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The author at the site of Chinese New Year' s fair in rural Shaauxi.
The author at the site of"Yu Zhu Long" (Jade Dragon with a Pig Head) excavated from the Liaohe Basin.
Hong Shan culture "Yu Zhu Long"(Jade Dragon with a Pig Head)from the primitive society. |
 | In the early 1970s, I left the College of Fine Arts where I had been a teacher for many years and went to live in Yan'an, a loess plateau on the middle to upper stream of the Yellow River. This was the home base for my research on Chinese folk art. Rich with glorious historical culture, this place had kept its long-standing cultural tradition due to generations of self-enclosed culture and years of underdeveloped transportation. As a result, the native Chinese culture was by and large well maintained. In my 13 years working in the Yan'an Primary Art Museum and the Commission of Antiques Management, I had the chance to conduct on-site research in folk art, fork custom and culture, and an overall study and exploration of archaeological culture. The first-hand study of folk culture and customs, as well as its intersection with archaeological culture and historical /legendary documents, helped me get in-depth in the study of Chinese cultural and philosophical origins. From there, I went on to the Yangtze River valley, the Liaohe basin, and the Pearl River valley, then covered the entire country from Xinjiang to Shandong to Taiwan, from Heilongjiang to Hainan Island. In the 1990s, I traveled further, to India, Pakistan, West Asia, Turkey, Egypt and Greece, Italy, and other parts of the European and American continent, continuing my research on folk culture and archaeological and historical cultures. Putting Chinese folk culture and its cultural and philosophical origin against the larger cultural background of all mankind, I shifted my study to mankind's common cultural consciousness, and the original features of individual national cultures and philosophies.
When I reached the mountain village on the loess plateau, I found Chinese folk arts in the forms of paper- cutting, embroidery and floury flower every where. Some were representations of animals, such as the turtle, the snake, the fish and the frog; and some were half-human, half- animal: a human face on a turtle's body or on the body of a snake, frog or fish. There were also wholly humanized fairies. These art works embraced the development and transformation of totem culture through three phases from matriarchal society- to patriarchal society. I felt as if I were in a world of totem culture, visiting the cultural center of a tribe of ancient times. The design of a pair of fish with human faces found on painted pottery and the "fish net" code from the 6000-year-old Yangshao culture unearthed in Banpo of Xi'an, Shaanxi, are still quite popular in the rural area here. The designs remain among the people as symbols of the god of life and propagation, a symbol of with supernatural power.
Likewise, the color painting "Dancing dolls," with five babies hand-in-hand on painted pottery from the 5000-year- old Majiayao culture unearthed in Qinghai Province on the middle-upper reaches of the Yellow fiver, is also a popular paper-cut in today's folk art and customs. The five dolls (representing fairies from five directions - east, west, north, south and the center) are regarded as patron saints of the baby with coiled hair, who drives away evil spirits. The excavated antiques couldn't speak, but the old grandmother still living in the caves on the loess plateau gave a detailed explanation: in today's customs, people still follow the same cultural codes from 5000-6000 years ago.
After the Yellow river basin, I went on to the Yangtze river valley): When my journey reached Ping Village in the Hunan and Jiangxi countryside, mid-stream in the Yangtze River, the culture of exorcism was ubiquitous and overwhelming. There was an Exorcism (old temple for exorcism) every 5 # (2.5 kilometers); and a General (old temple for exorcism) every 10 li (5 kilometers). Face masks, rituals, dance and theatrical play were related to exorcism and dispelling evil, as well as to a humanized all-powerful god wearing ox horns who opened up the mountain at the beginning of the world. Once again, I felt lost in a world of totem culture going back into the ancient times.
According to historical record, this area used to be the center of the San Miao Jiu Li tribe headed by Chi You. Members of this tribe were known to wear bronze ox horn totem masks to appear as ox heads in human bodies. This was confirmed by the excavation of ox-horn bronze masks and the mould in the area. Later, when I was in Miao Village in the mountain area of Guizhou Province, upstream in the Yangtze river, I found the same culture of exorcism.
The Miao people who worshiped the ox totem believed that Chi You, the humanized god wearing ox-head on a human body, was their ancestor. His home was originally in the Hunan and Jiangxi area. In the wake of a defeat against the Yan Huang tribe, the Miao tribe migrated through a number of different regions to arrive in Guizhou. The fact that there was no Exorcism temple in Guizhou, nor unearthed bronze ox-horn masks and porcelain bases, proves this historical legend.
Existing customs are like live fossils in the study of Chinese cultural origins, and more specifically), Chinese folk art. Archaeologists conduct their studies based on excavated antiques and cultural relics; historians refer to written records and historical documents. However, antiques are silent and opinions on historical records and legends vary. It is often hard to differentiate falsity from truth. In the event that no antiques are unearthed or no historical are available, the study becomes suspended. As one of the four most ancient civilizations, China has followed a long, uninterrupted course of culture and tradition. With its multi-ethnic population, vast territory and other unique historical and geographical conditions, China's cultural relics, even those from ancient times, are still preserved in today's folk art, customs and culture. This is especially true in the areas where major tribes of primitive society lived and tribal culture first began. These tribes are the ancestors of ancient Chinese civilization. At the peak of tribal culture, both natural disasters and man-made catastrophes had dealt major damage to the ecology of the region. The area then became culturally enclosed with limited transportation to and from outside world, d As a result, Chinese culture and philosophy in their original tribal forms, such as represented in folk art, can still be found in today's society and cultural fife. Buried antiques cannot speak, but the living antiques speak for themselves.
As the fountain spring of the ideologies of a hundred schools of thought during the period of the Spring and Autumn War period, the original Chinese philosophical system continues to be the ideological base and core content of today's folk art. It remains intact, embedded in a varlet of art works, and pervades all aspects of people's social life.
The creators of Chinese folk art come from the working class masses of China's rural areas. They are mostly female laborers. A communal art, folk art would engender all of Chinese literature and all later art. Its presence is evident in everyday food, clothing, shelter and transportation; in traditional festivals, ceremonies and rituals, and in beliefs and taboos. As a living example of cultural heritage, it shows the confinuit3" of Chinese culture from primitive society to present, a culture that bears distinct national and geographical characteristics. With this heritage, Chinese culture boasts the longest history and the richest historical sources, and of all cultures, considers itself the most widely shared and the most geographically distinct. Its cultural implication and art form accumulate a historical culture of over 7000-8000 years dating back to primitive societ3". Its values extend far beyond the art itself; it embodies values deeply rooted in philosophy, aesthetics, art, archaeology, history, and the study of the social sciences, the humanities, and nations. Chinese folk art also exhibits the entire nation's philosophical viewpoint, cultural ideology, emotional and psychological makings.
Life and propagation are the basic instincts of all living things in the universe. Human consciousness of life and propagation is at the heart of the ideology of yin-yang. Simplified, yin-yang revolves around the belief that the composition of yin-yang creates life, which, through propagation, never ends. This is the view of the universe in original Chinese philosophy, first developed in primitive society 6000-7000 years ago. Like the passing of human heritage by biological genes, the passing of national culture from one age to another also depends on cultural genes preserved from a nation's cultural and philosophical origin. Chinese folk art is an example of such cultural inheritance. This book will thus introduce and interpret folk art from that perspective. |
