(佛教艺术的宝库—敦煌) 5 min read From the 4th to the 14th centuries CE, the city of Dunhuang (敦煌), in northwest China, stood at a critical junction on the ancient Silk Road—a network of trade routes connecting China with Central and West Asia. To the east, the Silk Road led more than 1,500 kilometers to China’s […]
Dunhuang—the Crown Jewel of Buddhist Art Read More »
(年画的魅力) 3 min read One of the traditional practices for celebrating the Chinese New Year is decorating one’s home with New Year woodblock prints known as nianhua (年画). Blending folk art, popular belief, and cultural symbolism, nianhua has remained popular for more than a millennium and continues to be appreciated today. Symbolic motifs
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(画里的秘密) 3 min read The painting Night Revelry of Han Xizai (韩熙载夜宴图) is set in the waning years of the Southern Tang dynasty (937–975), a time of political instability and impending crisis. It was commissioned by Li Yu (李煜, 937–978), ruler of the Southern Tang, who considered appointing Han Xizai (韩熙载) chancellor after ascending
The Painting with a Secret Plot Read More »
(魏晋墓砖画的生活写照) 4 min read In the vast desert 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Jiayuguan (嘉峪关)—which shares its name with the western terminus of the Great Wall—lies a complex of more than 1,400 underground tombs decorated with painted bricks from the Wei and Jin Dynasties (魏晋), dating from the 3rd to the 5th
A Window into the Daily Life in the Wei-Jin Period Read More »
(永乐宫传世之宝) 4 min read Construction of the Yongle Palace (永乐宫), a Daoist temple (道观), started in 1247 during the early Yuan Dynasty to worship Lü Dongbin (吕洞宾, born 796), one of Daosim’s Eight Immortals (八仙). The construction, including the creation of the murals inside the temple, took a total of 110 years and the
Timeless Treasures of the Yongle Palace Read More »
(中西合璧的香港美食) 5 min read Hong Kong—a British colony between 1842 and 1997—has retained its international image since it was handed back to China. Given the city’s multicultural influence, it is no surprise that some of its foods, even dishes that seem indigenous, are actually a fusion between east and west. At the center of
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