Chinese Neolithic (polished stone tool age) in the Yangshao culture, which emerged about 2,500 B.C. to endure a thousand years. The pottery of the early Yangshao exhibits patterns in red pigments that proceed in time through simple linear motifs to “primitive” conventionalized renderings of men and animals. From these early pictographic symbols, Chinese written characters evolved to highly abstract ideographic writing.
An astonishing fact of Chinese art is the sudden appearance in the Shāng Dynasty (c. 1766–1121 B.C.) of sophisticated bronze vessels bearing art motifs that are typically “Chinese” and are the progenitors of certain Chinese art symbols that have persisted for three or four thousand years. The Zhōu Dynasty (c. 1122–256 B.C.) developed the superb bronze art of the Shāng in such forms as time and circumstances required. These vessels were made for use in rituals performed to gain the favor of ancestral or other spirits. The archaic written Chinese characters inscribed on them provide information both on the development of writing and on their use as ritual offering vessels.
Diversity is characteristic of all Chinese art, both dynastic and pre-dynastic. Stylistic changes emerge from technical inventions or cultural preference. Basic media included stone, bronze, jade, shell, ceramics, silver, gold, silk, wood, and lacquer. The Hàn Dynasty (202 B.C. to A.D. 221) exhibited many of the cultural refinements of life that we regard today as typical of classic Chinese life. Silk, lacquer, and the writing brush appeared. We know much about the Hàn Chinese because of their custom of burying with their dead an abundance of personal goods, domestic articles, and little ceramic models portraying daily life. Hàn decoration is rich in geometric motifs, such as the zigzag, bands and lozenges. Bronze mirrors of the period have luxuriant designs on their reverse sides. Also in Hàn times the tiger, the tortoise, and other animals not used as art motifs in earlier periods make their appearance. It is the Hàn dragon that takes on all the features of the “typical” Chinese dragon with horns, a long tail, wings, a jagged spine, and plate-like scales. The phoenix also assumes its well-known form in the Hàn Dynasty.
Indian Buddhist teachings were known in Hàn times, yet it was not until the Táng Dynasty that Buddhism became well established in China. Buddhist teachings were opposed by the rulers, an opposition peacefully overcome as Buddhism merged with native Taoism and Chinese folk culture. The result was the emergence of one of the finest regional cultures the world has ever seen.
The greatest single achievement of Buddhism was the formation of the Dhyana meditation school, or Chán Buddhism, which was founded by the Indian “blue-eyed Brahmin” Bodhidharma (Japanese: Daruma), who is described by Williams under the subject of “tea.” Bodhidharma is said to have arrived in China in 527. His mystical teachings mingled Chinese practicality with Indian mysticism to produce Chán. Chán or Zen, to use the Japanese word, permeates the best Chinese art, and, along with paper, is China’s special gift to world civilization.
Chán influence reached its height in the Sòng Dynasty and thereafter declined in China. Huineng (Japanese: Eno), who lived from 638 to 713 in the Táng period, was one of Zen’s greatest exponents. The tea ceremony, flower arrangement, architecture, painting, and calligraphy owe much to Chán. The traditions withered in China but survived in Japan even into modern times in art and scholarship. Dr. Daisetz Suzuki (1870–1966), prophet of Zen to the West, has written much on the Chinese masters and their Japanese successors.
The ancient philosophical basis of Chinese lore and art symbolism is that the world and the heavens have polarity, namely a positive or male yáng and a negative or female yïn. This principle is one suggesting counterbalancing parts, one side giving energy to the other. When yáng and yïn work in society, the outcome is egalitarian and democratic, while in art the work is dynamic and creative. Symbolically yáng and yïn are depicted as a swirling S set in an “egg” or circle, each division having within itself a small circle or dot. It is usual to see one half of the design blocked in with a colour while the opposing side is either left plain or colored, red and black being a favorite contrast.
Another feature of Chinese artistic culture is the use of jade as a material believed to possess supernatural power. In neolithic times, copies of tools and weapons cut in jade were used ritually and are among the most beautiful products of Chinese culture. The bì, or disc of jade, and the bronze tripod, or three-footed vessel, represent the essence of traditional Chinese culture.
It is generally agreed among scholars and connoisseurs that the high point of Chinese civilization was reached in the Sòng Dynasty. Sòng painting and ceramic art reached a perfection never surpassed in any subsequent dynasty. A strong yet refined delicacy marks the age. Beautiful images of fishes, rocks, trees, and flowers pervade Sòng paintings. Man emerges into the natural world as a poetic creature content with his lot.
Certain flowers, fruits, and plants assumed persuasive symbolic power in Sòng times. The pine inspired thoughts of longevity, the bamboo of supple bending before life’s troubles, the mulberry of calm filial piety. Depicting seasons, the tree peony indicated the delights of spring, the chrysanthemum the charm of autumn, and the wild plum austere winter. Of all flowers the lotus is symbolically supreme, being the symbol of friendly summer, spiritual purity, creative power, and the blessing of immortal gods. Lotus leaves at the base of an image of Far Eastern iconography indicate that the figure depicted is of divine character.
There have been many developments in the study of Chinese art and culture since Williams wrote Outlines of Chinese Symbols & Art Motives, yet his book is still useful because of his uncluttered treatment of the timeless subject matter he presents. It remains a unique reference work. There are aspects of Chinese studies pursued today that Williams probably never dreamed of, such as the body of evidence linking the decorative arts of South Sea Island cultures of Polynesia and Melanesia to the Asian mainland, and notably to Shāng and Zhōu China. Yet that is of little relevance. Williams gives basic information in his book, making it a treasure house where layman and expert can find the facts of folklore and the art symbols of China.
TERENCE BARROW, Ph. D.
Introduction
All the inhabitants of oriental countries, and especially those of the Flowery Land, are gifted with a vivid imagination—a quality of important constructive value. This high development of the imaginative powers is very largely due to the reaction created by the complicated symbolism of the ancient folklore. In a civilization which has a longer recorded history than that of any other nation, it is not to be wondered at that in China many interesting old classical legends have been handed down from generation to generation, and the manners and customs of the people have naturally been influenced thereby to a very considerable degree. From the earliest ages the Chinese have had a firm credence in the prevalence of occult influences, and a general trust in amulets and charms and other similar preservatives against the spirits of evil, although nowadays the Government is making efforts to dissuade the people from these superstitious beliefs. The ancient world, however, to the Chinese mind, was crowded with heroes, fairies, and devils, who played their respective parts in the colourful drama, and left an undying name and fame in the legendary history of the country.
The symbolism which has gradually developed in China is a subject as yet imperfectly treated in any European tongue, and there is no doubt that a careful study of the popular emblems, and their evolution, will be found to shed an interesting light on the literature, fine arts, industry, and daily life of the inhabitants.
A close examination of the symbolism will show that it is founded on legendary matter which has been transmitted, both verbally and in writing, from very distant ages, and in the process the nature of this legendary material has undergone certain variations, i. e., a legend may lose certain elements, gain more elements, or some of its elements may be substituted for others. The Grecian philosopher Euhemerus advanced the theory that the gods of mythology were merely deified mortals; this theory, known as euhemerism, is quite obviously applicable to much of the Chinese mythology, and helps in the derivation of the fundamental origin of many otherwise inexplicable ideas. Other
