A/HI 271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Hanging Scroll, Guo Xi, Chinese Art
Document Summary
During the early years of the chinese empire, capitals sprang up in northern china, in the yellow and wei river valleys. The topography in the region consists in part of very rugged mountains of loess soil. After the mid-twelfth century, the capital moved south temporarily. The region around the southern song capital of huangzhou looks very different from northern china, consisting of rolling hills and expansive lakes. These topographical differences between n and s china had an impact on chinese painting. The painting, early spring, is from the north and was painted during the northern song dynasty (960-1127). Distant views of hills and streams is from the south and was painted during the southern song dynasty (1127-1279). Order of dynasties: (in bold are the ones on the exam) Dao de jing (tao te ching) is the book of daoism, it defines the ideas that life should be lived in accordance with natural law and has the primary focus of yin-yang.
