The Six Canons of Painting

Explores the six rules that should govern painting.

http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html

Questions for exploration.

Scroll down to "The Six Canons of Painting" at the end of this site. Xie He determined that there were Six Canons or rules that should govern painting. What are they? How do they reflect Tang conceptions of religion and technical innovation?

Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk

This site serves a large exhibition devoted to 1000 years of Chinese painting. This portion of the site examines one of the few remaining (although it is a copy) Tang paintings.

http://www.boston.com/mfa/chinese/silkweave.htm

Questions for exploration.

Does this painting reflect Xie He's Six Canons of Painting (see above)? It is a copy of an earlier work. What Chinese tradition does that reflect? How does this painting illuminate "women's work?" How may it possibly be connected to a serious, recurrent issue in China's history? How does the image found at http://www.boston.com/mfa/chinese/lady.htm also address this issue?

The Empress Wu Zetian

This site evaluates place in Chinese history of reign of Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty.

http://womeninworldhistory.com/heroine6.html

Questions for exploration.

What was the status of women during the Tang Dynasty? What aspect of traditional court politics in the pre-modern world did Wu's political struggles exemplify? In what ways did she seek to raise the status of women? According to this essay, the Empress Wu's rule was both constructive and tyrannical. What was an example of each of these aspects of her administration?

Chinese Poetry

This site explores Chinese poetry’s revelations about Chinese society.

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/chinese_poetry.html#1

Questions for exploration.

How does the poetry of Po Chu-I and Su Tung-po offer critical judgments on the often-vaunted Chinese imperial state? How does the poetry of Fu Husuan and Mei Yao Ch'en illuminate the status of women in Chinese society? What images do they evoke to show the emotional sterility Chinese women might face in the home and the labor they were expected to perform without complaint. What Chinese folk belief does Mei Yao Ch'en draw upon to show that not all husbands were, at least after their wife's death, ignorant of the value of the love offered them by their wives.

China: Ancient Arts and Sciences: An Exhibit at the Franklin Institute

This site explores the arts and sciences of China.

http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/info/current/china.html

Questions for further exploration:

Scholars maintain that, from 600 AD until 1500 AD, China was the world's most technologically advanced society. What are the bases of this claim? Why is it also true that ancient Chinese crafts were equally advanced? What place did the natural world have in the development of Chinese craft-working?

The Restoration of the Chinese Empire under the Tang

This site explores the Chinese Empire and its restoration.

http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html

Questions for exploration.

One of the achievements of the Tang administrative order was that it attempted to broaden the base of power. How did the Tang attempt to broaden and liberalize the bureaucracy nonetheless ultimately serve to concentrate power in the hands of a few? What role did the neo-Confucian philosophy of Zhu Xi, so liberal and humanistic, become a means of supporting a rigid of political hierarchy?

The Economy of the Tang Dynasty

This site reviews the innovations made in the Chinese economy under the Tang Dynasty.

http://www.unc.edu/courses/hist033/changan.htm

Questions for further exploration

What were some of the innovations that facilitated the expansion of the economies of the Tang and Song Dynasties?

The Tang Chinese Imperial City of Chang’an

These sites discuss the nature of the design and function of the Tang Dynasty capital city.

http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-10/week-10.html,
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~arch343/lecture8.html and
http://www.unc.edu/courses/hist033/changan.htm (city map)

Questions for exploration.

Scroll down to the section treating the Imperial City. What principles governed the planning of the city of Chang’an? How was it oriented in terms of the four cardinal directions? How was the city laid out in terms of its inhabitants (merchants, Emperors, etc.)? How were the people of the city regulated and served by the municipal administration?

Winter Landscape with Temples and Travelers by Fan Kuan

This site serves an exhibition devoted to 1000 years of Chinese painting.

http://boston.com/mfa/chinese/winter.htm

Questions for further exploration: Daoism, like Buddhism, had a major impact on Chinese art. How does this painting express important Daoist ideas?

Western Influences on Chinese Mythology and Literature

This site discusses the impact of the West on Chinese literary traditions.

http://www.portalinc.com/ism/ranahan/

Questions for discussion:

While China’s trade westward along the Silk Road greatly influenced the course of European history, Western ideas also traveled to China. Discuss the impact of Western ideas or motifs on Chinese mythology and literature.

The Exoticism of the Tang

This site discusses the influence of foreign trade on Tang culture and the place of foreigners in Chinese society.

http://www.silk-road.com/artl/tang.shtml

Questions for further exploration:

How did the great opportunities for foreign trade and foreign visitors during the Tang dynasty enrich Chinese culture? Give specific examples of this process. How did the Chinese then regard and treat foreigners? What developments hastened a change in Chinese policy toward them?