Dwelling in the Fuchun mountains

Here is a unique painting of the Yuan dynasty. It has 2 parts, one is kept in Taipei museum while the other ( a shorter portion) is kept in a museum in China. What causes this separation?

This painting is known as Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains ( 富春山居圖). It is one of the few surviving works by the painter Huang Gongwang (1269–1354) and it is considered to be among his greatest works. Painted between 1348 and 1350, the Chinese landscape painting was burnt into two pieces in 1650. Today, one piece is kept in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou, while the other piece is kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The entire painting combined would measure 691.3 cm in length.

This portion is kept in China

 In 2011, the first section of the painting was loaned to the National Palace Museum in Taipei where, in June and July, the two pieces were reunited for the first time since their separation more than three and a half centuries ago. The exhibition attracted 847,509 visitors and became one of the most popular art show in 2011.

 For more details on this painting, its creator and its fate over the past centuries, visit this site:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwelling_in_the_Fuchun_Mountains




Huang Gongwang

Tour to Henan

This was a show recorded on a theme park in Henan. This theme park was built in 1997 following the scenes from a scroll painting of the Song dynasty entitled Along a river in Qinming.

 

Henan province is a place famous for old relics. At least 6 dynasties made their capital here in Lokyang, the capital of ancient Henan.

Henan is famous for the Longmen Grottoes, a place where Buddha figures were carved on a mountain site in Lokyang during the Tang dynasty.

Other interesting places include the Yuntai Mountain, the SenNong Mountain, Qintian He scenic area and of course the Shaolin Temple where martial art of China originated.

Shaolin Temple in Henan

We also visited the Henan museum which house many cultural artifacts from the early Zhou dynasty such as bronze ware and ceramics.

Finally, there is a 3d model of the painting on exhibition in Henan Museum.

Life of the Song people 4

As one continued his journey into the inner city, busy street scene came to life. We have seen the mutton soup shop earlier. Here an advert was put up to tell people that the proprietor was honest to provide value for money dishes. This particular dish is still served today in major cities in China. This is what we call Steam Boat in some restaurants where all sorts of meat (in this case, mutton), vegetable, toufu, spices, etc., are put in a pot to boil. You just dip your chop sticks into the pot to dish out whatever you want to eat. Most families here celebrate the lunar new year by having Steam Boats for their reunion dinner.

There were many street peddlers in the city area.

Again everyone was busy doing his own thing for the sake of survival.

Notice what the people wore during that time. It was all long gown.

 

Somewhere in this busy city, a stranger was lost. He had come from afar looking for a job or may be settling down for a new life. The city was big and this poor chap did not know where he was going.  He probably came from the country side and was overwhelmed by what he saw in the city.

 

 

This person seen riding a horse appeared to be a foreigner. From his outfit, he seemed to be a Korean coming to the city for some reason. He could also be diplomat living in the city.

 

Here one can see that there were 4 wells used to supply water to the people living in the city. The artist fid not forget the source of water which was important to city dwellers.

This was probably the clinic in the city where people came to consult doctors for treatment of illness.

If you recall, traders coming to the city to do business. This was how the artist started painting his work.

Simple country life (beginning of painting)

Some one asking his way around in the city (ending part)

It was interesting to note that the artist painted this stranger asking his way in the city. The artist had clearly demonstrated his skills in composing this painting by showing the complexity of city (a stranger was lost in the city) against the simplicity of country life shown in the beginning of the painting.

This painting is indeed a masterpiece in itself. Well, words can't describe everything the artist painted in the painting. If you want to view the painting in its entirety, you can visit the site below:

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival

Beginning of painting

One section of the painting showing an accident in the making

 

Click here for an animated version of the painting:

 

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX14haeDebk

Life of the Song people 3

After crossing the bridge,  the focus changed to that of street scenes. Businesses were flourishing in the city where most of the traders and merchants gathered here for business transactions. This is true even today where business dealings are part and parcel of everyday life in cities.

More business dealings were seen outside the shops.

 

Here there was a sedan chair stopping in front of an eatery. Most likely there was a lady inside the sedan chair. In those days, it was not appropriate for young women to wander around in the city. This woman went to the city to satisfy her curiosity. Maybe she had something in mind that prompted her to come to the city in secret. You can see a middle-aged maid standing outside the sedan chair. She seemed to be whispering something to her.

 

As horse carriages were the only mode of transport, you can see there were shops offering repair and service work to those who used these carriages. This is more like our car workshops in town that offer motorists repair and maintenance work.

 

Fortune telling was widely practiced those days. Fortune tellers set up their tent touting for customers. As common folks were uncertain about many things in life, they would consult these fortune tellers for advice. The one that was sitting next to the fortune teller appeared to be troubled, somehow he could have heard some unfavorable remarks from the master. This prompted the other by-standers undecided if they ever wanted to consult the fortune teller.

 

Today when you enter a restaurant, you will see there is a menu on display outside the restaurant to showcase what the restaurant has to offer to its customers. In those days, the menu was also displayed inside the eatery, telling people what was the meal of the day and its piece.

This was the city gate. Once you entered this gate, you would directly enter the city centre where the emperor resided. The shops and houses were even closely linked together. The society and life style became more sophisticated once inside the imperial city.

 

There were merchants coming from every corner of the country. This can be seen from the goods carried on the horses back. It was indeed good to do business in the city as people were generally more affluent than country folks.

 

Camels were seen entering the city. It seemed that the Song people were already doing business with people from the middle east. This must have the silk road where merchants form the far east exchanged their home-grown produce for silk and tea or even the Song porcelains.

 

You must be wondering what these people were doing. The one sitting down was actually a scholar who acted for anyone who needed to prepare documents for court hearings. This is what we called solicitors today. As most citizens were illiterate, they needed a scholar who knew the law to prepare such documents to present them to the magistrate in cases of disputes.

A shop was seen promoting fragrance things.

 

A man was seen testing on a bow in front of a shop that sold weapons. It was a tradition for people to arm themselves to ward off their enemies. As gun wasn't invented yet, they had to rely on swords and sabre, bow and arrow to arm themselves to the fullest.

 

People always think that supply chain and franchise are things of this modern world. Actually these things existed in the Song dynasty as early as 1000 ADs. Here a picture of a franchise shop was shown in the bottom left. No doubt Song dynasty in China was an era of prosperity and good fortune for the people of ancient China.

More goods were seen delivered to the city.

The houses in the city were more refine and exquisite than the harm houses seen earlier.

 

Court officials were seen wearing long gowns. They were more sophisticated than the common laborers and farmers. They were also well mannered as they greeted each other. This was a case of high society life style.

Common country folks were seen wearing simpler clothing, squatting everywhere when they went about doing their daily chores.

Another lady was seen inside the sedan chair. She appeared to poke her head outside to see what a busy city life it was.

 

A scholar was seen study hard inside a tavern. Usually, scholars from all corners of the country would gather in the capital to take the imperial examinations. They would stay in hotels and spend their time to study in preparation for the imperial exam. Once they scored well in the exam, they would become court officials and enjoyed a good life. Some very fortunate ones could go on and marry the emperor's daughters. There is an old saying in China that good fortune is found in books, pretty ladies are also found in books. When interpreted, it means if one studies hard and achieves fame by passing all the exams, good fortune and pretty ladies will hunt him down. This is like once you have obtained a good college degree, you are ensure to get a well-paid job and plenty of cash will come your way, no to mention a good looking wife.

This is the picture of the flag ship shop where many franchise outlets were seen earlier.

A shop that sold mutton soup. It seemed to attract a big crowd.

So you see, life in the Song dynasty more than a thousand years ago was indeed quite exciting.

To be continued...