Bamboo is a favorite topic for Chinese painting. In Chinese symbology, bamboo, plum, pine are called the three friends in bitter winter. They symbolize perseverance of a scholar in adverse environment. Bamboo is also honored for its hollow core, which symbolizes humbleness and modesty. The nodes of bamboo called "jie" in Chinese is also the same word for loyalty and faithfulness. Not the least, bamboo has many utilities in construction(scaffold), utencils (chopsticks, baskets) etc. The use of bamboo in basket making is one of the oldest handcrafts around.

In Chinese painting, the artist has to plan well first and once the ink touches the paper, there is no hesitation or correction possible. Painting bamboo is especially demanding in that the strokes have to be straight and determined, also an expression of the discipline of the artist. The shades and light of the bamboo stalk are expresed by laying the brush on the side with more water on the tip than the base of the brush hair. This technique requires a lot of practice to give a three dimensional look.

The telephone company lost my DSL connection for the Internet for two weeks. So I am behind with a lot of work.
Finally, I was able to connect again. Will post my comments on these and other topics by this weekend.

Excellent response and very comprehensive.

Dear Richard

We have discussed about Printing in China before. I cannot recall the actual posts, but I will repost what I have saved in my computer file. The idea of the printing press passing from China to the West via the Arabs is now under debate. However, the technique of paper making is documented as having been extracted by the Arabs from the Chinese prisoners-of-war, and then passed by the Arabs to the Europeans. Prior to the Arabs knowing of paper making, they were importing paper from China, most certainly a lucrative business.

Although the Chinese are notorious for keeping Kungfu techniques and food recipes to their immediate families, printing was certainly not one of these secrets. Foreigners, such as the Japanese, who cared to learn from the Chinese, were always able to acquire the technique of tea cultivation, silk and paper manufacture and printing from the Chinese. The ancient Chinese were able to share, throughout their empire, many discoveries and inventions e.g. gunpowder, magnet, mapping, coinage, harness and yoke, cast iron, carpentry joints, astern rudder; but foreigners who viewed the Chinese with amusement, mysticism, inscrutability and sometimes antagonism, would certainly not gain their trust and sharing. In the US, the Chinese have for a long time been called Celestials.

Although slower than the latter Western printing press, the Chinese wooden printing press, far from being impractical, was quick in production. Each carved non-movable wooden block could be done in a day, while the movable blocks could be assembled quickly by the expert. Each Chinese character is like a word, so there is no need to assemble the letters. Although there are thousands of Chinese characters, most commonly used ones number 5000. The characters can be assembled in groups by their radicals ³¡­º (bushou) to facilitate the assembling of the Chinese characters. Chinese typographing is certainly more time consuming compared to Gutenberg using 27 Romanised alphabetical letters, but it served the Chinese literati of the day.

I append below my post in CTB some months ago:

"There was a discussion on Chinese wood block printing some time last year. I remember Dr. Siu-Leung Lee mentioning a recent news write-up of the earliest movable wood block in China. Prof. Pei has a good section of the world's earliest printed book called 'The Diamond Sutra' plus other printed works in:
http://www.chinapage.org/print1.html
http://www.chinapage.org/print2.html.

The discovery of printing could only follow the invention of the easily manufactured paper sheets by the eunuch, Cai Lun ½²­Û , in AD 105. In his prototype, he used bark, hemp, rags and fine old fish net and pounded them up before layering. This was unlike the papyrus paper invented earlier by the Egyptians. Recently, the earliest paper fragments in China, made from raw silk, were found in the Gobi desert and dated back to second or third centuries BCE.

Jacques Gernet's "A history of Chinese Civilization" (Cambridge Press ISBN 0-521-49781-7) mentioned that the first wood block print was dated between AD 764-770 in the form of Buddhist pictures discovered in Dunhuang (Gansu Province of China). The Diamond Sutra, also discovered in Dunhuang, but now in the British Museum, is a complete text dated AD 868. Gernet wrote that Shen Kuo ²`¬A noted in his book ¹ÚµE·Ëµ§½Í in 1086, on the history of science and technology, that a protege, Bi Sheng ²¦ª@ , was the inventor of the movable characters around 1041-1048. Gernet also wrote that at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Matteo Ricci (Catholic priest in China) noticed that wood-block printers in China took no more time to engrave their blocks that the European typographers took to compose their page."

We must also remember that long before the wood blocks, the Chinese also engraved on stone, and the words or pictures engraved when dusted with ink, could be imprinted on paper or cloth by rubbing. This was used to reproduce famous literary and religious writings as well as pharmacological (herbal) pres-crip-tions for the common people. It is still a good method for the reproduction of calligraphic works.

You can read the history of printing in: http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/print.html.

(Ming, I wonder whether it is possible to index each post by number, as well as create a supporting side inventory for topics with the relevant numbered posts, so that it will be easier to search for a certain topic.)

Ever since this website started more than six years ago, I have been worried about which system of romanization of Chinese words to use.
Without an editorial policy, it is chaotic.
I believe that it is time (or past the time) to standardize on Pinyin as the preferred method for this website.
I am writing a working paper to outline my position. I welcome your opinion and urge you to tell me what you think. I specially urge many of the readers who do not write in this space to write a few words on this topic.

Dear William

Colors still play a big part in Chinese culture. The red color in present day China, like Red Guard, Red Book, Red Flag and Red Army, is related to Communism and not Chinese culture. To the traditional Chinese, red is the primary auspicious color symbolizing sincerity, loyalty, bravery, good fortune, and happiness. It is the color of blood, and of life; being associated with the yang force, the positive, the male and hence vibrant as well as protective against evil.

Red is also the color of festivals and enjoyment. During the Chinese New Year, the Chinese give money in little red packets for good luck to their children. Red crackers are exploded to the din of gongs and a red lion dance, showering the front door entrance with little red cracker paper to drive away bad luck. On either side of the door way will be a pasted red vertical paper with Chinese characters, the pair forming a couplet or dui lian Œ¦? invoking good fortune. Invitation cards are red, as are Chinese New Year cards. In South China, esp. Guangdong, of the three gods, Fu Lu Shou,¸£?‰Û (Fortune, Emolument and Longevity) Lu has a red robe indicating position and wealth, whilst Fu wears green and Shou wears yellow or white. Hence, red is also for wealth.

The protection offered by red color can be seen in the red walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing. In the Shang Dynasty, the red mineral, cinnabar, was placed in tombs as an offering. Papercuts are in red, warding off the evil spirits as well as giving luck and brightening the atmosphere. The double Xi ϲϲ happiness character is always cut on red paper and pasted on banners or even cakes during a marriage. In ancient times, the bride, dressed in red with a red veil covering her face, was carried in a red bridal chair. At night, she slept with her husband under a red blanket. Redness had conferred protection and blessed her with good luck. Later, her newborn will be dressed in red at one month and at one year, as well as on festive occasions.

Drums in ancient China were painted red, the oldest found in mid 1980 was dated about four thousand years old. Ancient s-crip-ts indicated that human blood was rubbed onto drums to give it supernatural effect. During the Qing Dynasty, children who had survived smallpox infection had their hair queue tied with a small red cloth at its end. This was to inform the Old Fairy Goddess ÏɹÃÀÏÌ« not to give them another infection, though medically this was not necessary, since they already had natural immunity from the previous infection.

The Chinese Emperor in his ritual ceremony would honor the sun by wearing red, the moon by white, the heaven by blue and the earth by yellow. During the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial color was red, and the palace, clothes, carriages and flags were all in red. The imperial color for the Qin Dynasty was white, Han was black, Ming was green and Qing was yellow. During the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, red formed one of the Eight Banners of the Imperial Army. In the Chinese opera, the red face indicate a sacred character or loyal person e.g. Guan Gong (Guan Yu, the sworn brother of Liu Bei in the Three Kingdom Period).

The Phoenix was called the Red Bird of the South, being one of the four super-intelligent animals, the other three being the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger and the Black Tortoise. It was the symbol of the Chinese Empress, as the Dragon was the symbol of the Chinese Emperor. The Red Bird rose from the ashes of the flame and ruled the south with the warmth of the sun and a good harvest. However, under the Nine Essences of Fuxi, the color Red is associated with a Western direction and the element gold.

There are many Chinese characters for the different shades of red such as hong ¼t, chi ³à, zhu Öì, dan µ¤. The character red has many idiomatic expressions, and many are well explained in English by Wolfram Eberhard in his "Times Dictionary of Chinese Symbols" ISBN 981 01 3718 4, Pub. Federal Publications. The pigment for coloring red came from cinnabar, iron oxide or a schrub called Rubia cordifolia. In fact, one word for red, zhu Öì has a left oblique atroke and a horizontal stroke added to wood ľ, indicating pigment for that red shade of color was extracted from a tree or shrub.

The color red was also used by some secret societies or rebel groups to offer them protection against disaster. The Red Eyebrows Rebels started as a peasant band which grew in strength, finally defeating and executing the usurper, Wang Mang, in AD 23. The Red Turbans, started as a group of rebels in 1340 protesting against the forced labour and cons-crip-tion at the Yellow River and Grand Canal during the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. It joined up with the White Lotus Society in 1351 and helped the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang to consolidate his power base to overthrow the Mongols. Zhu then dissociated from the Red Turbans by denouncing the Red Turbans aim of restoring the past Song Dynasty. He then founded his own dynasty in 1368. In the 1920s, there was a Red Spear Society in Henan, Hebei and Shandong with their own militia. Li Dazhao tried to win the members over to the Communist Party of China.

(If you cannot read the Chinese characters correctly, please go to View, then Encoding, then Others, then Chinese Simplified.)

For unknown reasons, there are very few photos of him in print. Movies do not count.

Sorry you have made the same old mistake again! You have used the one single word not allowed here. I have sent you email about this before. Nothing new.

When you post a longish text, here is my suggestion. Do you type into this space directly. Instead, use any word processor, for example, Word Pad, which comes with Windows.
After you have finished typing, use the "find" command of Word Pad to find the forbidden word.

You may either save the file, or use "copy" and "paste" to paste it into this space.

Some of his paintings can be seen at the puru.html page of this website.

You have a fine book of paintings. The title of this book is "YongBaoZhai's book of paintings"
YongBaoZhai is the name of a premier printer located in Baijing that specializes in reproductions of Art books and painting. The best are hand produced and said to be almost identical to the original.

As S.L. pointed out, the page you showed is a painting by Pu XinYu, a famous painter.

The art work of the book's cover is done as calligraphy by Qi BaiShi. It merely gives the title of the book. This is not a book on or about Qi BaiShi.

  China in Ancient and Modern Maps

by Ancient Map Research Team (Compiler)

          



Paperback - (June 1999) 288 pages 





Table of Contents



Authors' note 

Foreword 

List of Chinese dynasties 

List of maps 

Introduction 

THE MAPS 

Warring States Period 475 --- 221 BC 

Western Han Dynasty 206 BC --- AD 25 

Eastern Han Dynasty AD 25 --- 220 

Northern Wei Dynasty AD 386 --- 534 

Tang Dynasty AD 618 --- 907 

Five Dynasties AD 907 --- 960 

Northern Song Dynasty AD 960 --- 1127 

Southern Song Dynasty 1127 --- 1279 

Jin Dynasty 1115 --- 1234 

Yuan Dynasty 1279 --- 1368 

Ming Dynasty 1368 --- 1644 

Qing Dynasty 1644 --- 1911 

Select chronology of cartography in China 



Judging from the Table of Contents, it must be an very interesting book!



SL gave us a good website in Hongkong, for people interested in Cartography.



There is a short page here www.chinapage.org/map.html with mostly maps of modern China. 



I have not seen other maps on the Internet.

Dear Kevin

I am not as scholarly or as exploratory of websites as Prof. Pei or Dr. S.L. Lee. However, I have a beautiful book in English on ancient Chinese maps published by Sotheby's Publication called "China: In Ancient and Modern Maps" ISBN 0 85667 413 3 pub. 1998 Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. The pictures were taken from maps in Beijing Library and various Chinese libraries and museums, as well as from the British museum. Since the map photos are under copyright, it is not appropriate for me to scan them into the Internet.

The first map entry in the book dated aroung 300 BC was a bronze-plate map inlaid with gold and silver threads from Hebei. It was unearthed from the mausoleum of King Xi of Zhongshan between 1974-78. The second entry in the book was a set of seven Qin kingdom maps dated around 299 BC made of lines drawn on pinewood boards. They were unearthed in 1986 in Tianshui Fangmatan at Gansu showing villages, hills, streams, valleys and passes. Other maps Before Common Era (BC) were those of the Western Han Dynasty, one topographic in silk, one military in silk and one astronomical in woodcut. The rest of the maps were After Common Era (AD) and may not interest you.

If you can get hold of this book, you can see the ancient maps with quite discernable Chinese characters. Hope this can be helpful to your cartological quest.

Tin-Kay

The book cover has calligraphy of Qi Bai Shi, a famous painter, but the picture inside is by Pu Xin Yu, another artist.

My stepfather went in china for affair many years ago( he was a famous italian movie-director) Then he was there in the 50's........

after his death I found a book ... it's a fine book divided in two volumes

I asked many persons about it ...the only thing I know is that is something about Qi Baishi

I've sent you the cover , some images and one of the many paintings

if you could be so gentle to tell me something

best wishes

Paolo frattari

via f. mastrigli , 24

00189 Roma

Italy

You can view their webpage at overseas ranking and visit the top 60 popular Chinese websites.

Thanks for the poems. I shall add them to the Silk Road Poems page. I am interested in collecting them, as there do not seem to be much written about the Silk Road elsewhere.

Glad to hear about your social studies project about China. You are not the only one doing this, as I have gotten emails very often. So much so I have wanted to write a web page just for you and others like you. But that is awaiting a teacher who will colaborate.

There are really a lot of information on the Net - more than you think. Take a little time to search.

Just at this website, China the Beautiful, you might find a good deal from the Homepage by clicking on:
quotations, story/parable, emperor, dragons, silkroad, 'A is for Love', and others.

There is one website which I recommend highly. It is by thinkquest.org At this site, you will find webpages written by other students. Search the site with the keyword 'China' and you will spend an entire evening browsing.

Come back from time to time and visit us.

I can supply you with plenty of poems about the silk road. However, many of them in Tang dynasty still indicate ethnic conflict was very strong. Yumen Guan was considered a military watershed between "China" and the western tribes.

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Tao Qian's poem "Begging for Food" is in this website. Tao Yuanming Page

As for Li Qingzhao's Ci, there is a book of her complete works, together with English translations, written by Lucy Chow. The book is most likely out-of-print. If you are serious about acquiring a copy, send me an email, and I will try to get in touch with the authoress for you.

In Lu Xun's diary of a madman, the concept of 'chi ren' is allegorical, and should not be taken literally. Doing so would miss the point of the whole story entirely.

May I suggest that we discuss this topic in our other Discussion Board (Yahoo Club), and leave this space open for general questions, etc. I shall post my views as well as other associated issues there.

'In 1896, the Chinese American dish chop suey was invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang.'

This report agrees with my earlier post dated August 15, 2000. I did not know that exact date of invention was August 29,1896. But I did remember reading about the rest of the story.

It is hard to believe that they can pinpoint the date down to exactly August 29, 1896. Perhaps the event was reported in the newspapers in August 1896. Worthy of a research project for some real energetic student!

I added these two poems to the Du Fu's Poetry page. Thanks for posting them. The English translation is interesting. Who's the translator?

Here is the other poem you requested:
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