Chinese Porcelain

Porcelain is made from kaolin, a special type of clay. It is pure white, which makes it more valuable than regular, “dirty-looking” clay. For example, fine china dishes are actually porcelain dishes.

During the Song Dynasty, all art flourished. It was the greatest era for making Chinese pottery. Vessels, containers including vases, jars, bottles, pitchers and other items, were shaped elegantly. The porcelain was decorated with paintings or carvings of dragons, fish, and lotus flowers. Glazes were in important finishing touch added to Chinese porcelain works. Some glazes were clear, but others were bluish gray, blue, lavender, copper red, purple, green, and light brown. Some glazes were left smooth, while others were treated to give a cracked look.

These Chinese porcelain items and other vessels or containers were often exported to foreign countries to be sold. During the Ming Dynasty, the most common looking vase was white with blue painting. Today authentic Ming vases are very expensive and highly prized as art pieces.

Chinese Silk Silk was one of the most valuable things that was produced in ancient China. According to tradition, the production of silk began as early as 2640 B.C.E. The Empress His Ling Shi supported the silk industry and became known as the Goddess of Silk. Most silk is made from the cocoons of a caterpillar known as the silkworm. Silkworms feed on the leaves of mulberry trees. When the silkworms spin their cocoons, the fibers they create to make the cocoon are silk. The cocoon is unwound and twisted into silk thread. A single thread can be a long as half a mile! The thread is then used to make a variety of fabrics such as satin, velvet, and regular silk. Thousands of cocoon threads are needed to weave one piece of cloth. For nearly 3,000 years, the Chinese closely guarded their secret of silk production. They would not share information with outsiders about how to make silk. Since China was the only empire producing it, there was only a little to go around. But lots of people wanted it. Silk was in such great demand that a 4,000 mile trade route, the Silk Road, was established from China to Europe. This road was the only way to get to China for hundreds of years. In fact, Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered new territory in the Americas while trying to find a sea route to China. Silk was taken by merchants over the Silk Road and traded in places as far away as Greece and Rome. The most expensive silks were embroidered with fancy and colorful designs of dragons, phoenixes, and other good luck symbols. According to legend, Genghis Khan used silk as undershirts for his soldiers. Whenever a Mongol was shot with an arrow, the silk would often save his life. Silk did not tear like other cloth. Instead, the silk would be carried into the wound with the arrow. This was very important since surgeons could remove the arrow by pulling out the silk. This also helped reduced the risk of infection.

Chinese Paper and Printing Paper and printing are two of the most famous of China’s technological advances. It is thought that paper was invented in

China sometime during the first century. It was made from the fibers of different plants, especially bamboo and mulberry bark. What we often call “rice paper” is not made of rice at all but of mulberry bark.

Before paper became popular, books and records were written on narrow strips of wood or bamboo bound together with string. For

especially important writings, the Chinese wrote on silk.

Like paper, printing has a long and ancient heritage in China. Printing began in China sometime in the eighth century. Pictures or writings were carved into flat wooden blocks. After the carved

blocks were rolled with ink, paper was pressed onto them. The woodblock carvers had to be sure to carve the picture or writing

backwards, because when printed, everything would be reversed. The earliest printed books were scrolls. Sheets of paper were

pasted together and mounted on a wooden roller. As you read the book, traditionally read from right to left, you would unroll sections

of the scroll. Since the invention of paper and printing, the Chinese have been making many beautiful paper objects and printed books.

Although modern technology has sped up papermaking and printing processes, some artisans still make paper and do woodblock

printing by hand. Calligraphy, printmaking, painting on paper, the making of paper-cut decorations, paper kites, and lanterns are art forms still practiced today by Chinese artists.

Chinese paper cut: Longevity

as cranes and pines

Chinese Paper and Printing

The woodblock prints show some of the six major stages in papermaking, recorded in a seventeenth-century book "The

Exploitation of the Works of Nature."

Calligraphy and Painting

According to legend, Cang Jie (Tsaing Jee Eh), an ancient sage (wise

person), discovered writing from studying mountains, the patters of stars

and constellations, the movement of streams and rivers, and from observing

bird and animal tracks. There is also a story in which Cang Jie was inspired

when he saw a magic turtle emerge from a river, carrying a book on its back.

From such stories, the Chinese came to believe that writing originally came

from patterns visible in nature. Because of this, “calligraphy”, or the art of

beautiful handwriting has always been connected to painting in China.

The development of fine yet inexpensive paper in the third century

led to the emergence of calligraphy as an important art form. The Chinese

language does not use an alphabet, but instead uses what are called

“characters” or patterns of brushstrokes that stand for sounds and ideas.

Less expensive than silk, yet finer than bamboo, paper make possible the

hundreds of hours of practice needed to write Chinese characters well.

there are approximately 50,000 characters in the Chinese language and each

one must be written using the correct sequence of brushstrokes.

Like calligraphy, Landscape painting has always been considered high

art form. Often the two were combined by writing a poem next to a

landscape. Traditionally, Chinese painters were not so concerned that their

landscape paintings looked real. Because many places in nature, particularly

mountains, were thought to be magical places, artists believed that it was

more important that their paintings expressed an imaginary wandering or

journey. Both calligraphy and landscape painting on silk a paper continue

today.

Landscape

paintings

were made

to look ideal

rather than

real.

Calligraphy

takes many

hours of

practice.

Chinese Festivals

In China, festivals are elaborate events which honor religious and historical

events; celebrate seasonal changes, and honor gods and ancestors. Many of these festival

traditions date back thousands of years. Even today, millions of people gather on the

streets to participate in ancient annual festivals. There is music, masked dancing,

acrobatics, puppetry, fireworks, and much more.

The most important festival today is the New Year. Like most Chinese holidays,

the Chinese New Year is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. This is a different

way of counting months and years in which the cycles of the moon measure time. In the

U.S., we use the solar calendar, which goes by the sun. So the Chinese New Year can be

anywhere from January 26th

to February 6th

, which the U.S. New Year is always on

January 1st.

The Chinese New Year stands for a new beginning as well as a rebirth of all

growing things. Families have banquets, and everyone celebrates his or her birthday.

Longevity noodles are a very important part of the birthday feast. Their length

symbolizes the wish for long life, and white color stands for the hair of the long-lived

birthday person.

Celebration of the Chinese New Year lasts for two weeks. During this time, the

God of the Kitchen, who watches over the family throughout the year, is supposed to go

up to heaven and report to the other gods as to how the family is doing. Before the New

Year’s feast begins, the family invites their ancestors’ spirits to return home. The doors

are protected by pictures of guardians and lucky symbols. Streets are decorated with

lanterns and paper dragons. During the celebration, special foods, fruits, and nuts are

eaten.

The New Year’s celebrations always end with the Lantern Festival, a huge

theatrical event with street entertainers, games, sports, fireworks, and a parade of

hundreds of people carrying beautiful lanterns. One of the most spectacular events is the

Masked Lion Dance. Sometimes up to a hundred people are needed to support this giant

mask and costume which actually looks more like a dragon that a lion. This gigantic

creature is supposed to ensure good fortune and drive away bad luck for the New Year.

Every season and every month brings more festivals.

Spring: Ch’ing Ming, the Festival of Pure Brightness, is celebrated on the third

day of the third moon. The Chinese believe that their ancestors are still very much alive,

and on this festival day, graves are neatened and offerings are made.

Summer: The Dragon Boat Festival brings huge numbers of spectators lining

riverbanks to watch the dragon boat races. These races are to honor and encourage

heavenly dragons to send rain.

Autumn: The Festival of the Harvest Moon marks the official beginning of fall

and the night when the Chinese say the moon is perfectly round. Moon cakes are eaten

with great delight, for they remind the Chinese of when messages were hidden inside the

cakes by rebels plotting to overthrow the Mongols.

Also during the autumn is the Chrysanthemum Festival. The chrysanthemum is

believed to have magical powers because it looks like the sun. Chrysanthemum shaped

“flower cakes” are eaten and that flower’s petals are used to garnish soups.

Winter: The Lantern Festival, first celebrated during the Han Dynasty 2,000

years ago, indicates the Chinese respect for the stars. Fancy lanterns are strung and sweet

rice balls are eaten. Lanterns are often in the shape of a sheep or fish called a carp, which

are thought to bring good luck.

The Art of Writing

Written Chinese is very complicated to learn. Each word is represented by a

different character or a combination of characters. As a result, students must spend hours

every day for years learning the characters and practicing to make them beautiful as well

as accurate. Chinese uses a combination of thick and thin strokes. Practice writing some

of the characters listed here.

Archaeological research tells us that as far back as 4,800 years ago,

ancient Chinese symbols were carved on ox scapulae and turtle shells known as “oracle

bones", so called because some of these items were used for divination.

Oracle bone scripts were thus the earliest form of Chinese writing. The scripts

were pictures which depicted people, animals or natural objects. Over the centuries, these

symbols became stylized and no longer resemble the things they once represent.

In the modern Chinese writing system, each character is a form of its own,

representing a particular sound and at least one meaning. In other words, each Chinese

symbol is a unity of form, sound and meaning.

To learn Chinese writing, you need to know each Chinese symbol or character

individually. You will need a vocabulary of at least 3,000 characters to understand 90%

of what you read however, a vocabulary of 4-5,000 characters allows you to understand

almost everything written in Chinese in the modern context.

Basic Chinese Writing Stokes (Click on the example to see how to write the Chinese characters and note the

stokes involved.)

Stroke Names Way of Writing Example

横 Horizon Stroke Horizontally from left to right 二 two

竖 Vertical Stoke Vertically from top to bottom 开 open

撇 Left-falling Stroke Softly from top to lower left 少 less

捺 Right-falling Stroke Softly from top to lower right 人 people

点 Dot Stoke Dot to lower right and pause 太 very

提 Rising Stoke Dot from bottom left to top right 习practice

In the Chinese writing system, the basic strokes may change with their positions in direction or in length. We call

these changed strokes Transformed Strokes.

Transformed Strokes

Basic Strokes

Transformed Strokes

Names Way of Writing Example

左点 Right Dot

Stroke

Dot to lower left and pause

六 six

长点 Long Dot

Stroke

Longer than a Dot Stroke

区 district

平撇Horizontal

Left-falling Stroke

Nearly horizontally from right to left

千

thousand

竖撇 Vertical

Left-falling Stroke

Nearly vertically down from top

川 river

平捺 Vertical

Right-falling Stroke

Nearly horizontally from left to right

之

Some strokes that must be attached to some other strokes are called dependent strokes, which includes Turning

Strokes and Hook Strokes.

Dependent Strokes

Dependent Strokes

Names Example

Turning Strokes

横折 Horizontal Turning

Stroke 五 five

竖折 Vertical Turning

Stroke 山 mountain

撇折 Left-falling Turning

Stoke 云 cloud

Hook Strokes

竖钩 Vertical Hook Stroke 小 small

横钩 Horizontal Hook

Stroke 买 buy

斜钩 Slanting Hook Stroke

划 scratch,

paddle

弯钩 Curved Hook Stroke 家 home

卧钩 Lying Hook Stroke 心 heart

The Great Wall of China

What is twenty-five feet high, twenty feet wide, and one

thousand five hundred miles long? If you guessed the Great Wall of

China, you’re right! One of the greatest construction projects ever attempted, the Great Wall is truly one of the wonders of the world. The

wall was started almost 2,800 years ago and is very impressive to this day. Some say it is even visible from space without a telescope!

Most of the wall was built during the Qin Dynasty, from

221 B.C.E. to 204 B.C.E. Many later emperors improved the wall by repairing or rebuilding it, as well as extending it. The wall is built of

earth and stone, with an outer layer of brick. There are forty-foot watchtowers about every two hundred yards.

The Great Wall was designed to protect the empire by keeping invaders out. But it is not only a wall; it is also a road! The

top of the wall is so wide that there is room enough for the emperor’s armies to move rapidly from place to place. Guards could send

messages along the wall through messengers, smoke signals, and mirrors. Mail was regularly delivered and records were kept of

supplies. At the gates, guards carefully inspected passports and packages. Trained police dogs were even used.

It is estimated that over a million workers were needed to build the Great Wall. The job was not an easy one. The wall winds through

rough land, including mountains and deserts. Workers were forced to labor for long periods of time, with few breaks and little food or water.

Many of the men sent to build the Great Wall died from working so hard, and were thrown into the foundations for the next section of wall

Chinese Architecture

Chinese buildings have a unique style. The architecture found in China is a symbol of

its contributions to human civilization. A common sight in the country is the pavilion. It is

built of wood, stone, or bamboo, and may be in several shapes – square, triangle, octagon,

five-petal flower, or other shapes. But all pavilions have columns for support, and no walls.

In parks or scenic places, pavilions are built on hillsides or lakesides to give the best view.

Pavilions serve several purposes. The wayside pavilion provides weary travelers with

a place to rest. Some pavilions stand over water wells. Windows are built into these to allow

the sun to shine through, because the Chinese believe that water untouched by the sun

causes disease. In modern times, pavilions have been built in cities for use as post offices,

newsstands, or photo opportunity places.

The rarest pavilions are built of bronze. The most famous is the Pavilion of Precious

Clouds in Beijing’s Summer Palace. The entire structure, including its roof and columns, is

cast in bronze. It is metallic blue in color, but is commonly known as the “Gold Pavilion”.

The largest pavilion in China is also in the Summer Palace. It is called the Pavilion of

Expanse. The roof looks like a crown resting on tope of three rings of columns. With all its

woodwork colorfully painted, the pavilion appears to be in harmony with the surrounding

landscape.

Some pavilions have more than one story. These have a door and windows only on the

front side, with the other three sides solid walls. Pavilions with more than one level were

used in ancient times for the storage of important articles and documents.

Other buildings with more than one story were used as bell towers or archery

towers for defense. The art of constructing tall buildings was already highly developed in

China during ancient times. Many towers of complex structure had frames made only out of

wood, fixed together with wooden brackets. These towers do not use any metal, not even a

single nail!

The grandest example of Chinese architecture is the palace. The most famous of

these is The Forbidden City of Beijing, which still stands intact. It served as the imperial

palace for both the Ming and Qing emperors (1368-1911). It covers an area of 720,000

square meters and includes many halls, towers, pavilions, and studies. Palaces became

miniature cities!

Inside a great palace, certain individual buildings may also be called palaces. For example,

Qing emperors lived at the Palace of Heavenly Purity, which is inside the Forbidden City.

When emperors died, they were even buried in underground palaces.

The number nine had special importance in China’s past. Nine was taken to be the

symbol of the supreme power of the emperor. For this reason, the number nine, or multiples

of nine, is often used in palace structures and designs. A noticeable example is the number

of studs on palace gates. The studs are usually arranged in nine rows of nine each. Ancient

palaces had nine courtyards. The buildings of the Forbidden City are measured as having a

total floor space of 9,900 bays. The towers guarding the four corners of the palace

compound each have nine beams and eighteen columns, and the three famous screen wall

have nine dragons on each.