Chinese Technology and Art
By
Susan Daly
Map
of
China
Sanxingdui Bronzes
Neolithic Culture
Shu Kingdom
Chengdu,China
Sichuan Province.
Map showing location
Finding the site
In the 1920’s farmers started finding jade objects
and a few pieces of bronze in their fields. They
reported these objects and China sent out
archaeologists to uncover their source. They found
a large cache of jade objects from the Shu
Kingdom. It wasn’t until later in the century, that the
two ceremonial pits were found. These contain the
bulk of the bronze objects on display. The museum
was built to house them and work continues to
excavate the area for more Shu objects.
In July,1986 a major archaeological find
emerged near Sanxingdui in western
China. Two sacrificial pits were
uncovered. Pit 1 was dug during the 14th
century bce while pit 2 was dug during
the 11th century bce.Over 1,000 exquisite
bronze artifacts were found.
Jade Ge daggars
Jade is not found naturally in this
area so it was a trade good. It was
always considered valuable.
Working jade required patience and
technical skill.
Bronze Tree
During the 16th -13th centuries BCE,
Chinese bronze casting evolved further.
Many ritual vessels for wine were cast as
well as bronze weapons .Animal mask
decorations were used to decorate many
of these vessels as bronze moulding
techniques became increasingly
sophisticated.
Top of the tree
Part of the tree
Bird at base of the Tree
Bronze hinge
Unique Bronze Masks
Bronze Mask
Braided hair in
back
Inside a bronze mask- showing
its construction techniques.
A Gold Covered Mask
Headgear worn
by masks
The Terra Cotta Army
of
Emperor Shi-Huangdi
Founder of the Qin dynasty
X’ian, China
In 1974, several farmers digging a
well found the Terra Cotta Army in
their field. They called in local
authorities to examine the pieces they
had uncovered. As they dug into this
field , the archaeologists uncovered
the army.They found 3 pits , each with
different soldiers in them.
Digging this well caused the army to be
discovered in 1974.
A group of ceremonial guards
Pit Number One
What kinds of technology would have
been used to create 7,000 life-size
figures out of clay ?
What kinds of materials would have
been needed to produce the statues and
to fire them in kilns so they wouldn’t
break as easily?
This pit contains over 6,ooo soldiers
Putting the army back together
The army being reassembled
The bundles are missing pieces
When archaeologists work at putting the
soldiers back together, they find potential
pieces and create a bundle of them for each
one. Then the workers searches for the
location of a specific piece. If they find
ONE PIECE in a day, they are very happy.
Putting this gigantic puzzle back together
will be the life’s work of many
archaeologists.
Individual Faces
An officer and his horse
An archer without his bow
Moustaches
• Archaeologists have found 24 different
types of moustaches on the soldiers faces.
They show the range of social classes which
the army came from. Individual differences
could indicate social status or simply
personal preference.
Officers in the front in battle formation
Another view
Cavalry troops
Bronze Chariot with umbrella
A copy of this chariot is shown in the
recent movie “ Hero “ which is about 3
people who want to kill the first emperor
of China, Shi Huangdi.
Because bronze was expensive, the
model is only 2/3’s life size.
The Great Wall
Badaling Pass near Beijing
When Emperor Shi Hunagdi decided to
connect all of the parts of earlier walls
into one long wall, he forced thousands
of peasants to work on this project for
him.There are supposed to be bones from
many workers buried in each section of
the wall. The entire wall is about 2500
miles long.
We’ve climbed up a long way.
• It ‘s a long way up !
Very smoggy day
Chinese Architecture
in
Beijing
Forms and designs
Chinese architecture of the Ming
dynasty uses bright colors, painting
detailed scenes, roof tiles, roof
guardians, and many marble fence
posts. It looks very different than
western architecture. Power is
shown by space not height.
The Forbidden City was considered to be the
center of the world by the Chinese. The Emperor
was to be at the center of the universe,so the
main axis of the city is North-South. The Hall of
Supreme Harmony at the center of the city is
where the Emperor held audiences.After entering
the city you passed through several halls and
courtyards on your way to this audience. It was
meant to make you feel small.
Arial view of Forbidden City
From this view of the Forbidden City you can
see the North-South axis and the way that Feng
Shui was used to design it. It must have a
mountain at the back so they built an artificial
one called Coal Hill. It was surrounded by a
moat which was the necessary water feature for
an auspicious location. It is in concentric circles
within a square which represents heaven and
earth.
Forbidden City
Each gate is narrow which contrasts with the
large squares surrounding all gates. Together the
depth and width of the space creates a sense of
mystery and a regal attitude.
The dragon represents the Emperor
while the phoenix represents the
Empress.
Summer Palace, Beijing
The Forbidden City was designed to be
both beautiful and impressive. Its golden
yellow roof tiles made it stand out from all
other buildings in the area.Although it
covers huge areas, it maintains harmony
because of how it was designed.
Nine is a lucky number in China. Notice the
number of nails in each door.
Summer Palace
• Golden Roof Tiles
for an Imperial
Residence.
Roof Guardians
The dragon is associated with the Emperor and is
used extensively in the Forbidden City as a
decorative element. These dragons serve as
downspouts to move water away from the hall to
protect it. They are the embodiment of imperial
power but also serve a practical purpose.
Emperor’s Dragon Way
Hall of Supreme Harmony
Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony
there are 66 great columns. The throne has
dragon decorations as does the screen behind it.
The cross beams have dragons in yellow
decorating them. The Emperor’s cloak had
dragons woven into it. Altogether there are
12,654 dragons in this room. A multiple of the
auspicious number 9.
Large pots are for Fire prevention
All buildings must have water in front of them
and mountains at the back pointing to the sun
because of the ideas of Feng Shui. In this case
the water also served the practical feature of
protecting wooden structures in case of fire.The
large pots are found all over the Forbidden City.
A marble railing
Private Gardens of the
Emperor
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperor
made sacrifices to assure bountiful harvests .
China was an agricultural society so the
importance of this sacrifice was shown by the
emperor himself offering it up to the
heavens.The hall itself is high and is a symbol
for the heavens. All carvings inside are of clouds.
Lamma Temple was built by the Ming
Emperor’s as a home away from home for
the Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism.
When he visited Beijing, he lived here.
A gate to Ming Tombs
Architecture of X’ian
Western Capital City
Starting place of the Silk Roads
Houses from the Train to X’ian
Contrast of old and
new
X’ian Bell Tower
X’ian City
Wall
Mosque
in
X’ian
It looks just
like a Chinese
temple except
the writing is
in Arabic.
Cultural Diffusion
of religion.
Islam came to
China along the
famous Silk Roads
The summer Palace in X’ian
A pavilion which sold
fish food attracted
hundreds of gold fish.
Another stone boat
Confucius
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
in X’ian
Daoist monk
Roof demon to scare away evil
Chinese technology and art reflects
the society which created it. How
many places did you see dragons?
Why might they appear so often?
What else did you learn about the
Chinese from these photos?
Baodingshan Grotto
A World Heritage Site
Dazu, China
In China, Daoism, Confucianism,
and Buddhism were all practiced
together by the Chinese people. The
act of creating a religious image was
considered to be an act of worship.
In our tour of China we saw many
people worshipping in temples we
visited across China.
The carved statues at Baodingshan reflect
the 3 religious traditions found in China at
the time they were created; Daoism,
Confucianism, and Buddhism.The statues
survived the Cultural Revolution because
of isolation and the involvement of Chou
Enlai,a native of the area.
Showing a son carrying his parents.
Confucius ( on the right )
Buddhist Wheel
of life being held
by a demon. He
can’t stop it.
Our guide Jeff is
explaining the
carvings we are
learning about at
Dazu.
Buddhism came to China along the Silk Roads
from India where it was started in the 5th century
BCE by Siddarta Gautama.It brought with it
several symbols shown in many Buddhist
images. The most familiar is the lotus flower, a
symbol of purity, renunciation and divinity.
Buddha is often shown sitting on a lotus.
Another important symbol is the Golden Wheel.
The wheel represents motion, continuity and
change, forever moving onwards like the wheel
of heaven.The eight spokes point in the eight
directions and symbolize Buddha’s Eightfold
Path: right understanding, right thought, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort,
right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Leshan carved Buddha- 25 stories tall
Buddha’a hand can
hold 100 people on it.
Since the Taliban blew up the 2 Buddha’s at
Bamyan, Afghanistan, Leshan is the largest
carved statue of Buddha in the world. It is
mainly visible by boat from the river because it
was carved where 3 rivers converge to stop the
many drownings which took place there and
quiet the water. It did stop the rapids.There are
stairs which circle the statue to allow you to get
several views of it as you climb around it.
30 foot tall head
Mt. Emei is over 10,000 feet tall. The act of
climbing it, is also an act of worship. There are
five different Buddhist monasteries at different
levels of the mountain.We visited 2 monasteries,
Lingyuan and Wannian. At each stage, pilgrims
can stop, pray, and rest. There are four mountains
sacred to Buddha in China.
Lingyan Buddhist Temple
Incense burners
Lingyan Temple
Bell
Wannian Temple
on Mt. Emei
A fish hanging in this direction says a pilgrim
may stay for free here.
Monastery buildings
A Buddhist monk
A Buddhist stupa
The dam at Duijiangyan was built 2200 years
ago to stop the flooding which was destroying
the crops on the Chengdu plain. It is still being
used and making that plain a very fertile area.
The simple bamboo technology was effective
and ingenious.
Looking towards
a new dam being
built upstream.
A swinging bridge across the river.
Nanjing Museum
Jade Gallery
Shanghai Museum Bronze Gallery
An interesting view
A Ram’s head detail in bronze
Another achievement is the
development of written Chinese
characters called calligraphy.It
takes about 10,000 characters to
read a simple book.Chinese is
much harder to learn to write
than English is.
Calligraphy Lecture
In China, the emperor was the only
person who could have a yellow roof. He
also wore yellow robes embroidered with
dragons on them. Red is considered the
color of happiness and good luck.White
was the color of mourning death . As a
result brides wore red robes for
weddings.