Page 78 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

provincial Roman art and culture, which in turn travelled east-
ward to China by way of the oases to north and south of the Tarim
Basin. Buddhism may have been known by repute at least in the
Former Han—the mythical Mount K'un-lun was very likely a
Chinese version of the Buddhist Meru, or the Hindu Kailas, the
axis of the universe—but now it began to take root in Chinese soil.
The well-known story of the Emperor Ming, who in a.d. 67
dreamed of a "golden man" (i.e. , a Buddhist image) in the far west
and sent emissaries to fetch it, is a late fabrication, but already two
years earlier the Prince of Ch'u had held a feast for monks (srd-
mana) and lay brethren, which indicates that at least one monastic
community was in existence in central China by that date, while
there are references to Buddhism in the Hsi-ching-fu (Rhapsody on
the Western Capital) (Ch'ang-an) by Chang Heng (78-139). Early
evidence for Buddhism, which some scholars accept as of late
Eastern Han date, exists also in the form of motifs on bronze mir-
rors and in crude rock-cut reliefs long known at Chia-ting in
Szechwan and more recently found at the other side of China, in
northern Kiangsu.
Until the time of troubles that accompanied the downfall of the
Han, however, Buddhism was merely one among many popular
cults. Officially, Confucianism still reigned supreme, and the
Later Han saw the enormous expansion of a scholarly and official
class nurtured in the Confucian doctrines. Many of these men had
been trained in the Imperial Academy, founded by Wu Ti in 1 36
B.C. From its graduates, selected by competitive examination in
7& Seated Buddha in abhaya-mudra.
the classics, were drawn recruits for that remarkable civil service
Rubbing of a relief in a shaft tomb at
Chiating. Szechwan. Late Han which was to rule China for the next two thousand years. Un-
period(?).
swerving loyalty to the emperor, respect for scholarship, and a
rigid conservatism which sought for every measure the sanction
of antiquity—these became the guiding principles of Chinese so-
cial and political life. Such ideals, however, offer no stimulus to
the imagination, and it was not until Confucianism was enriched
by Buddhist metaphysics in the Sung Dynasty that it became a
source of highest inspiration to painters and poets.
Already in the Former Han, those who possessed skills useful to
the emperor were organised under a bureau known as the Yellow
Gate (huang-men), which was based on the somewhat idealised pic-
ture of Chou institutions set out in the Chou-li. The highest ranks
in this professional hierarchy were known as tai-chao, officials in
attendance on the emperor. These included not only painters,
Confucian scholars, and astrologers, but also jugglers, wrestlers,
and fire-swallowers, who might be called upon at any time to dis-
play their various skills in the imperial presence. The lower ranks
of artists and artisans, those who made and decorated furniture
and utensils for court use, for example, were known as hua-kung.
This organisation was not confined to the court, however; each
commandery—in theory—had its own agency (kung-kuan) for the
production and decoration of such things as ritual vessels, robes,
weapons, and lacquer ware, for which latter Ch'u and Shu (Szech-
wan) were especially famous. Gradually, however, this system
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