|
|
|
|
Chinese Arts & Crafts |
|
|
|
|
About Chinese Paintings
When viewing Chinese paintings, some basics about Chinese paintings would help you to understand and enjoy the arts. Chinese paintings include flower-and-bird paintings, landscape paintings, figure paintings. Flower-and-bird paintings are for orchid, plum blossoms, bamboo, chrysanthemum, Peony, and birds. Landscape paintings are mainly for mountains, rocks, water, rivers, trees. Figure paintings cover maiden, religion, folklore.
|
|
|
|
|
About Chinese Zodiac
The Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years. Every year is assigned an animal name or "sign" according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or "sign" would reappear. The Chinese have adopted the Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year. Many Chinese calendars will print both the solar dates and the Chinese lunar dates.
|
|
|
|
|
Pottery and Porcelain in China
China, a country with one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, has a time-honored history of producing pottery and porcelain. Earliest pottery wares could be dated back more than 10,000 years ago, while porcelain was developed on the basis of many centuries of pottery production.
Porcelain differs from pottery in that it uses china clay (containing pure white kaolin, feldspar and quartz) as the basic material. Porcelain requires a coating of vitreous glaze on its surface, and must be fired at a temperature of between 1,200 C and 1,300 C until it is non-porous or very slightly porous, and, when struck, produces a clear ringing sound like metal. Made of ordinary clay, pottery is fired at a temperature of 800-1,000 C, and does not require a coating of glaze. The embryo of a pottery vessel is rough and soft. When struck, it gives off a muffled sound.
|
|
|
|
|
Chinese Seal/Chop Encraving
In China for many centuries, a seal was a symbol of power and authority. The emperor's seal was called Xi which gave authority to all his inferiors, and governments at different levels all issued orders endorsed with official seals. It had been widely accepted that the seals stood for different levels of government and their corresponding powers. At personal level, a chop seal with your name had been generally used to indentify as your signature and verification. Even nowadays, many foreign businessmen who are so used to signing their names in a contract found with astonishment that their Chinese counterparts preferred to use seals.
The art of seal-engraving can be traced back to more than 3,000 years to the Yin Dynasty when the cutting of inscriptions on tortoise shells were the only way that the ideas of human being could be recorded. It developed rapidly in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) when people engraved their names on utensils and documents to claim ownership or for verification in social contacts.
Wen Peng (1489-1573), the son of Wen Zhengming, a famous Ming Dynasty calligrapher and painter, is known as the "father of seal engraving art". But seal engraving really came to age only in the 19th century when a group of famous engravers came to the fore.
A perfect seal is very much determined by the engraver's speed and strength of his wrist and finger movements, as well as the particular tool he uses. Also he should be very familiar with the various materials- jade, gold, brass, stone, wood and etc-so that he can apply his tool with the right exertion and rhythm.
Today, stone is the most widely used material in seal engraving. Among all the stones, Shoushan stones, which come from the northern outskirts of Shoushan County, Fuzhou City, are the most famous. The most valuable for engravers is Tianhuang Stone, a kind of Shoushan stone. It is said that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty used to put a piece of Tianhuang on the table for wealth and good luck when they held a ceremony to worship heaven.
Another precious stone is called Chicken Blood stone, which comes from Changhua County in Zhejiang Province. The " Chicken's blood" stone contains cinnabar which makes it look like blood splashed on the stone in a free pattern.
Nowadays, seals are still widely used, and the art of seal engraving has become more, not less, popular than ever before. More note-worthy is that many foreigners are now able to appreciate this art form, which for a long time has been considered uniquely Chinese.
|
|
|
|
|
Chinese Tea Sets
In China, there are various kinds of exquisite tea sets of both practical and artistic values. Chinese tea sets are well known at home and abroad and favored by tea lovers through the ages. Over the long developing history of tea drinking in China, both the customs and the processes have gone through great changes. As for special tools for drinking tea, tea sets have also undergone an evolution.
|
|
|
|
Chinese Brush Painting
Zodiac Paper-Cut
|
