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The Qing Imperial Domains c o u r t r e p r e s e n ta t i o n s i a fair proportion of Qing court paintings, whose original functions were to commemorate the glories of the emperors and to project images of rulership into the cultural patterns of their subjects, portray royal palaces and record state events. Qing imperial estate portraiture overlaps with the traditional category of jiehua because they both feature architecture as the principal subject. But many other Qing court paintings of contemporary themes, whether narrative or genre paintings, contain rich architectural images that had political symbolism. Part of the interest of this subject, especially in the context of a collaborative project, lies in the political significance of images and hence the potentially polysemic messages of a work. In this chapter I will point out how architectural images in these court paintings served as symbolic forms through which meanings were constructed. I will also examine how styles were directed, at least in part, toward casting themes in certain ways that signified this process of construction of meaning. In an attempt to address their Han Chinese subjects, the Qing emperors presented themselves as Chinese-style monarchs and took on different modes of life governed by the moral code of Confucianism. The ultimate purposes, as suggested by recent historical studies, were to exercise Qing imperial control and to achieve “transcendence of monarchy over other cultural authorities of the realm.”1 In the process of defining themselves within a specific cultural frame, the emperors relied on various architectural settings as designated imperial space in which they performed the appropriate ritual actions. They also relied on grand palaces as outward physical manifestations of the awe and majesty of the imperial presence. In relation to these were various boundaries, abstract or physical, that were required to enhance Qing imperial authority—for example, the social bound3 aries between the Qing ruler and all his subjects and between the Son of Heaven and the Chinese people, the cultural boundaries that separated the diverse cultures coexisting under the Qing, or the physical boundaries of the royal palaces and of the Qing domains at large. All these boundaries were key elements in the ordering of the Qing empire, and they were also the essential ingredients contributing to the meaningful lives of the emperors . In this study I identify three different types of contemporary architecture that were relevant to the process of boundary making through pictorial representations: ritual spaces, imperial palaces, and cities. Despite this classification, it is important to note the occasions where the dividing lines between categories are blurry. For example, both palaces and cities could be used for conducting rituals, and the Qing imperial palace was in itself a forbidden city in the capital. For the convenience of thematic and stylistic analyses, however, it is useful to identify these three categories of architecture and to study each of them in relation to the pictorial conventions of narrative, topographical, and genre paintings. Ritual Space As conquerors, the early Qing emperors had to legitimize their rule and their new sovereign power in China. Legitimacy involves the basic issues of what gives the ruler and his or her government the right to exercise power and what makes the people believe a government to be legitimate. In premodern China the right of an emperor to exercise power was justified by the Mandate of Heaven. The emperor performed state sacrifices to Heaven and Earth to symbolize his taking up of the position as Son of Heaven. Because of this marriage between religious and political forces, the outcome of political changes appeared to be unalterable and unchallengeable by human beings.2 Besides relying on Heaven’s mandate for power legitimization in China, the Qing regime pursued policies of patronage, control, and manipulation of Chinese culture, under which Chinese religious beliefs and practices were continued. The Qing approach to Chinese religion was to impose a structure on Chinese religious life without dictating the content .3 According to the Qing structure of Chinese institutional religion, official sacrifices were categorized into three levels: grand sacrifice (dasi), middle sacrifice (zhongsi), and common sacrifice (xiaosi). Grand sacrifices were performed by the emperors to Heaven, Earth, the imperial ancestors, as well as land and grain. Of all these worships, the ones to Heaven and Earth—which were performed respectively during winter and summer solstices— were the supreme form of...

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