CHAPTER 11 CHINESE AND KOREAN ART

REGION

HISTORY The Chinese record their own history as a succession of ruling dynasties that begins in BCE, and ended in with the formation of the Republic of China–which was soon followed by the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in A dynasty is a succession of kings or emperors of the same family line—the role of emperor was hereditary, in a succession that was ideally father to son. In many cases, however, other relatives, and on a few occasions even non-blood relatives, occupied the throne.

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY In China, from a very early period, calligraphy was considered not just a form of decorative art; rather, it was viewed as the supreme visual art form, was more valued than painting and sculpture, and ranked alongside poetry as a means of self-expression and cultivation. How one wrote, in fact, was as important as what one wrote.calligraphy The earliest extant examples of Chinese writing are the inscriptions that appear on so-called oracle bones (animal bones and turtle shells) and on bronze vessels, the oldest of which date back to the Shang dynasty (ca.1600-ca.1100 B.C.E.). Shang kings used these objects in important divination rituals. the Chinese written script is made up of several thousand individual graphs. Each consists of an invariable group of strokes executed in a set order.

GRAZING HORSE, DATED 1932 HANGING SCROLL; INK ON PAPER; 20 1/2 X 14 3/4 IN.

DAOISM AND DAOIST ART Indigenous to China, Daoism arose as a secular school of thought with a strong metaphysical foundation around 500 B.C.E Along with Buddhism, Daoism today is one of the two dominant religions in the Chinese-speaking world.

BRONZE Laozi, Tang dynasty (618–907) or Northern Song dynasty 8th–11th century China Bronze; H. 9 1/2 in.

BELL, EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, LATE SPRING AND AUTUMN PERIOD (770– 475 B.C.E), CHINA BRONZE, H. 15 IN. Sets of bells were an important aspect of Zhou bronze production. They were used in musical accompaniment for ritual ceremonies.

SILK TRADE The Silk Road was a trade route that went from China to Eastern Europe. It went along the northern borders of China, India, and Persia and ended up in Eastern Europe near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. Although there was some trade between China and the rest of the world for some time, the silk trade was significantly expanded and promoted by the Han Dynasty which ruled from 206 BC to 220 AD. It was called the Silk Road because one of the major products traded was silk cloth from China. People throughout Asia and Europe prized Chinese silk for its softness and luxury. The Chinese sold silk for thousands of years and even the Romans called China the "land of silk".

KOREA Societies on the Korean peninsula appear in Chinese records as early as the fourth century BCE. Gradually, competing groups and kingdoms on the peninsula merged into a common national identity. After a period of conflict among the “Three Kingdoms”—Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast—Silla defeated its rivals and unified most of the Korean peninsula in 668 CE. Korea reached close to its present boundaries during the Koryo Dynasty ( ), from which its Western name “Korea” is derived. Traditional Korea borrowed much of its high culture from China, including the use of Chinese characters in the written language and the adoption of Neo-Confucianism as the philosophy of the ruling elite. Buddhism, originally from India, also came to Korea from China, and from Korea spread to Japan.

SILLA DYNASTY Unified Silla Dynasty,(668–935), a dynasty that unified the three kingdoms of the Korean peninsula. This was the first occasion within historical times that the Korean peninsula had been unified under indigenous leadership. The Unified Silla period produced more granite Buddhist images and pagodas than any other period. Architectural ornamentation, such as roof tiles decorated with floral and animal designs. The sculpture of the Unified Silla period was the high point of Korean naturalism and is marked by an abundance of statues in granite. During the first phase of the period, Korean sculpture was under the fresh influence of Chinese sculpture of the early Tang period.

KYŎNGJU: ANCIENT ROYAL TOMBS ROYAL TOMBS OF THE SILLA AND UNIFIED SILLA KINGDOMS (1ST CENTURY BC–10TH CENTURY AD) SOUTH KOREA.

PAGODA The five-story stone pagoda of Chongrim Temple in Puyo, South Korea, was built in the first half of the 7th century. Puyo belonged to the Paekche kingdom of ancient Korea. Buddhist temples in East and Southeast Asia usually include a towerlike, multistoried structure of stone, brick, or wood known as a pagoda. Like the stupa of ancient India, from which it derived, the pagoda is usually erected as a commemorative monument.

IN CLASS EXTRA CREDIT We have discussed 3 different types of religious/non- secular architectural structures. What are these structures? Islamic Early Jewish-Christian Chinese/Korean Find examples of 3 of these structures in your book and describe various parts, compare and contrast the difference and similarities between each of the structures, and describe their uses. Be sure to list the picture and page number of each of these structures in your book.