Page 54 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts
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Given this cultural background, it was natural that ancient treasures were regarded as symbols of
images of various spirits and deities became the Heaven s approbation and humans' resulting good
principal subject of the arts of the three dynasties. 6 fortune. The devotees of religious Daoism, which
began to take shape during late Western Han, aimed
III. at transcending all bodily constraints, including
aging, death, and their earthbound condition. This
By the Han dynasty, and particularly after the reign begot an obsession with the occult, including
of Emperior Wu, the magical cosmos of the three alchemy, numerology, divination, and quasi-magical
early dynasties had changed into a secular cosmos —dietary-respiratory-gymnastic regimens all
conceived in strongly Confucian terms.
intended to permit adepts to attain corporeal
During the three early dynasties the primary immortality. At about the same time Buddhism also
objects of worship were heaven and earth, arrived and was accepted in China, conflated to a
mountains, rivers, and ancestors. Similarly, moral certain extent with early religious Daoism.
precepts stressed the duties of venerating heaven
and earth, worshiping all the spirits, 7 and honoring A common subject of Han art was the coexistence
one's ancestors. Magical beliefs and social morality
were basically one. and congruence of secular activities and the
heavenly world. This was most intensely and
During the Eastern Zhou, and particularly after the completely manifested in the pictorial programs
late Spring and Autumn period, the teachings of that covered the walls of Eastern Han tombs. These
Confucian and other secularly inclined included pictures of the heavenly world and
philosophers flourished, gradually coming to
dominate the ideological sector; at the same time, astronomical phenomena, as well as many
secular works of art began to increase.
immortals and divinities; drawings of auspicious
symbols that represented the idea of "resonance
between Heaven and man"; and depictions of the
Confucius, from whom the Confucian school of everyday life of the deceased. Since the simple
burials of the poor have not survived, what we see
thought is considered to take its origin, are the concerns and the appurtenances of the
propounded a coherent system of social ethics and upper classes: mansions, banquets and
Wumorality. During the reign of Emperor of the entertainments, carriage processions and outriders,
Western Han, other schools of socio-political along with the farming, animal husbandly and
thought were proscribed and Confucianism alone handicrafts that supported the 10 Most
estate.
reigned supreme. Thenceforth, although individual strikingly, abundant images of everyday life have
rulers might espouse or even promote Buddhism or joined the spirits, deities, and shamans who form
Daoism, Confucian ideas held sway over China for the principal subjects of surviving pre-Han art.
some two thousand years. Also during the reign of
WuEmperor the philosopher and political adviser Reflecting the enlarging secularism of the Han
Dong Zhongshu (ca. 174-ca. 104 BCE) distilled —world-view, Han tomb furnishings pottery
Confucian teachings on ethics and morality into models, stone sculptures, murals, as well as
the formula "three human relationships and five —possessions cherished in life reflect less of a sense
constant virtues" {sangcmg wuchang), 9 which of mystery and more of a simple secular feeling
than pre-Han tomb accoutrements. Even art works
remained normative throughout the next two
with religious themes had a strong humanistic tone.
millennia. Dong also proposed that "Heaven and
man are one," a theory of "resonance (or mutual This was an extremely important change in the
interaction) between heaven and man," which course of Chinese art; for a very long time
linked the shamanistic worship of Heaven with hereafter many purely religious works of art sought
secular ethics and morality. In other words, Heaven to stir the feelings of believers and art lovers alike
is possessed of supreme power and beneficent will, through their expression of humanity.
humans are possessed of the potential for virtuous
or evil actions; the "oneness" or "resonance" or IV.
mutual interactivity of Heaven and humankind Throughout human history certain universal social
posits that human actions affect Heavens will, processes have promoted the spread of religious
beliefs in medieval eras. Beginning about the end of
which in turn affects all mundane events, including the third century, in the period of disunion
human fortunes.
following the fall of the Han dynasty, religious
In the ancient world the theory of "Heaven and belief became widespread, permeating Chinese
man are one" was unique to Chinese culture, 9 and
culture. In China, from the Northern and Southern
from the reign of Emperor Wu it dominated Han Dynasties period through the Sui and Tang,
Buddhism reached its apogee. Society was still
philosophy. The theory generated a vast body of governed, however, according to Confucian ethical
omen lore: the appearance of rare animals or plants and moral precepts. Moreover, the ardent Buddhism
or meteorological phenomena, or the discovery of
FIVE THOUSAND YEARS OF CHINESE CULTURE 52
