Chapter 1
Learning the Tradition
This book teaches the styles of Chinese brush painting that flowered in the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) and the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368 CE). The styles are not just techniques but the expression of a world–view rooted in Chinese philosophies that developed over four thousand years of history. Understanding the history and philosophies and the aesthetics related to them can help you to appreciate the significance of painting as practiced by the traditional Chinese artists. It can also help you to develop some of the same reverence and respect for your own practice of painting.
Yin and Yang and the Eight Trigrams
According to legend, the first simple system of notation in China was developed by the legendary Emperor Fu Xi in the 28th century BCE. The Bagua or “eight symbols” system reflects the dualistic philosophy of yin and yang. Yang is the positive, masculine principle of the universe, associated with heaven, light, the father, strength, and hardness. Yin is the negative, feminine principle, associated with earth, darkness, the mother, weakness, and softness. The image of the dragon hidden in the clouds was first used to represent the yang principle and was matched by the tiger crouching on the earth to represent the yin principle.
In the 10th century BCE, the black-and-white yin-yang symbol was developed to represent the duality. The symbol is called Taijitu (T’ai-chi), “diagram of the supreme ultimate.” The curve in the symbol means that the proportion of yin and yang varies among objects. Each waxes and wanes in proportion to the other over time in a constant process of change, as with day and night, the moon, the tides, and the seasons. The small circles mean that some yin is always in yang and some yang is always in yin.
The eight trigrams were formed by combinations of three layer stacks of the yang and yin signs, – and --. The combinations show different proportions of the yin and yang qualities associated with major elements in the universe. The paired opposites are now typically shown around the yin yang symbol. Lake is separated from water, as mountain is separated from earth, showing the special significance of mountains and lakes or rivers. These are the primary elements of Chinese landscape painting, where the character for landscape, shanshui, is composed of the characters for mountain and water.
The sequences and locations of the trigram pairs were moved in later versions to show a change from a static, primordial configuration to a dynamic configuration. The Bagua was elaborated when King Wen Wang of Zhou (1099–1050 BCE), the founder of the later Zhou dynasty, stacked groups of two trigrams in their various permutations to create 64 hexagrams.
The Yi Jing (I-Ching or Book of Changes) was written perhaps in the 3rd or 4th century BCE. The book is devoted to the cosmic principles and philosophy of the ancient trigrams and hexagrams used as symbols. It has also been used as a manual of divination to interpret natural events for the superstitious through readings based on the symbols.
The Bagua system has been applied to various studies, such as astronomy, astrology, geology, geomancy, anatomy, time, and the seasons. In modern times, interpretations of the Bagua are commonly referenced in relation to Feng Shui and the martial arts.
The principles of yin-yang permeate traditional Chinese art and architecture. In a Chinese garden wall, you may see a round lattice window with a pattern of curvy lines (yin) beside a hexagonal window with angular, geometric lines (yang). The yin and yang, feminine and masculine, style windows alternate and change as you walk by. Similarly, the elaborately-shaped tiles on the ground alternate in black-and-white patterns.
The symbolism of opposites can even be seen in the contrast of black ink on white paper in calligraphy and brush painting. In painting, the artist’s tools are either yin or yang. The strokes on the page go right and left, balancing the yin and yang. A strong and dark stroke is yang or male, while a soft and pale stroke is yin or female. All opposites are yin and yang, and a painting becomes a harmonious one on the basis of these qualities.
The Hundred Schools of Thought
Ancient pottery and bronzes were adorned with ornamental patterns, pictures of animals, or picture-characters that supported government rites meant to keep people in fear of their rulers and society in order. Subtle warnings and admonitions were used in art to improve social morality and foster right living.
Towards the end of the ancient era, in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the social order started to fall apart. Feudal lords rose up against the king and each other, and leaders of different states competed to gain power over the Empire. The nobles supported scholars and literary men to enhance their own reputations, however, which allowed the flowering of the Golden Age of Chinese Philosophy known as the Hundred Schools of Thought. The philosophies put forth different solutions to the social unrest.
Confucianism
Confucius (551–479 BCE) was a social philosopher active at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period who tried to stave off the chaos that eventually came in the Warring States Period. His real name was Kong Qui, and he was known as Kong Fuzi, Master Kong, which was later latinized to Confucius in the 16th century by the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci. Confucius traveled around the country in vain trying to spread his political ideas and influence the kings vying for supremacy in China. After his death, his disciples or their disciples wrote the Confucian Classics that defined a Confucian system. During the Warring States Period, the Confucian follower Mencius (371–289 BCE), or Mengzi, developed Confucianism into a political and ethical doctrine.
Confucius thought that society could be saved by restoring the old habits, social relationships, and traditions of rulership from earlier dynasties. Social harmony would prevail if all people knew their place in the social order and played their parts well. Virtues should be taught and internalized through good habits, such as following rules of etiquette. Relationships should be governed by mutual respect and obligation between sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger sibling, husband and wife, and friend and friend (as equals). Filial piety, or a child’s respect for his parents, should be matched by the parents’ benevolence and concern for the child. Similarly, the sovereign plays the role of a benevolent autocrat towards his subjects. He must develop himself sufficiently so that his personal virtue spreads a positive influence throughout the kingdom. If he does not behave humanely towards his subjects, he risks losing the Mandate of Heaven that gives him a right to rule, and the people no longer need to obey him.
Confucianism exhorts all people to strive to achieve the ideal of the “gentleman.” As a combination of a saint, scholar, and nobleman, a gentleman was expected to be a moral guide to the rest of society. He should embody internalized good habits and virtues, filial piety and loyalty, and humanity and benevolence. This concept of a “gentleman” gives greater symbolic significance to the group of classic painting subjects known as The Four Gentlemen: bamboo, orchid, plum blossom, and chrysanthemum. Each of these subjects embodies in some way the virtues of a gentleman.
Confucius