Lonely Planet China

by Lonely Planet

  Major art festivals include Běijīng’s 798 International Art Festival, China International Gallery Exposition and Běijīng Biennale, the Shànghǎi Biennale, Guǎngzhōu Triennial and Hong Kong’s one-day Clockenflap festival.

  BEST MUSEUMS & ART GALLERIES

  Shànghǎi Museum An outstanding collection of traditional Chinese art and antiquities.

  Poly Art Museum Inspiring displays of traditional bronzes and Buddhist statues.

  Rockbund Art Museum Forward-thinking museum of contemporary art, just off the Bund.

  Hong Kong Museum of Art (香港藝術館 GOOGLE MAP ; %852 2721 0116; http://hk.art.museum; 10 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui; adult/concession HK$10/5, Wed free; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 7pm Sat & Sun; fStar Ferry, mEast Tsim Sha Tsui, exit J) First-rate display of antiquities, paintings, calligraphy and contemporary Hong Kong art.

  M50 Contemporary art in a converted Shànghǎi industrial zone.

  798 Art District Běijīng’s premier art zone, housed in a former electronics factory.

  Propaganda Poster Art Centre Shànghǎi treasure trove of propaganda art from the communist golden age.

  AFA (Art for All Society) Nonprofit gallery promoting the best in contemporary Macau art.

  ShanghART Impressive warehouse-sized Shànghǎi gallery dedicated to contemporary Chinese artists.

  China Sculpture Museum Set within the restored walls of Dàtóng, this cavernous museum has a huge collection of contemporary pieces.

  Ceramics

  China’s very first vessels – dating back more than 8000 years – were simple handcrafted earthenware pottery, primarily used for religious purposes. The invention of the pottery wheel during the late Neolithic period, however, led to a dramatic technological and artistic leap.

  Over the centuries, Chinese potters perfected their craft, introducing many new and exciting styles and techniques. The spellbinding artwork of the Terracotta Warriors in Xī’ān reveals a highly developed level of technical skill achieved by Qin-dynasty craftsmen. Periods of artistic evolution, during the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty, for example, prompted further stylistic advances. The Tang dynasty ‘three-colour ware’ is a much-admired type of ceramic from this period, noted for its vivid yellow, green and white glaze. Demand for lovely blue-green celadons grew in countries as distant as Egypt and Persia.

  The Yuan dynasty saw the first development of China’s standout ‘blue and white’ (qīnghuā) porcelain. Cobalt-blue paint from Persia was applied as an underglaze directly to white porcelain with a brush, the vessel then covered with another transparent glaze and fired. This technique was perfected during the Ming dynasty and such ceramics became hugely popular all over the world, eventually acquiring the name ‘China-ware’, whether produced in China or not.

  Although many kilns were established in China, the most famous was at Jǐngdézhèn in Jiāngxī province, where royal porcelain was fired.

  During the Qing dynasty, porcelain techniques were further refined and developed, showing superb craftsmanship and ingenuity. British and European consumers dominated the export market, displaying an insatiable appetite for Chinese vases and bowls decorated with flowers and landscapes. Stunning monochromatic ware is another hallmark of the Qing, especially the ox-blood vases, imperial yellow bowls and enamel-decorated porcelain. The Qing is also notable for its elaborate and highly decorative wares.

  Jǐngdézhèn remains an excellent place to visit ceramic workshops and purchase various types of ceramic wares, from Mao statues to traditional glazed urns. The Shànghǎi Museum has a premier collection of porcelain, while several independent retailers in Běijīng, Shànghǎi and Hong Kong also sell more modish and creative pieces. Spin, in particular, sells a highly creative selection of contemporary ceramic designs.

  In recent years wealthy Chinese collectors have embarked on a lavish spending spree, buying back China's ceramic heritage in the international auction markets, with staggering prices paid for pieces.

  A dark and Gothic image in the West, the bat is commonly used in Chinese porcelain, wood designs, textiles and artwork as it is considered a good luck omen.

  Sculpture

  The earliest sculpture in China dates to the Zhou and Shang dynasties, when small clay and wooden figures were commonly placed in tombs to protect the dead and guide them on their way to heaven.

  With the arrival of Buddhism, sculpture turned towards spiritual figures and themes, with sculptors frequently enrolled in huge carving projects for the worship of Sakyamuni. Influences also arrived along the Silk Road from abroad, bringing styles from as far afield as Greece and Persia, via India. The magnificent Buddhist caves at Yúngāng in Shānxī province, for example, date back to the 5th century and betray a noticeable Indian influence.

  Chisellers also began work on the Lóngmén Grottoes in Hénán province at the end of the 5th century. The earliest effigies are similar in style to those at Yúngāng, revealing further Indian influences and an other-worldliness in their facial expressions. Later cave sculptures at Lóngmén were completed during the Tang dynasty and display a more Chinese style.

  The most superlative examples are at the Mògāo Grottoes at Dūnhuáng in Gānsù province, where well-preserved Indian and Central Asian–style sculptures, particularly of the Tang dynasty, carry overtly Chinese characteristics – many statues feature long, fluid bodies and have warmer, more refined facial features.

  The Shànghǎi Museum has a splendid collection of Buddhist sculpture, as does Capital Museum and the Poly Art Museum, both in Běijīng.

  Beyond China’s grottoes, other mesmerising Chinese sculpture hides away in temples across China. The colossal statue of Guanyin in Pǔníng Temple in Chéngdé is a staggering sight, carved from five different types of wood and towering over 22m in height. Shuānglín Temple outside Píngyáo in Shānxī province is famed for its astonishing collection of painted statues from the Song and Yuan dynasties.

  In 2010 a Qing dynasty Chinese vase sold for £53.1 million after being discovered in the attic of a house in northwest London and put up for auction.

  Literature

  Classic Novels

  Until the early 20th century, classical literature (古文; gǔwén) had been the principal form of writing in China for thousands of years. A breed of purely literary writing, classical Chinese employed a stripped-down form of written Chinese that did not reflect the way people actually spoke or thought. Its grammar differed from the syntax of spoken Chinese and it employed numerous obscure Chinese characters.

  Classical Chinese maintained divisions between educated and uneducated Chinese, putting literature beyond the reach of the common person and fashioning a cliquey lingua franca for Confucian officials, scholars and the erudite elite.

  Classical novels evolved from the popular folk tales and dramas that entertained the lower classes. During the Ming dynasty they were penned in a semivernacular (or ‘vulgar’) language, and are often irreverently funny and full of action-packed fights.

  Probably the best-known novel outside China is Journey to the West (Xīyóu Jì) – more commonly known as Monkey. Written in the 16th century, it follows the misadventures of a cowardly Buddhist monk (Tripitaka; a stand-in for the real-life pilgrim Xuan Zang) and his companions – a rebellious monkey, lecherous pig-man and exiled monster-immortal – on a pilgrimage to India.

  The 14th-century novel The Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh/All Men are Brothers (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn) is, on the surface, an excellent tale of honourable bandits and corrupt officials along the lines of Robin Hood. On a deeper level, though, it is a reminder to Confucian officials of their right to rebel when faced with a morally suspect government (at least one emperor officially banned it).

  Written by Cao Xueqin and one of the most famous tales in Chinese literature, the Dream of the Red Mansions (Hónglóu Mèng) is an elaborate 18th-century novel penned in a vernacular, semiclassical form of Chinese. Also known as The Story of the Stone, the lavish tale relates the decline of an aristocratic family
, affording a captivating overview of the mores and manners of upperclass Qing society.

  The I Ching (Yìjīng; Book of Changes) is the oldest Chinese text and is used for divination. It is comprised of 64 hexagrams, composed of broken and continuous lines, that represent a balance of opposites (yin and yang), the inevitability of change and the evolution of events.

  Classical Poetry

  The earliest collection of Chinese poetry is the Book of Songs (Shījīng), which includes over 300 poems dating back to the 6th century BC, gathered together by royal musicians who lived in the many feudal states clustered along the banks of the Yellow River during the Zhou dynasty. Centred on themes of love, marriage, war, agriculture, hunting and sacrifice, the poems were originally meant to be sung.

  China's greatest early poet is Qu Yuan, who lived during the Warring States period (475–221 BC) and is known for his romantic, lyrical poetry.

  The Tang dynasty is considered to be the golden age of Chinese poetry, when two of China's greatest poets – Li Bai and Du Fu – lived and created some of the most beautiful and moving poems in classical Chinese. The most famous of these poems are gathered into an anthology called 300 Tang Poems. During the Song dynasty, a lyric form of poetry called cí emerged, expressing feelings of passion and desire. Su Shi (Su Dongpo) is the most famous poet from this period.

  The Book and the Sword by Jin Yong/Louis Cha (2004) is China’s most celebrated martial-arts novelist’s first book. The martial-arts genre (wǔxiá xiǎoshuō) is a direct descendant of the classical novel.

  Modern Literature

  Early 20th-Century Writing

  Classical Chinese maintained its authority over literary minds until the early 20th century, when it came under the influence of the West.

  Torch-bearing author Lu Xun wrote his short story Diary of a Madman in 1918. It was revolutionary stuff. Apart from the opening paragraph which is composed in classical Chinese, Lu’s seminal and shocking fable is cast entirely in colloquial Chinese.

  For Lu Xun to write his short story in colloquial Chinese was explosive: readers were finally able to read language as it was spoken. Diary of a Madman is a haunting and unsettling work and from this moment on, mainstream Chinese literature would be written as it was thought and spoken: Chinese writing had been instantly revolutionised.

  Other notable contemporaries of Lu Xun include Ba Jin (Family; 1931), Mao Dun (Midnight; 1933), Běijīng author Lao She (Rickshaw Boy/Camel Xiangzi; 1936) and the modernist playwright Cao Yu (Thunderstorm). Lu Xun and Ba Jin also translated a great deal of foreign literature into Chinese.

  Published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Research Centre for Translation, Renditions (www.cuhk.edu.hk/rct/renditions/index.html) is an excellent journal of Chinese literature in English translation, covering works from classical Chinese to modern writing.

  Contemporary Writing

  A growing number of contemporary voices have been translated into English, but far more exist in Chinese only. The provocative Nobel Prize–winning Mo Yan (Life and Death are Wearing Me Out; 2008), Yu Hua (To Live; 1992) and Su Tong (Rice; 1995) have written momentous historical novels set in the 20th century; all are excellent, though their raw, harrowing subject matter is not for the faint of heart.

  Zhu Wen mocks the get-rich movement in his brilliantly funny short stories, published in English as I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China (2007). It’s a vivid and comic portrayal of the absurdities of everyday China.

  ‘Hooligan author’ Wang Shuo (Please Don’t Call Me Human; 2000) is one of China’s best-selling authors with his political satires and convincing depictions of urban slackers. Alai (Red Poppies; 2002), an ethnic Tibetan, made waves by writing in Chinese about early 20th-century Tibetan Sìchuān – whatever your politics, it’s both insightful and a page-turner. Refused entry into China, exiled author Ma Jian writes more politically critical work; his 2001 novel Red Dust was a Kerouacian tale of wandering China as a spiritual pollutant in the 1980s. Banned in China, his 2008 novel Beijing Coma is set against the Tiān’ānmén demonstrations of 1989, and their aftermath. China’s most renowned dissident writer, Gao Xingjian, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 for his novel Soul Mountain, an account of his travels along the Yangzi after being misdiagnosed with lung cancer. All of his work has been banned in the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1989.

  Controversial blogger Han Han (http://blog.sina.com.cn/twocold) catapulted himself into the literary spotlight with his novel Triple Door, a searing critique of China’s education system. His successful 2010 road-trip novel 1988: I Want to Talk with the World only served to grow his already massive fan base and establish him as spokesman of a generation.

  Candy (2003) by Mian Mian is a hip take on modern Shànghǎi life, penned by a former heroin addict musing on complicated sexual affairs, suicide and drug addiction in Shēnzhèn and Shànghǎi. It's applauded for its urban underground tone, but sensational more for its framing of post-adolescent themes in contemporary China. Years of Red Dust: Stories of Shanghai (2010) by Qiu Xiaolong contains 23 short stories in the context of momentous historic events affecting the city and the inhabitants of Red Dust Lane.

  In his novel Banished, poet, essayist, short-story writer and blogger Han Dong reaches to his own experiences during the Cultural Revolution for inspiration. Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2010, Bi Feiyu’s Three Sisters is a poignant tale of rural China during the political chaos of the early 1970s. In Northern Girls, Sheng Keyi illuminates the prejudices and bigotries of modern Chinese society in her story of a Chinese girl arriving as an immigrant worker in Shēnzhèn. The Fat Years (2009) by Chan Koonchung is a science-fiction novel set in a near-future totalitarian China where the month of February 2011 has gone missing from official records.

  For a taste of contemporary Chinese short-story writing with both English and Chinese, buy a copy of Short Stories in Chinese: New Penguin Parallel Text (2012). The Picador Book of Contemporary Chinese Fiction (2006) brings together a range of different contemporary voices and themes into one accessible book.

  Wolf Totem (2009) by Jiang Rong is an astonishing look at life on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution and the impact of modern culture on an ancient way of life.

  Film

  Early Cinema

  The moving image in the Middle Kingdom dates to 1896, when Spaniard Galen Bocca unveiled a film projector and blew the socks off wide-eyed crowds in a Shànghǎi teahouse. Shànghǎi’s cosmopolitan verve and exotic looks would make it the capital of China’s film industry, but China’s very first movie – Conquering Jun Mountain (an excerpt from a piece of Běijīng opera) – was actually filmed in Běijīng in 1905.

  Shànghǎi opened its first cinema in 1908. In those days, cinema owners would cannily run the film for a few minutes, stop it and collect money from the audience before allowing the film to continue. The golden age of Shànghǎi film-making came in the 1930s when the city had over 140 film companies. Its apogee arrived in 1937 with the release of Street Angel, a powerful drama about two sisters who flee the Japanese in northeast China and end up as prostitutes in Shànghǎi; and Crossroads, a clever comedy about four unemployed graduates. Japanese control of China eventually brought the industry to a standstill and sent many film-makers packing.

  Communist Decline

  China’s film industry was stymied after the Communist Revolution, which sent film-makers scurrying to Hong Kong and Taiwan, where they played key roles in building up the local film industries that flourished there. Cinematic production in China was co-opted to glorify communism and generate patriotic propaganda. The days of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) were particularly dark. Between 1966 and 1972, just eight movies were made on the mainland, as the film industry was effectively shut down.

  Resurgence

  It wasn’t until two years after the death of Mao Zedong, in September 1978, that China’s premier film school – the Běijīng Film Academy – reopened. Its firs
t intake of students included Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang, who are considered masterminds of the celebrated ‘Fifth Generation’.

  The cinematic output of the Fifth Generation signalled an escape from the dour, colourless and proletarian Mao era, and a second glittering golden age of Chinese film-making arrived in the 1980s and 1990s with their lush and lavish tragedies. A bleak but beautifully shot tale of a Chinese Communist Party cadre who travels to a remote village in Shaanxi province to collect folk songs, Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth aroused little interest in China but proved a sensation when released in the West in 1985.