Unit 6 Chinese Inventions, Art, and Culture

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Unit 6 Chinese Inventions, Art, and Culture
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Inventions

• Gunpowder- explosives, weapons, and fireworks
  changed wars page 485
• Perfected the magnetic compass used in navigation
• Paper which led to an invention for printing
  books woodblock printing, then moveable type
• Led to paper currency

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The Culture of the Chinese

• A prosperous economy of the Tang and Song
  Dynasties allowed for a rich culture filled with
  the arts.
• Paintings, statues, temples, ceramics,
  calligraphy, and poetry were among their skills.
• The Song saw the triumph and success of Chinese
  landscape painting.

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• Calligraphy
• artistic handwriting took pride in their
  handwriting
• Porcelain
• Tang Dynasty perfected the art of making
  porcelain ceramic made of fine clay that is
  baked at a very high temperature

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• Tang Dynasty known as the Great Age of Poetry
• Expressed a Daoist appreciation of the world-
  beauty of nature, changes of seasons, and joys of
  friendship
• Song Dynasty known for Landscape Paintings
• Did not try to portray places exactly- tried to
  capture the idea of mountains, lakes, and other
  scenes
• Left spaces on purpose- to express the Daoists
  belief that a person cannot know the whole truth
  about something people are also shown as small
  figures (part of nature, but dont control it)

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Chinese Landscape Painting- page 487

• Sought balance and harmony through the mastery of
  simple stokes and lines
• Deep rooted in the Daoist tradition
• Sought to capture the spiritual essence of the
  natural world
• Felt that in order to paint you must have a
  harmonious relationship between heaven and earth.
• Landscape artists often included misty
  mountains, delicate bamboo forests, lively scenes
  of city life, flowing streams, dark woods,
  rushing waterfalls, and wild horses in their
  paintings.
• Example Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

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Assignment

• Your job is to create a Chinese landscape
  painting.
• You will be graded on
• How accurate your subject matter is
• The title of your painting
• Creativity
• How well you incorporate the concept of balance
  and harmony into your painting