” the rules that have existed from time immemorial?
To understand all these nuances is possible only with the help of a full and in-depth study of the techniques and methods of traditional reproduction of the landscape, reading ancient philosophical texts and classical canons of painting. Eminent guohua masters believed that only by mastering the unshakable foundations and following the skill of the ancient virtuosos, one can improve their own skills and even develop a unique author's style.
You can also acquire such skills by taking a Chinese painting course in our club Two Empires, after which everyone will be able to independently create a landscape in the technique and size that they like. And in the future - to master new and more complex techniques and methods of modern Chinese painting.
Famous artists of the past
One of the most famous Chinese artists of the XX century 齐百石 (January 1, 1864 - September 16, 1957) - real name Chun Zhi, was born in poor family. For a long time he helped his family by doing housework. But thanks to his talent and perseverance, thanks to his extraordinary approach to Chinese painting, he became famous and popular artist with a worldwide reputation. Qi Baishi is often referred to as the Picasso of China.
Qi Baishi was a versatile artist, he worked in different genres of traditional Chinese painting. He owns many landscapes.
(张大千 Zhang Dagians, 1899 -1983) another greatest master traditional Chinese painting. "The Genius of Five Centuries" - this is how Xu Beihong called the master in the preface to the collection of works by Daqian.
Zhang Daqian, a wonderful artist and calligrapher, lived a difficult life, changed his place of residence many times, lived in various countries, at the end of his life he settled in Taiwan, where he died.
In his will, Zhang Daqian donated the house and all the items to the Taipei Gugong Museum. A memorial was created there.
This artist managed to achieve the highest peaks in art. On account of the painter over 40 thousand works! However, his work is one of the best-selling in the world.
Thanks to new technology With discontinuous ink and broad strokes of the brush, Zhang Daqian pushed Chinese landscape painting to a new stage in its development.
Xu Beihong 徐悲鸿 Xú Bēihóng (1895-1953), Chinese painter and graphic artist, representative of the Shanghai school. Born in the family of an artist and poet. For a long time he lived in France and studied European art. It was there in France that the realistic style of painting was laid. Traveled extensively in Europe. He can be safely called a reformer in Chinese painting, as he was one of the first to combine the traditions of Chinese and European painting.
In China, there is a museum dedicated to the life and work of the great master, the father of modern Chinese painting.
The artist is primarily known for his paintings of beautifully painted horses, most of which were created in the traditional Chinese style, i.e. ink or watercolor on silk or paper.
But Xu Beihong also painted many paintings in the Chinese landscape genre. Most of the works were created in the technique of monochrome landscapes, but in his work there are also several colored landscapes.
Chinese landscape painting
The landscape most clearly determined the face of the medieval Chinese culture. In China, much earlier than in other countries, a kind of aesthetic discovery of nature was made and landscape painting appeared. Formed at the dawn of the Middle Ages, it not only became an expression of the spiritual ideal of the time, but also carried its stable traditions through the ages, preserving them to our time, without losing either poetry or a living connection with the world. Despite the unusual artistic language, she still excites us with a deep poetic penetration into the world of nature, the subtlety of his understanding, sincerity of feeling. Vigilance, unmistakable accuracy of the drawing, the desire of artists to comprehend the world in its diversity constitute the strength and charm of Chinese traditional landscape painting, which makes us experience emotional excitement when we get acquainted with it. . In China - the country high mountains and large rivers, where the life of the farmer depended entirely on the will of the elements, and man himself was considered as part of nature - the natural world very early became the subject of philosophical reflection. The inevitable repetition of natural cycles, the change of seasons and the moods of nature associated with human life, already in ancient times, were explained by the interaction of the two most important polar principles: passive dark and active light, feminine and masculine - yin and yang. The harmony of the Universe was determined by the creative union of these two great forces of the universe, and the cycle of nature seemed to be the result of the alternation of five elements (water, wood, fire, metal and earth), each of which corresponded to the side of the world, the season. Mountains and water in the minds of the Chinese embodied the most important forces of the universe - energy and peace, activity and passivity. The Chinese worshiped them as shrines. The very concept of the landscape "shan shui" came from a combination of two hieroglyphs: "shan" - mountain, and "shui" - water. Thus, the main motifs of the Chinese landscape were fixed in the very term "shan shui" and the basic concepts of ancient natural philosophy were embodied. The originally established system of symbols and forms gradually developed and became more complex. Images of nature, at first abstractly symbolic, and then more and more alive and spiritual, took the main place in art. At a very early stage in China, all human life began to be commensurate with nature, through which people tried to comprehend the laws of being. Of course, the landscape did not exhaust the whole variety of genres of Chinese medieval painting. A significant place also belonged to everyday painting, focused on showing the life and various activities of the court nobility. Between different genres there was a certain separation of emotional spheres. Full of interest in the daily life of a person, moralizing themes, conversations and walks of courtiers, genre painting drew plots from stories, novels, didactic prose, while landscape painting, affecting the spheres of philosophy and high feelings, to which nothing petty and accidental was mixed, sought consonance in poetry.
A huge influence on the formation of the spiritual life of medieval China had three formed in the middle of the first millennium BC. philosophical teachings - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which played essential role in the development of all Chinese medieval art and especially landscape painting. Each of them covered its own area of problems. Confucianism, which arose in the VI-V centuries. BC. as an ethical and moral doctrine, sought to substantiate and strengthen the established order in the state. Based on the laws of patriarchal antiquity, it established a whole system of rules for different types art and developed stable traditions in the field of history, music, poetry and painting. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism, which also arose in the VI-V centuries. BC, focused on the laws that prevail in nature. The main place in this doctrine was occupied by the theory of the universal law of nature - "tao". Understood as the path of the Universe, the eternal circulation of processes taking place on earth and in the sky, the category of "tao" has taken one of the main places in the philosophy and art of China. The founder of the Lao Tzu doctrine believed that the main goal of a person is to comprehend his unity and harmony with the world, that is, to follow the path of "tao". The calls of the Taoists to escape from the hustle and bustle, to the unpretentious life of a hermit in a thicket of forests among the mountains contributed to the awakening of contemplation in a person, a poetic view of the world. Buddhism, which became widespread in China in the 4th-5th centuries, adopted many of the provisions of Taoism. Both Buddhism and Taoism preached detachment from worldly fuss, a contemplative way of life, complemented each other and, together with Confucianism, acted for centuries as inseparable sides of a single Chinese culture. The constant appeal to nature as a source of gaining wisdom formed a special pantheistic spatial thinking of the Chinese people. It manifested itself both in architecture and in painting. The architecture and landscape painting of medieval China were deeply related. Both architecture, based on the solution of broad spatial problems, and painting were, as it were, different forms of expression of common ideas about the world, subject to general laws. Like a Chinese landscape painter, Chinese architects perceived their palaces and temples as an integral part of the boundless natural ensemble. A subtle understanding of the peculiarities of national nature helped the painters develop their own unique techniques that generalize the laws of painting. In the course of a long search, they found a peculiar form of long, ribbon-like, horizontally and vertically oriented scroll paintings that help them show the world in its universal immensity. Such silk or paper, sometimes multi-meter strips, pasted on a thick paper base after work and rolled around a wooden roller, were stored in special elegant cases and taken out only for viewing. Scripture landscape painting considered sacred.
The artist, using a brush, ink and water-based mineral paints that easily penetrate paper and silk, worked quickly, without making adjustments, using time-tested methods - each position of the hand and hand of the master corresponded to the features of the calligraphic line, sometimes sharp and brittle, sometimes flexible and fluid. . There was a close relationship between painting and calligraphy. The combination of line and spot with the surface of silk or paper was one of the secrets of the expressiveness and associative richness of Chinese landscape scroll paintings. The mastery of nuances, combined with the sharpness and power of the stroke, helped to convey a sense of the quivering of plants, the airiness of distances, the state of movement and peace in nature. Horizontal scrolls-tales and scrolls-journeys were likened to a story, they were gradually read, unfolding in hands, and required a long time to get used to the plot. Vertical scrolls were hung for viewing on the wall and helped the eye to cover at once the expanses depicted on them. Both included calligraphic text inserts that complemented and deepened the idea expressed by the artist, introducing new decorative accents into the picture. Filled with deep symbolic meaning, the Chinese shan shui landscape was never painted directly from life and was not an accurate depiction of any locality. It was rather a poetic image, generalizing the artist's idea of nature in its various states, the characteristic features of the Chinese landscape. The language of painting and the language of poetry in China were unusually closely interconnected. The world, seen through the eyes of a Chinese artist in its immensity and harmonious unity, was built according to special laws developed over the centuries. The landscape, placed on a long horizontal or vertical scroll, was comprehended by the master as if from a bird's eye view and was visually distant from a person. It was divided according to the echelon principle into several plans raised above each other, which is why distant objects turned out to be the highest, and the horizon rose to an unusual height. The closest shot with clearly drawn details - trees, stones and shrubs - occupied the lower part of the picture and was separated from the far shots by an expanse of water, clouds or a veil of fog, creating a feeling of air, space, a huge distance between them. The composition of the scroll was, as it were, open-ended, had no clearly defined boundaries, and the viewer conjectured what he saw with his imagination, completing what the artist suggested to him with a hint. The linear perspective characteristic of European landscapes was replaced here by a diffuse one. The artist introduced the fourth dimension into painting - the temporal beginning, forcing the viewer to wander along with him through the picture and join all the changes that take place in nature. The feeling of the immensity of the world was enhanced by the inclusion in the composition of tiny figures of travelers with luggage or hermits wandering along a winding mountain path, fishermen frozen in their fragile boats. In the majestic picture of the world constructed by a medieval Chinese painter, each object was elevated to the degree of a symbol, evoking many associations. few painting techniques the picture could convey autumn silence, the cries of flying birds, the spring revival of nature.
As early as the 8th century, Chinese painters, along with transparent mineral paints, began to use one black ink, the silvery-gray nuances of which helped them to convey with special completeness the feeling of unity and wholeness of the world. The pressure of the brush, the clarity of the lines and the softness of the washes allowed them to achieve in such monochrome paintings the impression of colorful diversity, color harmony, airiness and depth. The white matte surface of the scroll could be perceived by the eye as a watery surface, and as a heavenly expanse, and as a foggy haze enveloping the mountains. Not all Chinese paintings depicting nature can be called landscapes. Next to the classical monumental form of images of mountains and waters, other, more chamber forms were formed - small and full of colorful details, fragments of nature or private manifestations of its life. These include a very popular genre of painting today - “flowers-birds”, which includes a huge and diverse world of plants, animals, birds and insects. In the works of this genre, the philosophical idea “great in the small” was vividly reflected, revealing the Buddhist-Taoist idea that the soul of the Universe is contained in every even insignificant and inconspicuous part of nature. Huge world symbols and folk beliefs, wishes of happiness, goodness and wealth were associated in ancient China with images of plants, birds and trees. Thus, the peony was considered a sign of wealth, the meihua plum blossoming at the very beginning of spring was a sign of vitality, bamboo symbolized the wisdom of a scientist, pine with its evergreen needles was associated with longevity. But every small manifestation of nature, whether it be a blade of grass on which a bug crawls, or a withered lotus stem, was perceived by artists not as something isolated, but as part of a great single world. On the basis of this, an understanding of technical means, common with the landscape, and the perception of the neutral background of the picture as a spatial environment in which the depicted object lives were formed. Transparent water colors or black ink with its subtle gradation of shades corresponded to the lightness and freedom of the image. The mastery of the linear stroke, combined with ink spots, replaced chiaroscuro, creating the illusion of volume. The expressiveness of the line itself was the main criterion for the artistic value of the work. This feature of traditional Chinese painting, which developed over a long period of the Middle Ages, has not lost its vitality up to the present. In the many-sided, contradictory and impetuous flow of modern life, these traditions, which have settled down for centuries and become classics, have largely retained their viability. The secret of their strength lies in the flexibility and diversity of the artistic language, understandable and close to the people, capable of constantly being filled with new content. The entire history of Chinese landscape painting, up to the beginning of the 20th century, is a chain of searches and discoveries of means of artistic expression for a wide reflection in art of human ideas about the world.
In ancient times, nature was for the inhabitants of China something formidable, dominating their lives. At the same time, she was also a generous giver of life's blessings, giving people warmth, shelter and food. In ritual utensils and on the walls of the tombs, the forces of nature were imprinted in conventional signs-symbols. They were: a bird, a dragon, a cicada, patterns of thunder, lightning and clouds. In the period of the early Middle Ages (4th–5th centuries), under the influence of Taoist and Buddhist ideas, poets and artists of China began to perceive nature not only from the utilitarian side, but also in its aesthetic significance, the ability to excite, to be in tune with the spiritual states of man. Already the earliest scrolls that have come down to us, written by the artist Gu Kaizhi (344–406), show that lyrical motifs associated with nature, unknown in the past, penetrated into Chinese narrative painting, which originated before landscape painting. This is evidenced by the master’s painting “The Fairy of the Luo River”, created as an illustration for the poem by Cao Zhi (192–232) and tells about the spirit of a young girl who lives in the Luo River and fell in love with an earthly person. In a long horizontal scroll, which includes a number of separate scenes, the conditional landscape, which unites the composition and is introduced as a background, creates a general atmosphere, helps to reveal the mood of the poem. The elusive beauty of human feelings was first revealed by the painter through the display of nature. The development of aesthetic thought was also new for Chinese art of this time. With the participation of Gu Kaizhi, the first theoretical rules for painting paintings began to be developed, which from the 5th century. were summarized and formulated by the artist and art theorist Xie He in the Six Laws of Painting, where the main requirements were to convey not so much external resemblance as internal awe, the breath of life. Expressed in brief formulas, these rules were commented on and used by Chinese painters throughout the Middle Ages. Although landscape motifs as a background were found in the works of artists of the 4th-5th centuries, the landscape as an independent genre took shape only by the 7th century. and was widely developed only in the VIII-X centuries.
The features of Chinese landscape painting were able to manifest themselves most fully and most vividly during the period of the unification of the country and the creation of two large empires - Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279), whose cultural achievements, with many features of difference, left a brilliant mark in history. The rise experienced a variety of areas of creativity - architecture and painting, sculpture and applied arts, poetry and prose. The Tang state, active in its policy of conquest, maintained ties with many countries, absorbed many phenomena from outside into its culture. The art of the Tang period was also imbued with a look in breadth, with a powerful creative pathos. A huge, populous, festive and flourishing world appears in the wall paintings of Buddhist temples, in painting on scrolls. The Sung culture developed in a completely different historical setting. The conquests of the nomads were cut off first northern regions country, and in the XIII century. Mongols subjugated the rest of the state. In 1127, due to the relocation of the capital to the south, to Hangzhou, the Sung period split into two different stages- Severosunsky (960–1127) and Yuzhnosunsky (1127–1279). The people of the Sung time are characterized by a dramatic worldview different from the previous one. Internal problems took first place in their lives, interest in everything local, their nature, their legends increased. Feeling, imagination, philosophical view of the world distinguish the artists and poets of the Sung period. They rethink the ancient philosophy and create a new teaching - neo-Confucianism, which is based on the idea that the world is one, man and nature are one. During the Tang and Song periods, the form of vertical and horizontal scrolls was established and canonized in accordance with various artistic tasks. In the Tang period, with its interest in everyday writing, preference was given to horizontal scrolls, in the Song period, with its craving for philosophical generalizations, vertical ones,
Tang landscapes are full of life-affirming pathos and enthusiastic admiration for the beauty and grandeur of the world. They are narrative, wordy, and full of architectural details. Chronicles have preserved for us the names of famous Tang landscape painters. The most prominent among them were Li Sixun (651–716), his son Li Zhaodao (670–730) and Wang Wei (699–775), both a poet and an artist. Their work shows how diverse the tasks of landscape painting were already at that time. The landscapes of Li Sixun and Li Zhaodao are bright and saturated in color, reminiscent of oriental miniatures with their precious radiance of colors and clear contours. Blue and malachite-green mountains are surrounded by a golden border, many details are included in the composition. Reality serves the painter as material for those hyperbolic forms into which his inspiration flows. Huge mountains are contrasted with the scale of people interspersed with bright small spots at their foot. to comprehend the truth, soft and airy. In them, everything is much more subordinated to the lyrical mood. Wang Wei looks at the world through the eyes of a contemplator and a poet, and this explains his new painting style. He refuses a multi-color palette, writes only in black ink with blurs, achieving through tonal unity the impression of the integrity of the world. As a painter, he was the first to find a visible form for those emotions that were embodied in his poems. Wang Wei brings together the images of painting and poetry so much that contemporaries said: "His poems are like pictures, and his paintings are like poems." The importance attached by Wang Wei to landscape painting in the spiritual life of a person is evidenced by the inspired lines of the treatise “Secrets of Painting” written by him: “Distant figures are all without mouths, distant trees are without branches. Distant peaks - without stones. They are like eyebrows, thin, cramped. Distant currents - without a wave; they are equal in height with the clouds. Such is the revelation!” Wang Wei, as it were, predetermined the path of a new era in painting, when the first stage of the joyful knowledge of nature was replaced by the search for deep philosophical generalizations about the meaning of being.
The multi-coloured clear style of Li Sixun and Li Zhaodao laid the foundation for a direction called "gongbi" (careful brushwork). The monochrome style of Wang Wei, with its understatement, emphasized airiness of space, was called “sei” (literally, writing an idea). their searches. It was in the post-Tang period in China that the main discoveries were made in the field of the spatial construction of paintings, their constructional rhythm, tonality, and depth of feelings. The image of nature is separated from everything private. Space is understood by artists as a symbol of the infinity of the world. The crowdedness characteristic of the Tang landscapes has disappeared. The human figures of travelers, fishermen or hermits are so small that they only emphasize the natural power. The world depicted in the paintings of Fang Kuan (X - early XI century), Guo Xi (XI century) and Xu Daoning is harsh and powerful. It appears boundless and huge, full of majestic peace. Through the beauty of nature, artists tell about the harmony of the universe. The paintings of the Sung painters are monochrome, that is, they are written in one black ink with blurs. Mountains and rivers, waterfalls and quiet lakes, lost among the mountain peaks - everything is captured in the paintings of the Sung painters with great expressive power. So, as if recreating in memory his long journey along the Yellow River, Guo Xi captures throughout his horizontal scroll, called “Autumn in the Yellow River Valley”, everything that passed before his eyes - mountains, autumn trees, huts drowned in waves autumn fog. Infinitely distant and diverse is this grandiose landscape, as if seen by the artist from above. The whole landscape is built on the nuances of ink - sometimes light and airy, sometimes lying on silk with heavy, strong strokes. They are so thoughtful in their rhythmic variety, so rich in their tonality that the viewer perceives the black color of the carcass as a colorful range of the real world, subject to a single mood. The unfilled space of the scroll creates a feeling of vast air space.
Chinese artists of the 10th-11th centuries were looking for different ways to convey the life of nature. In addition to large landscape scrolls, small landscape compositions arose at this time, which served as decoration for fans and screens. The idea of the unity of the world was expressed both through the majestic landscape and through its small fragments. Such miniatures were especially loved at the court in the capital's Academy of Painting, where the emperor himself acted as an artist and collector. Albums were created from small paintings painted on silk and paper, where the life of flowers or animals, plants and insects was captured. For each small scene, poetic names were invented, often it was supplemented by poems by famous poets. At the end of XI - early XII century in Chinese landscape painting, several areas of painting have already developed, differently understanding the tasks of depicting the life of nature, but on the whole forming a single style of the era. These areas included artists-scientists of the Wenzhenhua group of dilettantes, poets and painters who were not part of the Imperial Academy, artists-monks of the Chan (contemplation) sect, secluded from worldly fuss, as well as members of the Imperial Academy who carried out orders from the court. The painters-scientists Su Shi and Mi Fei, who preached free creativity, and the painters of the Chan sect, with their desire to intuitively comprehend the secret meaning of things, largely determined the tastes of the second half of the 11th century.
The spirit of landscape painting underwent an even more significant change during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279), when, after the Jurchens captured the north of the country, the imperial court and the Academy of Painting moved south to Hangzhou. The epic landscapes at that time were replaced by a landscape much more intimate and close to people. Pain and suffering, bitter memories of lands dear to the heart intensified the loving attention of artists to their nature. The moods conveyed through the landscape by the painters of the Hangzhou Academy of Painting Li Di (XII century), Li Tan (XI-XII centuries), Ma Yuan (XII-XIII centuries) and Xia Gui (XII-XIII centuries) are fanned with great lyricism , sad and anxious. Artists paint small pictures, devoid of their former solemnity. The structure of the composition is changing, more and more gravitating towards asymmetry and airiness. "Shepherd with Buffaloes" - Li Di's painting depicting the snow-covered plains of the north, no longer includes either huge rocks or water streams. The eye easily covers all its small space. Sharp scale ratios disappear, and a greater place in nature is given to a person - a contemplator and a poet. This new inclusion of man in nature is especially noticeable in the paintings of Ma Yuan and Xia Gui. Often in their laconic, asymmetrical lyrical landscapes full of air, the gesture, posture or upturned head of the poet-contemplator further enhances the emotionality of the visual image.
The idea of the fusion of man and nature is especially acute in the work of the painters of the Buddhist sect Chan-mu qi, whose paintings, full of hints, dramatic tension, moved even further away from the decorative sonority of the Tang landscapes and the epic pathos of the Northern Sun landscapes. In painting, the Chan painters tried to catch what was suddenly and uniquely revealed in their natural freedom. Numerous genres of painting continued to develop in the art of China throughout the Sung period. But landscape has always dominated among them. The thinking of the painters of this time can be called landscape, since it was through the landscape that the most important thoughts and feelings of the era were transmitted. new direction. Moods of despondency, nostalgia prevailed in it, notes of protest sounded. Having found refuge in distant provinces, the painters sought through the images of nature in an allegorical form to convey to the viewer their concerns. Monochrome painting of the XIV century. achieved extraordinary sophistication and subtlety in conveying shades of mood. Of particular importance are the calligraphic inscriptions included in the composition, fraught with a hint, hidden subtext, understandable to the initiates. The images themselves were also symbolic. Most often, bamboo was depicted, bending under a heavy wind, but not breaking and straightening up again. He personified a steadfast spirit, a noble person, able to withstand the cruel blows of fate.
The most lyrical and subtle painter of the Yuan period was Ni Zan (1301–1374), a calligrapher and poet who spent his life away from court in the provinces. His landscapes, painted on soft white paper with black ink, are simple and laconic. They usually depict groups of autumn trees and small islands lost in the expanses of water. With a thin, graceful line, the master recreates the fragile and transparent purity of autumn distances, always fanned by the mood of loneliness and sadness. The largest among the court painters of the XIV century. were Zhao Mengfu and Wang Zhenpeng. The style of their work determined the tastes of the Mongol nobility with its gravitation towards bright colors, life writing. Zhao Mengfu became famous for his landscape scrolls, made in the style of Tang decorative landscapes, including images of Mongol horsemen hunting. The Ming period (1368–1644), which began after the liberation of the country from Mongol rule, entered the artistic life of China as a difficult and controversial time. In the XV-XVI centuries. China is experiencing a period of economic and spiritual upsurge. Cities are growing and reviving, new architectural ensembles are being built, artistic crafts are distinguished by a huge variety. But by the 17th century the empire is in decline. In 1644, the country was in the hands of the Manchus, who ruled until 1911. With the accession of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a new and far from unambiguous stage in the development of Chinese culture began. Although the Manchus sought to increase the splendor and splendor of Chinese cities, they primarily relied on the foundations of conservative feudal traditions and sought to regulate human life. The painting of China during the late Middle Ages reflected all the contradictory ways of developing the culture of the Ming and Qing periods. These contradictions were especially acute in landscape painting, which responded to the events of the time. The revival of Chinese statehood after the age-old domination of the Mongols largely determined its direction. The desire to revive the artistry and spiritual conquests of the past, to preserve the original traditions led the official circles to orient artists to imitate the past. The newly opened Academy of Painting tried to forcibly revive the former splendor of Tang and Sung painting. Artists were constrained by prescriptions for topics, plots and methods of work. The disobedient were severely punished. However, the sprouts of the new still made their way.
Gansu Province in northwest China is about the size of California. The diverse local landscapes and dramatic landscapes of Gansu Province include parts of the Gobi Desert, colorful mountains, remnants of the Silk Road, and parts of .
Why sand dunes “sing” is a mystery that has frightened and attracted people for many centuries. Amazing dune songs can only be heard in some regions the globe. Mysterious and frightening sounds were described by many famous travelers - Charles Darwin, Marco Paul and others. Experimentally, scientists have confirmed that sound appears when sand crumbles down from the crest of a dune.
When sand of different diameters rolls off the surface, a vibration of the sand is created, which "pushes" the sound, like a speaker membrane pushes air. Thousands of vibrations of grains of sand of different diameters create sounds of different heights, which add up to a monotonous rumble. (Photo by Feng Li):
Scientists Simon Degoe-Buy and his colleagues took up this issue. He recorded the sounds of several dunes and determined that they all sounded at the same frequency - 105 Hz, sometimes dropping to 90 Hz, or rising to 150 Hz.
How the dunes sing can be seen in this short video.
2. Rape fields in Gansu province, China, July 14, 2015. (Photo by SIPA Asia via ZUMA Wire | Wangjiang | Corbis):
4. Maijishan or "Wheat Mountain" - one of the largest Buddhist cave monasteries in China in the form of an anthill 142 meters high. The beginning of monastic life and the construction of the first caves date back to the period of the Late Qin dynasty (384-417). (Photo by Imaginechina | Corbis):
5. In total, there are 194 grottoes in the mountain: 54 - in the east, 140 - in the west. They are carved on the southern slope of the mountain, at a height of 80 m from the foot. Inside there are more than 7,200 clay and stone sculptures, over 1300 sq.m. frescoes that were created from the 4th to the 19th century. Here you can trace the stages of development of sculptural art in China. The tallest sculpture reaches a height of 16 m. (Photo by Imaginechina / Corbis):
6. Here goes the part. (Photo by Jason Lee | Reuters):
7. autumn scenery on Mount Dongshan in Gansu province on October 7, 2015. (Photo by Chen Yonggang | Xinhua | Corbis):
8. Labrang - a monastery in the village of Labrang. Among other things, the monastery is a major educational center for Buddhism - a university with six faculties. (Photo by Carlos Barria | Reuters):
9. And here are the dramatic landscapes of China. The Yadan National Geological Park is located on the site of a former riverbed, 185 km away from Dunhuang City. With a length of 25 km, the park consists of many bizarrely shaped barren hillocks destroyed by the wind.
This is one of the rarest parks, you will hardly see such panoramas anywhere else. With the onset of dusk, when only rare howls of the wind are heard in complete silence, the sand figures seem to come to life. (Photo by Wang Song | Xinhua Press | Corbis):
10. Danxia landscape in China is a unique type of land surface, which is characterized by red sandstones and steep rocks created by nature. Under starry sky shot at a slow shutter speed, the landscape becomes especially mysterious. (Photo by Zhang Zirong | Imaginechina | Corbis):
11. Collection of salt. (Photo by Wang Jiang | Imaginechina | Corbis):
12. Solar eclipse over the Great Wall of China, August 1, 2008. (Photo by David Gray | Reuters):
13. Agricultural terraces. Plastic shields - protection of crops to retain heat and moisture. (Photo by Sheng Li | Reuters):
14. Motor boats on the Yellow River. (Photo by Jose Fuste Raga | Corbis):
15. The endless Gobi desert - one million three hundred thousand square kilometers covered with sand. Not far from Dunhuang is one of the shrines of Buddhism - Crescent Lake. It miraculously located in the very center of the singing sands in a lowland, which for many centuries, by some miracle, has been protected from huge dunes advancing from all sides.
The lake is shaped like a crescent. It is small in size, about 150 meters long, no more than 5 meters deep, but the water in it is so transparent that it looks like a gem.
Dunhuang used to be the center of the Silk Road and the center of trade between China and the West, but now Dunhuang is dependent on tourism. (Photo by Ed Jones):
17. Landscapes of Danxia - red sandstones and steep rocks created by nature. (Photo by Fan Peishen | Xinhua Press | Corbis):
18. Zhangye Danxia National Geopark. Known for its colorful cliffs, the park has been recognized by the Chinese media as one of the most beautiful landscape formations in China. (Photo by Imaginechina | Corbis):
20. Shepherd and the ancient city of Yongtai. (Photo by China Daily | Reuters):
21. Agricultural terraces in Gansu province, July 4, 2014. (Photo by Wang Song | Xinhua Press | Corbis):
22. Tibetan monks in the Labrang monastery, which we mentioned above. (Photo by Andy Wong):
23. Zhangye Danxia National Geopark. He is known for his unusual colors rocks that are smooth, sharp and reach a height of several hundred meters. They are formed by deposits of sandstone and other minerals that have been formed here for 24 million years. (Photo by Sheng Li | Reuters):
24. Multi-colored mountains in China are found on the territory of several provinces in the southeastern and southwestern parts of the country. The world famous Danxia Landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo by Wang Song | Xinhua Press | Corbis):
Also see "" and "" - places inaccessible to the eyes of tourists.
The modern English name for China, "China", is most likely derived from the imperial Qin Dynasty (Qin, pronounced "chin"). Under the rule of this dynasty, the country became united. The "unifier" was Emperor Shi Huang-di (260-210 BC), indestructible imperial period lasted until 1912. China is often referred to as one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Some of the historical sites created at the dawn of Chinese civilization have been dated by scientists to 6000 BC.
The Chinese language is one of the most ancient, still used in the world. China is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of area (after Russia, Canada, and the United States). The area of the country is 3,179,275 km2 (this figure is only slightly inferior to that of the United States). The length of borders with other states exceeds 189,000 km. More than 5,000 islands are located off the Chinese coast.
China is one of the most densely populated countries. Every fifth person in the world is Chinese. As of July 2009, the country's population was 338,612,968. This is 4 times more than the number of people living in the US. Fortune cookies are not a Chinese tradition, contrary to popular belief. This tradition was "invented" in 1920 in San Francisco by a worker in a noodle factory.
China is also known to the world as the "Flower Kingdom". Many fruits and flowers developed here are grown all over the world today. Toilet paper was invented in China in the 1300s. The "novelty" was allowed to be used exclusively by members of the imperial family.
In addition to paper, Chinese innovators invented the compass, paper, gunpowder, and printing. Chinese kites ("paper birds", "Aeolian harp") were invented about 3000 years ago. Initially, they were used not for entertainment purposes, but for the military. Kites were launched into the air to intimidate the enemy in battle. Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) noted in his diaries that with the help of kites, sailors predicted the success of the voyage.
Cricket fighting is one of the most popular entertainments in China. Many children keep crickets as pets. Despite the large territory occupied, China is located within the same time zone.
Many historians claim that China is the birthplace of football and the Chinese were "chasing" the ball around the field as early as 1000 BC. Ping pong is one of the most popular games China. But the idea of invention table tennis does not belong to the Chinese, but to the inhabitants of the UK.
The most popular hobby of the inhabitants of the "Celestial Empire" is collecting stamps. Giant pandas have lived in China for about two to three million years. The first Chinese emperors kept pandas to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters. Also, black and white bears were considered a symbol of power and courage. Unlike European countries, the color of mourning in China is not black, but white.
Although Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) is officially recognized as the inventor of the parachute, historical evidence has been preserved of the use by the Chinese of kites tied to the back of a person. Kites were being flown in China as early as the 4th century AD, and the use of a parachute only became effective and safe in the late 1700s. The custom of foot binding ("golden lilies") was popular among female performers and members of the Chinese court during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). The tight bandage gradually violated the arch of the foot, and the toes and heels grew parallel to each other, the muscles of the legs atrophied and they became very thin. "Lotus feet" in those days were considered very sexy.
Historians suggest that with the increase in the Chinese population, people were forced to come up with a way of "healthy" cooking, in which the maximum useful substances would be preserved in the products. This is where the "tradition" of Chinese cuisine originated in chopping food into small pieces so that the dishes are prepared as quickly as possible. A small cut of products led to the disappearance of the need for knives and to the invention of chopsticks. In 130 AD Zhang Heng, a Chinese astronomer and literary scholar, invented the first earthquake monitoring instrument. The machine detected and indicated the location of the earthquake.
China is the birthplace of ice cream. The recipe for a “cold” dessert came to Europe along with the recipe for noodles thanks to Marco Polo. The first ice cream was made from a mixture of milk and snow. A civil servant named Soo Song became the world's first mechanical watch maker. In the period from 1088 to 1092, he created a device capable of determining the current time of day, as well as tracking the phases in which the constellations were located, which made it possible to draw horoscopes as accurately as possible.
On September 27, 2008, a Chinese astronaut first visited open space. They became astronaut Zhai Zhigang (Zhai Zhigang). The Chinese were the first in the world to invent the iron plow. In Europe, metal plows began to be used only from the 17th century.
IN different times The capital of China had different names. Earlier main city The Middle Kingdom was known to the world as Yanjing, Dadu and Beiping. Today, the Chinese capital is called Beijing, which means "Northern Capital" in Russian. Beijing is the second largest city in the country after Shanghai. Long nails were considered in China a sign of nobility and high status. Men and women grew their nails, often wearing special gold and silver linings that visually lengthen the fingers, and at the same time protect the nail plates from breaking off.
In the fourth century BC, the inhabitants of China began to use to heat their homes natural gas. Fuel was extracted by drilling wells, overtaking European countries in this area for 2300 years. By the 2nd century AD The Chinese discovered that blood is circulated through vessels throughout the body and that its movement is due to the beating of the heart. In Europe, such knowledge of biology became available only at the beginning of the seventeenth century, when William Harvey (1578-1657) published his scientific works.
The inhabitants of China used the decimal system as early as the fourteenth century BC, 2300 years before the first famous case application of the system by European mathematicians. The Chinese were the first to use zero when counting. In China, the crossbow was first invented and used. Also here for the first time created and tested chemical and gas weapons. The latter was first applied 2000 years before its use in Europe during the First World War.
China has the largest dam in the world. Also this part The hydropower plant, located on the Yangtze River, is the most controversial - during its construction and operation, scandals often broke out related to technological difficulties, human rights violations, negative changes in environment. According to the ancient Chinese legend, tea was discovered in 2737 BC. Emperor Shennong. It happened by chance when fragrant leaves fell into the royal cup with hot water. Modern Chinese people consider tea an integral, necessary part of their lives.
The Chinese are actively practicing different kinds martial arts. Many techniques developed on the ancient agriculture and ways of hunting. The most important holiday in China is Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year. The Chinese believe that on this day every inhabitant of the planet becomes one year older, because the holiday is considered the birthday of all people.
92% of the Chinese population uses Chinese in everyday life for communication. There are seven families in total. Chinese, which include: Chinese, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Gan, Xiang, Ming. The color of happiness and celebration in China is red. Red textiles and decorative elements are often used in the design and holding of weddings, birthdays, national festivals.
Lotus is a symbol of purity and purity in China. This sacred flower, used by Taoists and Buddhists. Chinese people widely use flower symbolism - the peony is a symbol of spring, it is called the "king of flowers", the chrysanthemum symbolizes long life, daffodils, according to Chinese beliefs, brings good luck. The Chinese have been making silk since at least 3000 BC. The Romans called China "Land of the Way" ("Serica"). The secret of Chinese silk is carefully guarded by manufacturers to this day. Anyone who was caught smuggling cocoons or silkworm butterflies was sentenced to death.
The oldest sheet of paper discovered in China dates back to the second or first century BC. The paper was so strong that it could be used as clothing or light body armor. The Chinese were the first to use stirrups. This event took place in the third century AD.
The one-child program in China has caused the killing of newborn girls, which has led to a significant gender imbalance. Today, there are 32 million fewer girls in China than boys. In the future, tens of millions of men will not be able to find a wife. Some scholars suggest that this inequality may pose a threat to global security.
The last Qing Emperor (Pu) enjoyed cycling and often took walks to the Forbidden City in Beijing. In 1981, bicycles were introduced into mass use in China. The idea belonged to two American travelers Allen and Sachtleben. For modern Chinese, the bicycle is the main vehicle. A country for a long time remains the world's leading bicycle manufacturer.
