Monday, January 16, 2006

# Three Emperors


Click for larger image


Let's start this by playing a game: Can you spot the emperor?

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Answer: His Highness is the one in green robe, sitting on the balcony. :-) His Highness is enjoying the autumn, relaxing at balcony and overlooking the river.

... and this is just one of the twelve pieces of hanging scroll, among many other paintings and displays in the exhibition. Besides this set of twelve, there are many other giant scrolls paintings with careful details and interesting depict of the life of the emperors in the Qing Dynasty.

Yes, you got it right. It is the Royal Academy of Arts' exhibition 'China: The Three Emperors, 1662–1795'. Yipee~!!! It is right in London, barely 5 minutes walk from the Picaddily Circus tube station! Having been visiting various exhibitions (always in London, muahaha...), I didn't lose time to try out this one. And the trip was worthwhile!

Focusing on the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of the three greatest emperors, this exhibition presented about 400 pieces of treasures (robes, paintings, furniture, antique, throne, scientific instruments, cultural pieces, etc...); in fact, many of these treasures have not been exhibited outside China before. The main theme of the exihibition revolves around the various perspectives of the Qing dynasty - its empire, culture, rituals and religions, palace life, scientific progress, international relations, literature, and lifestyle. The feature of this exhibition that attracted me the most is the way they presented these knowledege; stories are told not through words, but through scrolls and scrolls of paintings by anonymous court artists, displays of the furniture, instruments and items used at the era.


Meet Kang Xi, the legendary emperor who started his 'emperor-ship' (is there SUCH a word, i wonder?) at a very young age. This potrait of him in a court dress will be familiar for those who read the famous novelist Er Yue He, who has written novels on these three emperors. (Great books, a must read) He used these paintings of the emperors as the book covers. :-)
An interesting thing is, even though these emperors are Manchurian people, they wear this formal court dress in Chinese style, a tactic of assimilation into the system of the previous dynasties.

We found it fascinating to observe the very detailedly-done paintings on supersize scrolls, and soon developed an amusing game which helped ourselves remembering more vividly about the exihibited pieces - "Spot the Emperor". The paintings were done with such details that they painted every single man, and even animals, very carefully, regardless of their ranks. It is hard to spot the emperor sometimes, because there is no significant emphasis on his figure. We would have to observe the rituals and customs carefully to be able to guess which one is him. :-) and guess what, sometimes the artists are so mischiveous that they inserted some little "mythical" small animals (from our deduction: a mixture of dragon, dog, and some other animals) among the crowd. What a discovery!

Another interesting fact is the parallel practice of Shamanism (pagan religion) and Buddhism during the Qing Dynasty. Most of the Qing emperors embraced Buddhism, and Yongzheng was famously noted with his avidness in Chan Buddhism, while Qianlong with his Tibetan Buddhism. Other religions - Taoism, Christianity and Islam were also tolerated. For Shamanism, there was an exhibit of the instruments used on the altar of Moon, where the seasonal rituals of offerings were made.


Of course, Manchurians are fearless warriors, good hunters and skillful riders. This painting shows Qianlong in his armour, on his horse. In their culture, Kangxi and Qianlong went on long journeys north for ceremonial hunting in many years of their reigns. Several of the paintings in the room illustrated aspects of these hunting expeditions. To reinforce their authority in their Chinese territories, the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors also undertook journeys through the south of China, particularly the Yangtze region. There are stories about the emperors dressing up as normal people, sneaking out to the streets to assess the "Real" lifestyle of the people, instead of the glamourous show put up by the officials during their inspection trips. This is to see the real situation to make better judgement and decisions on policies and governing the country. Based on these 'stories', many drama series have been made, and some are being re-made, to tell the glory days of Qing.

There were many other display pieces on the foreign diplomatic gifts, scientific knowledge sharing and extraordinary foreign instruments. Also, a large collection of the art paintings, carvings, calligraphy, etc were on displaying, again showing the richness of the dynasty, and the pursuit for beauty in art. A common trait among these grandad-dad-son emperors are their zeal in collecting art pieces, and indulgence in literature and art. :-)

Oh ya... before I forget, here is a picture of YongZheng, dressed in Taoism robe.

There are many other pictures depicting him as many roles - warrior, Buddhist monk, and even wearing the European court wig! We were smiling widely when looking through these paintings, the emperors sure do have a good sense of humour to be potrayed as different characters!

Well, I must say, it is fruitful to have gone for this exhibition. It was fun and informative. And somehow, via such approach to potray the emperors, it brings the emperors so much closer to layman like us - they enjoy things, they learn and they live life well, and they sure do have their crazy sides too! :-P

Let's end with the sandalwood seal of Kang Xi, marking the end of this post. The site www.threeemperors.org.uk shows a nice introduction and some information. Do have a look there as well.
(Note: I have not written here a lot of history of the dynasties, there are too many interesting things to write! I would suggest a good research and study on the history, because it would be wonderful to savour the many layers of the colourful history...)

16 comments:

The Moody Minstrel said...

Wow! That's really impressive! I wish I could pop over to London to have a look! Thank you for having a look for all of us, YD!

I think a lot of Westerners find it hard to understand that the Manchus and Chinese were, in fact, different ethnic groups with different cultures. I remember when I studied Chinese history in college and we covered the Qing Dynasty (and all the tea and opium stuff with the West), and it confused a lot of people.

Thank you for helping to enlighten us.

Oh, BTW, thanks for the postcard!

YD said...

Thanks moody! I'm happy that you like the postcard. :-)

Opium war marked the end of the Qing dynasty. It's somewhat saddening to see many great dynasties all over the world crumbles to nothing at the end of their powerful era, and due to the similar factors and causes - power struggle, corruption, war, and drugs...

I have wanted to write more about the dynasty but haven't really put the points and information together yet. There are bits and pieces everywhere and I don't want to just throw in everything in this post. that would be haphazard information hehe...

So I am planning to explore in another post more deeply about the emperors (i have been fascinated by these three last time and have come across them in many history books, they are quite cool in a way, haha), also more about the different dynasties... but I am only more familar with the dong zhou, three kingdoms, Qing, etc. haven't been reading much on the others in between.

Would be glad to participate in discussions if there are anyone who would like to share some posts on the history. :-)

hope my little effort can 抛砖引玉 - bring other more experted people who study the history more deeply to come out and share. Please do. :-)

HappySurfer said...

Hi YD, a great write-up and very nice pictures too. I've always been interested in Chinese history and love the paintings very much. Like you said, they are so detailed and truly tells a story.
Thanks for sharing your visit.

Anonymous said...

YD:

盛世風華"的康、雍、乾三朝的各种文化特色很值得我们龙的传人去阅览.

我较为欣赏的是郎世寧 -大閱圖的精细西洋畫藝..

郎世寧(Giuseppe Castiglione),義大利人,一六八八年生於米蘭,他的出生地聖馬塞蘭諾(San Marcellino)是有名的繪畫工作坊,少年時學習繪畫,兼習建築,十九歲時加入耶穌會,一七一四年居往在葡萄牙里斯本及科英布拉,同年登上了希望聖母號,翌年七月十日抵達澳門,後轉往廣州,並取名郎世寧,學習中國語言和風俗文化,康熙五十四年(1715年11月22日),二十七歲的郎世寧到了中國,在北京傳教,也因為他在繪畫上的專能,被召入宮廷,成為清初最重要的西洋畫家。郎世寧以西方寫生的技法,畫宮廷中的 建築、犬、馬、花鳥,因為文藝復興以來歐洲精密的解剖學和透視法技巧,使他能準確地捕抓物象的真實性,獲得清代帝王的愛好。郎世寧的肖像畫,保留了準確造型,富立體之感,同時適合了東方民族欣賞的審美心理,人物五官清晰明瞭,滿足了在照相機發明以前的肖像水準和要求.

我相信你的”抛砖引玉” 必定会吸引到中外有兴趣的同好者.

尊璣

Robin CHAN said...

Beautiful.. though I have seen them before, I have always like portraits of Chinese emperors.

However, the Manchu dressing is kinda frightening, especially so when most Chinese movie would depicts the vampire as someone wearing such cloths.

haha

The Moody Minstrel said...

Speaking of the Qing Dynasty, and the Ming before it, what do you think of this article?

Pandabonium said...

I am happy you were able to see this exhibit. One thing to read about history, quite another to be surrounded by the artifacts and get a more tangible feel for it.

The Emperor is the one next to Waldo.

@ロウ 。LOW@ said...

And i'm still looking for that emperor...someone's joy, someone's misery...

And i still have to say thank you :p

YD said...

Thanks happysurfer, would u love to share more knowledge on the Qing dynasty?

I'm still intrigued by the mystery of power struggle among the many sons of Kangxi, and how it eventually ended up with Yinzhen a.k.a Yongzheng. Some literature favours the eighth son and claimed Yinzhen to have forcefully attained the throne, while others claimed the eighth son practice cronyism and Yinzhen is the one who does real work instead of flowery words. Personally I admire Yinzhen's capability and maturity in handling government matters, but let's see what you guys would say?

Thanks ZJ too for sharing more about Lang Shining a.k.a Giuseppe Castiglione, whom I have not mentioned his significance in the art during Qing Dynasty. He's famous for his detailed and accurate paintings, and interesting mixture of styles between east and west. Here are some reference of Lang Shining, and there certainly is many other more. Google him and you can see many of his works all around...

And interestingly, the point that ZJ raised correspond directly to the comment Robin made. There is this site which shows the Qing Dynasty Castiglione's (Lang Shining) Art, and there is some explanation about the customes worn during Summer and Winter. 大閱圖

And a bit of summary information about these 3 emperors can be found online, here is a few:
Kangxi
Yongzheng
Qianglong

ermm..... pardon my ignorance my dear panda, but what.... is waldo? :-)

And Low, a hint for your emperor's whereabout on you postcard, he is indoor, not outdoor. kekeke...

Whew, a long comment, and moody, i will have to read through ur link's article first before attempting to blabber my way through, haha.

Pandabonium said...

Sorry for the obscure reference. There is a series of children's books titled "Where's Waldo?" in the USA [originally from the UK as "Where's Wally?"]

They consist of a series of elaborate drawings cluttered with tiny figures of people (much like the painting you used for your "where's the emperor?"), one of whom is Waldo. Waldo always wears a red and white striped shirt and cap. The object is to find Waldo amoung all the other people. You can see the books if you search on amazon.com or wikipedia.org.

YD said...

Hey thanks panda!

Haha.. no wonder I don't recognize Waldo... the versions I have played when I was small were something like
"Find Freddie"
"Lookg for Lisa"
"Spot Susan"
etc...
In the process of finding these people (and animals, and vampires too!) among the sea of people, iti s quite fun to observe the activities of other little people... they always have their own stories to tell too. ^_^

now i wonder where these ideas come from...

Pandabonium said...

I like those kinds of stories or games. It teaches children to observe and see that there are a lot of other people and things around them and that each has its own story to tell.

I still remember my kindergarten teacher who took the class outside and had us sit under an oak tree. She told us to close our eyes and listen and then share what we each heard. Then she had us look up at the tree and notice every detail we could discern. I was amazed at how much I had missed before she had me focus on my surroundings. It was a lesson in awareness that has stayed with me all my life.

In a crowd I sometimes like to joke with people by asking "who are all these people, and why are they making so much noise?" It makes people come out of their personal "bubble" and pay attention to their surroundings.

The Moody Minstrel said...

Speaking of coming out of one's bubble, I can FINALLY hear Pachelbel on my home computer!

I guess that reinstall business wasn't so bad after all!

HappySurfer said...

Is (Johann) Pachelbel the composer of the piece on yr blog, YD? That's a beautiful piece. It exudes a certain peace and romance at the same time. Thank you for sharing its beauty.

Thought I'd drop by to wish you Happy New Year and have a lovely time wherever you will be. Take care.

@ロウ 。LOW@ said...

Oh dear, you are in MIA mode again? :P

Take care and SEE you SOON :)

The Moody Minstrel said...

YD???!?!???

Where ARE you?????!?!??????!?