Dimensions of Originality: Essays on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art Th eory and Criticism

Chapter 3: How Ideas Spread Across China And Among The Classes

chapter 3 How Ideas Spread Across China and Among the Classes Before entering a full discussion about originality in Chinese art theory and criticism, it is helpful to outline some of the factors that aided its development . China’s seventeenth century marks a transition of dynasties, social values, and cultural expression. By seventeenth century, I mean China’s “long” seventeenth century, from about 1570 to 1720, a period that covers the last seven decades of the Ming (1368–1644) and the first eight decades of the Qing (1644–1911) Dynasties. In the last quarter of the sixteenth century, the Ming bureaucracy began declining in efficacy, such that by the 1620s it was unable to intimidate the Manchu armies that had been encroaching on China’s northern border since 1590, or control the rebel Chinese armies roaming its northern regions.1 And once the Manchus finally conquered China and established the Qing Dynasty in 1644, without a doubt, considerable social trauma was felt by the Han Chinese (by far the largest ethnic group), as the Qing consolidated its powerbase to enable a more settled period. Yet, disaffection for making or enforcing policy on the part of the last Ming emperors2 and a commensurate level of inattention to cultural matters initially on the part of the first Qing emperor created an opening for social and cultural exploration, satire, and parody,3 which was enjoyed by some while disparaged by others.4 Political and economic change Despite the political upheaval, the economy was generally flourishing, and cushioned the blows of political trauma by opening social opportunities 66 | dimensions of originality for large and varied segments of society.5 Many studies have shown that the national economy was blossoming into a competitive commercial culture.6 More wealth in the hands of more commoners enabled more men to study for the examinations that could catapult them to the top of China’s social hierarchy through service in the imperial bureaucracy.7 For the most part, socio-economic developments in the latter half of the seventeenth century continued along the same productive path as in the late Ming, environmental disasters and political and social disruptions notwithstanding .8 And all the while, the aesthetic trends established in the late Ming continued into the early Qing. As art historian Qianshen Bai has observed, “The Ming-Qing dynastic transition had no revolutionary impact on Chinese social structure and culture. Cultural tastes and patterns remained the same among the Chinese social and political elite.…”9 Despite the political upheaval, the long seventeenth century was a dynamic period of socio-cultural development and experimentation. In many ways, the art of seventeenth-century China continued the established modes of the previous period. While taste and style shifted over time, the literati (amateur) style dominated over the professional modes, and featured monochrome landscapes after Wang Wei 王維 (699–759), hemp fiber strokes à la Dong Yuan 董源 (active mid tenth century) and Juran’s 巨然 (active ca. 960–980) alum-lump rocks. These paintings were replete with the purposeful markings that asserted time-honored values of the zhuo 拙 (awkward), xi 戲 (playful), pingdan 平淡 (unstudied, restrained), and yi 逸 (untrammeled, fresh, free). An example is Dong Qichang’s 董其昌 (1555–1636) Qingbian Mountains (Fig. 3-1). Expression of these aesthetic values, it was understood, revealed the honest and ethical personal character of the artist, a man fit to serve the imperial bureaucracy as a scholar-official should he be so summoned. In other ways, however, seventeenth-century painting changed, and changed radically from that of the prior era. Where sixteenth-century artistsmaintainedthenormativetraditionsandexpectationsofpictorialcom position (as in Fig. 3-2, Wen Zhengming 文徵明 [1470–1559], Landscape after Wang Meng), seventeenth-century artists challenged them, subverted them, and transformed them for startlingly new manners of expression emphasizing idiosyncratic elements and effects (e.g., Fig. 3-3, Song Xu 宋旭 chapter 3: how ideas spread across china and among the classes | 67 Fig. 3-1 Dong Qichang (1555–1636), Qingbian Mountains, 1617, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 306.7 × 106.2 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund, 1980.10. 68 | dimensions of originality Fig. 3-2 Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), Landscape after Wang Meng, 1535, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 133.9 × 35.7 cm, National Palace Museum, Taibei. chapter 3: how ideas spread across china and among the classes | 69 Fig. 3-3 Song Xu (1525–after...