CHINA

Until the Chinese Emperor Han Wu-ti established contact between the East and Far East, China had been in a self-contained world. This self-containment was not "culturally" broken until the first century AD. The long lived isolation no doubt gave Chinese culture a powerful originality. The introduction of Buddhism brought with it Indian art. Later came Nestorian Christianity and Manicherism and Islam. However, the trail these people had to take, the "Silk Road", was a long a and difficult one. Therefore, foreign influences were only allowed in small doses. There was plenty of time for the new ideas to be assimilated into Chinese culture without dangering it.

What seems to have kept the vast lands of China connected is the unity of its writing. With pronunciations varying greatly, the "characters" were the medium of communication. However unlike much of the world, China has not adopted Phoenician simplification. This is the reason that Chinese literature is apparently immobile. Language has continued to evolve, while the same "hieroglyphics" have just absorbed new interpretations. Although, the aesthetic value of these characters is important to Chinese culture. The "arts of the brush", or calligraphy has achieved the level of painting. Chinese painting evolved from a form of picture-writing with symbols that described things. Modern Chinese characters then developed from these pictograms.

As far as Chinese art goes, the transformations in Chinese art gives a hint into the changes in the structure of Chinese society. Early Chinese history experienced this equivalent of the Western Paleolithic. Tools and pottery with artistic designs have been unearthed from the Neolithic Age. As early as these times, pottery has been excavated that shows pictoral decoration on it. This shows how early aesthetics became important to the Chinese. Primitive Chinese art, except those with symbolic purposes, was utilitarian.

Chinese painting changed during the period of Ch'un Ch'in. There is a story told of a painter who left his home and wife for years. He became lonely and longed for her, so he began painting her portrait. These portraits were not religious or utilitarian, but started a shift to the growth of individual aspirations. This was the first step in emotional painting that would later flourish.

During the Han epoch, painting entered into the world of religious painting when the emperor engaged an interest in art. They gathered people for the study and appreciation of art.

Eventually barbarians occupied the north during the Tsing Dynasty and the Chinese fled south. The beautiful southern scenery brought about landscape painting and people began to regard art as something for appreciation, rather than utilitarian or religious, ect.

The difference between the landscapes of the "Northern School" and "Southern School" are not distinguished by different localities, but by different styles. This era has been called the golden age of art and culture.

Paintings of the Sung era were a turning point in culture and art. Paintings of this time combined pictoral art and literature. Some artists of this era are known as poet-artists. They believed that a scholar should be ashamed of not being able to understand painting and a painter should be ashamed of not understanding literature. This idea still persists today in Chinese art.

Yet later art, gave importance to imagination. The spirit and lyricism of fine brushwork and gradiations was more important than details and accuracy. Huang Kung-Wang emphasized that when "both concept and atmosphere come into harmony the highest skill in painting is fulfilled." The act of painting then became an art in itself. The effect of rhythm and stroke also became important. There became a demand for the ability to incorporate into ones brushwork, the inner-emotion.

A decline came about during the Republican years. It is thought that a deterioration in artistic tradition, Western thought, foreign imperialism, party politics, poverty, and a feeling of an inability to master traditional techniques, has brought about such a decline.

Today, Chinese art is divided into two categories; the academic and the unrealistic schools. In the School of Unrealistic Western painting, artists strive to the same route as earlier artists, in stressing rhythmic vitality rather than accuracy in details. Today, paintings in the "Southern School" and the School of Western Painting in Chinese tradition, are finding their way around the world where they are received with enthusiasm. Some critics, though, worry that Chinese art is now more worried with financial success than expressing inner emotion.