Page 134 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

Origins and Trends in the

Depiction of Human Figures

in China of the Fifth and

Sixth Centuries

Su Bai

Professor, Beijing University

In the sculpture and painting of central

and northern China two successive

changes occurred in the fifth and sixth

centuries that were particularly evident

in the depiction of human figures. These

two changes were directly related to a

deliberate attempt on the part of the

non-Han ruling classes in central and

northern China to adopt Han culture