China goes into the deep past. It is distinguished by the wealth of spiritual and material values, as well as great vitality. Numerous rebellions, wars and destruction committed by the conquerors did not break or weaken this civilization, did not destroy its basic values ​​and ideals.

Throughout history, the culture of ancient China tried to maintain its solidity and not lose activity. Each era left behind a huge legacy of original, diverse and unique in beauty and craftsmanship monuments. Creations of painting, architecture, architecture and crafts are priceless artifacts of the cultural heritage of this country.

Culture of ancient China briefly

Architecture

Along with the penetration of Buddhism into the territory of China (VI century BC), religious buildings - pagodas and rock monasteries - begin to appear here. They consist of several hundred small and large grottoes located in the thickness of the rock.

Since 1127, the first palaces, temples and monasteries have been built. They are built mainly from wood, bamboo, clay, reed.

During the reign of the Han emperor, burial complexes decorated with paintings, reliefs and statues of mythological animals were actively erected.

Many architectural structures in China have one thing in common - these are raised corners of the roof, as a result of which the roof seems to be slightly bent.

Sculpture

The emergence of this type of art is associated with the development of handicrafts. The Chinese create ceramic products and decorate them with colorful paintings in the form of nets, spirals and shells. Ritual vessels, funerary urns and other items also appear.

The appearance of sculptures, items made of stone and bone, as well as bronze vessels decorated with gold and precious stones, is attributed to the 2nd century BC. BC. In the 4th century BC active production of porcelain and lacquer products begins.

The artistic culture of ancient China reflects the main spiritual values ​​of Confucianism and Taoism:

• spiritual perfection.
• The closeness of nature and man.
• Search for harmony in natural phenomena (animals, flowers, trees).

These ideals contributed to the formation of a unique culture of ancient China, permeated with the ideas of a harmonious combination of the surrounding world and man. This is reflected in both calligraphy and painting.

In the traditional culture of China, writing is considered as a separate area of ​​aesthetics and ethics, because the individual peculiar writing of hieroglyphs reflects the emotional experiences of the author. From time immemorial, calligraphic writings have been given magical significance, which is why they are kept in every home. The Chinese believe that the hieroglyph is an ideal model for a work of art, as it combines simplicity of form, symbolism, depth and rigor.

One of the highest achievements of the culture of this country is painting on a scroll. This new art form is completely freed from the decorative function, it is created exclusively for contemplation. The main genres in which they wrote on the scroll are portraits (everyday, historical), landscape, and the “flowers and birds” genre.

The Chinese portrait combines realistic authenticity and symbolism, slightly bordering on caricature. The paintings are distinguished by the fact that each object depicted on it is deeply symbolic. A flower, tree, bird or animal characterizes a certain poetic image. So the pine symbolizes longevity, the stork - holiness and loneliness, and the bamboo - happiness and stamina. Traditional landscapes were created in the form of an elongated one, which helped to create a feeling of vast space.

All works of ancient Chinese art carry a moral meaning and the idea of ​​human self-improvement, encouraging one to admire the beauty of nature and the skillful work of a master. Apparently, therefore, the beauty and expressiveness that the culture of ancient China carries in itself delights connoisseurs of beauty. It opens up a new vision of the world and a new aesthetic.

woodcut printing was invented using engraving boards, in the eleventh century a method of printing with interchangeable type was invented. Modern Chinese, as in former times, reverently treat the written word. It is believed that in modern Chinese there are about 80 thousand characters, 3.5 thousand are commonly used, in order to read a newspaper you need to know about 5 thousand characters. In ancient China, paper, ink, ink pot and brush were called the four noble jewels.

Artistic culture of China

Chinese art reached its peak as early as the 3rd century BC. – 3rd century AD In China, the principles of regular urban planning were formed, the houses of the nobility were decorated exquisitely and magnificently. Inlaid copper mirrors, furniture decorated with tortoise shells and lacquer paintings, all kinds of carved wood and stone items, and musical instruments were widely used.

During this period of time, the most grandiose structure in China was built - the Great Wall of China, the length of which in the completed version was more than 3000 km. No less impressive than this monument are the funerary crypts of the Chinese nobility, which constituted entire complexes consisting of many rooms. The "alley of spirits" usually led to them, on both sides of which statues of winged lions most often stood. In 1974, the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was excavated. Statues of 6,000 warriors with weapons and armor, sometimes on horseback or war chariots (3rd century BC) were found in it.

Together with Buddhism, new elements of monumental architecture appeared in China, the construction of cave monasteries and multi-tiered pagodas began. These structures were closely connected with the landscape. Communication was emphasized by terraces, galleries, bridges. The beauty of nature and man-made buildings formed a harmonious whole. Chinese landscape parks are a special aspect of Chinese artistic culture, which is the subject of many treatises.

The artistic culture of China has absorbed the values ​​associated with the development of Taoism and Confucianism.

The Taoist tradition played a role in the popularization of mythologemes, which were the basis for the development of Chinese art. Models mountain-tree, water are archetypal for all types and genres of Chinese artistic culture: landscape lyrics, landscape painting, landscape garden art. The mountains are perceived as the magical mountains of Kunlun, where the Taoist deities of immortality live. Nature is perceived as a manifestation of the universal Tao, as the embodiment of eternity and infinity of the cycle of natural processes, as the personification of the beauty of the world. All images of Chinese art can be interpreted in three senses: in the archaic-mythological, Taoist-religious and philosophical-aesthetic sense. So, for example: a mountain, a ridge, a lonely block of stone, are synonyms

magical mountains Kunlun, the embodiment of the masculine principle of the world, the embodiment of eternity to nature; water in the form of a river, a stream, a closed reservoir is the embodiment of the cosmic flow of Tao, or the image of the mythical rivers that surround Kunlun and make it inaccessible to everyone. A stream is a synonym for a ladder, climbing which marks a person’s departure from the vain world and his familiarization with naturalness. The closed reservoir symbolizes the jade pond in the Kunlun Mountains.

The main genre of Chinese painting is the genre of Shan Shui "mountains". Depicted on horizontal and vertically oriented ingots, album sheets, fans. This is a traditional Chinese landscape depicting mountains, rivers, water streams. Works of this genre are made with mineral paints or black ink, the washes of which allow you to create subtle gradations of color. All visual devices are raised to the power of a symbol. The next traditional genre is called Hua-niao "flower-bird". These are free compositions of motifs of flowers, birds, plants, fruits, insects, as if snatched from life and placed on a clean background, accompanied by a calligraphic inscription that complements the meaning of the image. Great success was achieved by the Chinese in the traditional Zhen-hua genre "painting people". The image was made on scrolls, screens, album sheets and was dedicated to the spiritual and social life of a person: they were mainly portraits, illustrative and edifying painting and narrative-religious. The genre comes from the ribbon-like funerary reliefs and murals of the 1st-3rd centuries, reflecting the ideas of Confucianism. Here we find pictures of manners and customs, characters of the Taoist-Buddhist pantheon, ceremonial and funeral portraits. The heyday of this genre falls on the 7th - 11th centuries.

One of the first places among all the arts of China can be put poetry. The most ancient example of Chinese poetry is the Shi Ching (book of songs). It is part of the "Pentateuch", which, in addition to it, includes the "Shu-ching" (book of history). It contains the conversations of the sages about the essence of state government and the facts of Chinese history from the legendary ruler Yao to the rulers of the Zhou era. "I-Ching" contains three grams and hexagrams necessary for fortune telling, "Chun-qiu" (book of spring

And autumn) contains a chronicle of events that took place in the homeland of Confucius from the 8th to 5th centuries BC.

The Four Books contains the canonical books "Lun-yu" (arguments

And conversations). This book expounds Confucius's views on morality, ethics, and government, and is accompanied by the book"Da-xue" (great doctrine), which contains the ideas of Confucius about the rules of self-improvement of a person, necessary for relationships in the state and family; "Zhong-yun" (observance of the middle) and "Mengzi" named after the philosopher, follower of Confucius.

These books were part of the basic education system of the Chinese. Lyric poetry in China reached its peak in the 4th-3rd centuries BC.

The main literary genres were formed: qi - song-type poems, which were created as texts on melody; fu - poems in prose of different sizes, with or without rhyme; sun - odes with a short and expressive style; xu - preface to poems and odes; zazuan - works about human actions.

The Tang period is considered to be the golden age of poetry, during which the poet who sang the beauty and perfection of nature, Wang Wei, worked.

Conclusion

In the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese culture is the cultural dominant for the countries of the Far East (Korea, Japan and neighboring countries of Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam).

This role of China is manifested in the borrowing by these countries of hieroglyphic writing and the leading ideological systems of China, Confucianism and Taoism. China served as an area for the spread of Buddhism in the Far East and a place for the formation of a special tradition compared to the Indian creed, which formed the basis of Korean and Japanese Buddhism.

Chinese statehood also influenced these countries, their socio-political structure, which was modeled on China, and the system of their official ideology.

China influenced the socio-political thought of these countries, their artistic literature, fine and decorative arts.

Chinese origins have such phenomena as the Japanese tea ceremony and the art of the dwarf garden.

Federal Agency for Education

State educational institution of higher professional education

"Ural State Pedagogical University"

Faculty of Music and Art Education

Department of Art Education

Course work

History of artistic culture and education

Ancient China

Executor:

Chelkaev Anton Valdisovich

2nd year student, 203 groups

Scientific adviser:

Tikhonova Elena Vadimovna

Yekaterinburg, 2010

Introduction

Chapter I. History of the Development of Artistic Culture and Education in Ancient China

1.1 Culture and way of life in different periods of development of Ancient China

2.1 general characteristics artistic culture of ancient China

2.2 Sculpture of Ancient China

2.3 Literature of Ancient China

2.4 Chinese painting

Chapter III. The peculiarity of art education in ancient China

3.1 Religion and mythology of ancient China

3.2 Philosophy of Ancient China

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

One of the oldest civilizations that existed for millennia and retained, despite all the cataclysms, its integrity and originality, was the Chinese civilization, which was formed in the basin of the Huang He and Yangtze rivers.

The great culture of China over the course of three and a half millennia in its development has repeatedly outstripped the culture of other countries: it was the Chinese who gave mankind the art of paper making, invented printing, created gunpowder and invented the compass. The development of Chinese culture is striking in its unusually consistent striving for the improvement of human thought.

Many peoples of East Asia contributed to the general culture of China, who lived on its territory and created original cultures, the synthesis of which over the centuries gave rise to that unique phenomenon called Chinese civilization. Only from the end of the III millennium BC. the leading role in this synthesis of the Han people is determined, which gave the name to the people who created the greatest civilization of antiquity.

The name "Han" or "Hanzhen" (this is how the Chinese call themselves) comes from the name of the huge despotic empire of the late antiquity - Han (202 BC). And the name of its predecessor - Qin goes back to the European names of China since antiquity: Latin - sinae, French - chine, English - china.

The ancient society on the territory of China was a closed social and multi-ethnic complex with patterns inherent in all ancient societies and key milestones in the interaction of various ethnic groups and ways:

II-I millennium BC - the emergence of the state, the Shang (Yin) period;

XI-VIII centuries BC - the state of Zhou (Western Zhou);

VIII-VI centuries. BC - the period of "many kingdoms" (Lego);

5th-3rd centuries BC - the era of "warring states" (Zhan Guo);

3rd century BC-II c. AD - Qin and Han empires;

3rd-6th centuries AD - the period of the "Three Kingdoms".

Chinese culture of all times has developed in the context of various contradictions within the country, the establishment of domination and enslavement of China by capitalist states.

Until the beginning of the XIX century. the Chinese did not have the opportunity to compare their culture with any culture of other countries, since they knew little about the outside world. Europeans were called "overseas devils" and put on the same level as sea robbers. The Chinese lived rather apart and did not depend on the outside world either spiritually or materially. They produced in their vast empire everything necessary for life, the teachings of Confucius were considered an indisputable truth.

The purpose of this work is to study the features of the development of the history of artistic culture and art education in Ancient China

Describe the history of artistic culture and education of Ancient China

Describe the features of art education in Ancient China (philosophy, mythology, religion and their influence on schooling)

Chinese culture is really very interesting and diverse. It is very different from our culture and often incomprehensible to us, but this only makes it more and more desirable to study.

ChapterI. The history of the development of artistic culture and education of ancient China

1.1 Culture and way of life in different periods of development of Ancient China

The history of China, recorded in written sources, is about 3600 years old and dates back to the Shang Dynasty, which was founded in the 16th century BC.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in the valley of the Yellow River, the first Chinese state arose under the rule of the Shang-Yin dynasty. The remains of the capitals of the Shan kingdom, discovered in the province of Henan, near the cities of Anyana, Yakshi and Zhen-zhou, show that the cities had a regular, geometrically clear layout, were surrounded by an adobe wall that protected both from enemy invasions and from floods. For example, the capital wall near Zhenzhou was a powerful structure 6 meters thick and 2 kilometers long. The central area of ​​the "Great Shan City" located near Anyang was 6 square meters. km, the palace of its ruler was located on the main highway.

Many features of the material culture of the Shang-Yin period indicate its genetic links with the Neolithic tribes that inhabited the Yellow River basin in the 3rd century BC. BC e. We observe considerable similarities in ceramics, the nature of agriculture and the use of agricultural implements. However, at least three major developments are characteristic of the Shang-Yin period: the use of bronze, the emergence of cities, and the appearance of writing.

During the Shang (Yin) dynasty, monumental construction and, in particular, urban planning were developed. Cities (approximately 6 sq. km in size) were built according to a certain plan, with monumental buildings of the palace-temple type, with handicraft quarters, and bronze casting workshops.

Samples of the oldest poetic works have come down to us in the inscriptions on bronze vessels of the 11th-6th centuries. BC e. The rhymed texts of this time have a certain resemblance to songs. They consolidated the historical, moral, aesthetic, religious and artistic experience acquired over the millennia of previous development.

During the Shang-Yin dynasty, sericulture and silk weaving reached a high level of development, divinatory fortune-telling bones appeared, on which there are signs made with the help of drilling, and bronze vessels.

By the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. On the territory of China, a number of independent states developed, which fought among themselves. The strongest of them was Zhou. The reign of the Zhou dynasty, which lasted from the 11th to the 3rd century. BC e., brought a lot of new things to the cultural life of China. During this period, the first collection of poems was created - "Shijing" ("Book of Songs"), and a treatise on architecture "Zhou-li" appeared, which outlined the basic rules for planning cities, providing for the construction of palaces and laying wide highways.

Significant shifts in the cultural life of the country took place in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., during the period that went down in history under the name Zhan Guo - "Warring States" (V-III centuries BC), when the state of Zhou lost its unity. The discovery of copper and iron deposits played a decisive role in the rise of the country's economy at that time. Improved agricultural implements, improved soil cultivation. New cities sprang up and new crafts developed. Lively trade arose between the cities, coins appeared in circulation. Chinese scientists began to summarize the first information obtained from observations of nature. In the 7th century BC e. the first Chinese lunisolar calendar was created, and in the 4th century. BC e. star catalogue. There was a need for a philosophical understanding of knowledge about nature. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. there are many different philosophical currents, which are called "one hundred schools". The oldest of the teachings were Confucianism and Taoism.

Among the numerous scientific directions there was an agricultural school (nongjia). Books devoted to the theory and practice of agriculture contain essays that describe the methods and methods of cultivating soil and crops, storing food, breeding silkworms, fish and edible turtles, caring for trees and soils, raising livestock, etc.

Applied art occupies a significant place in this period. Bronze mirrors inlaid with silver and gold are widely used. Bronze vessels are distinguished by elegance and richness of ornamentation. They became thinner-walled, and were decorated with inlaid precious stones and non-ferrous metals. Household art products appeared: exquisite trays and utensils, furniture and musical instruments. The first painting on silk was created. In ancestral temples there were wall frescoes depicting the sky, earth, mountains, rivers, deities and monsters.

In 221 BC. e. The Warring States period ended with the unification of China under the powerful Qin Dynasty. The ruler of the empire, who took the title of Qin Shi Huang - the First Emperor, assumed that his dynasty would rule "for ten thousand generations."

The Qin state was the first centralized empire in China. In his era, numerous reforms were carried out: the division of the country into administrative-territorial districts, the creation of centralized government bodies, the unification of coins, weights and measures, the streamlining of writing, and many others. In the same period, the construction of the Great Wall of China began. Only stone was used in its construction. The thickness of the wall at the base reached eight meters, at the top - at least five meters; the height of the wall was for the most part sixteen meters, and its total length was 2450 km. The construction of this greatest defensive structure in the world was finally completed in the 15th century. n. e. during the Ming Dynasty. Since then and until our time, the safety of the wall has been maintained by regular repair work.

The construction of the capital with a colossal palace complex and the imperial tomb was also grandiose. Its excavations have not begun, but around it, archaeologists have already discovered thousands of ceramic horsemen, placed in rows and, apparently, being portrait images of the imperial bodyguards (not a single horseman looks like the others).

The Han period was a kind of culmination of the cultural achievements of ancient China.

The formal education system was started. At the beginning of the 2nd century, the first explanatory dictionary appeared, and later a special etymological dictionary.

Thus, the roots of Chinese culture go deep into antiquity. Already in the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. e. China was a vast country where they owned arable implements, knew how to build houses, fortresses and roads, traded with neighboring countries, sailed along the rivers and dared to go to sea. Apparently, already at that prehistoric time, some of the most important features of Chinese culture were laid down: a high level of building art, the traditional character of buildings and religious rites, the cult of ancestors, and rationalistic humility before the power of the gods. Despite the countless wars, rebellions, destruction caused by the conquerors of the country, the culture of China not only did not weaken, but, on the contrary, always defeated the culture of the conquerors.

Throughout history, Chinese culture has not lost its activity, maintaining its solidity. Each of the cultural epochs left unique beauty, originality and diversity of values ​​for posterity. The works of architecture, sculpture, painting and handicrafts are priceless monuments of China's cultural heritage.

1.2 School work and the emergence of pedagogical thought in ancient China

At the heart of the rich and original pedagogical traditions of ancient China, as well as other first human civilizations, is the experience of family and social education, rooted in the primitive era.

Life in any family proceeded under the sign of customs and ideas that had developed over the centuries. So, it was believed that each house has its own patron (zaowang), who evaluates the behavior, work and diligence of household members. All family members had to follow certain rules and restrictions, for example, a ban on swear words, actions that could harm older and other relatives. It seemed to people that there are deities who monitor morality on earth. Such a mood was strengthened by the indispensable attributes in each dwelling - pictures depicting moralizing scenes.

At the heart of educational relations was the respect of the younger for the elders. The mentor was revered like a father. The activity of the teacher was considered very honorable. The acquisition of education was an extremely important matter.

According to ancient Chinese books, the first schools in China appeared in the 3rd millennium BC and were called xiang and xu xiang, which arose on the site of shelters for the elderly, who undertook to teach and instruct the youth. Xu initially taught military affairs, in particular archery. Later, the word xue (teach, study) was used to designate an educational institution. The first evidence of xue is contained in separate inscriptions of the Shang (Yin) era (XVI-XI centuries BC) Only the children of free and wealthy people studied in the then xue. bow, horse management.

The Shang (Yin) era was replaced by the Zhou era (XI - III centuries BC) During this period, children from high-ranking strata (goxue) and less well-born nobility (sangxue) studied in schools, goxue - in the capital, sangxue - in provincial cities.

The main goal of the training was the development of hieroglyphic writing. By the time of the emergence of the first schools, hieroglyphic writing was owned by a few - writing priests. The ability to use hieroglyphics was inherited and spread very slowly in society. The first hieroglyphs were carved on turtle shells and bones of various animals. From the 10th century BC hieroglyphs appear on bronze vessels. In the 8th century BC and the beginning of the new era, bamboo split into plates and silk fabric began to be used for writing, on which they wrote with lacquer tree sap using a pointed bamboo stick. After the production of paper and ink began at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the process of writing hieroglyphs and learning hieroglyphic writing became simpler.

The approach to schooling in ancient China was reduced to a short but capacious formula: ease, agreement between the student and the teacher, the independence of schoolchildren. The mentor took care to teach them to set and solve various problems on their own.

China is among the ancient civilizations, where the first attempts to theoretically comprehend upbringing and education were made in the depths of philosophical thought. The main philosophical schools were formed in China by the 6th century BC. e. These included Mohism, the school of legists (lawyers) and Confucianism. Confucius and his followers had the greatest influence on the development of pedagogical thought.

The Chinese thinkers Mengzi (Meng Ke) (372 - 289 BC) and Xunezi (Xiong Kust) (298 - 238 BC) developed the Confucian view of upbringing and education in their own way. Both had their own schools. Mengzi put forward the thesis about the good nature of man and therefore defined education as the formation of highly moral people. Xunzi, on the contrary, adhered to the view of the evil nature of man and saw the task of education in overcoming the evil inclination.

Peru of an unknown follower of Confucius and Mengzi owns the treatise "Notes on Education" (Xueji) (3rd century BC), where the concepts of education and training are distinguished. The author insists on the need to go from simple to complex in the educational process.

Chapter II. Artistic culture of ancient China

2.1 General characteristics of the artistic culture of ancient China

The artistic culture of China absorbed the main spiritual values ​​that developed in the teachings of Taoism and Confucianism. Proximity to nature, the desire for spiritual perfection, the search for harmony in every natural phenomenon - be it a flower, a tree, an animal - made it possible to form a completely unique aesthetic consciousness and artistic practice. The idea of ​​a harmonious union of man and nature permeates Chinese art, ranging from calligraphy to painting. Even writing in traditional Chinese culture is regarded as a special area of ​​ethics and aesthetics. Chinese writing (hieroglyphs) combined the ethical and aesthetic: the author's state of mind was guessed by the originality of writing, and even magical significance was attached to stylized forms of writing - calligraphic inscriptions. And they were kept in every house. The hieroglyph acts as an ideal model of a work of art, it combines the rigor and simplicity of form with the depth and symbolism of content.

One of the highest achievements of ancient Chinese art is painting, especially scroll painting. The Chinese scroll painting is a completely new type of art, created specifically for contemplation, freed from subordinately decorative functions. The main genres of painting on the scroll were a historical and everyday portrait, a portrait associated with a funeral cult, a landscape, the “birds and flowers” ​​genre. The Chinese portrait of the Han era combined realistic authenticity (for example, the figures of warriors from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang clearly convey the individual features of their prototypes) and symbolism, sometimes bordering on caricature.

In a Chinese painting, every object is deeply symbolic, every tree, flower, animal or bird is a sign of a poetic image: pine is a symbol of longevity, bamboo is a symbol of perseverance and happiness, a stork is a symbol of loneliness and holiness, etc. The form of Chinese landscapes - an elongated scroll - helped to feel the immensity of space, to show not some part of nature, but the integrity of the entire universe.

All genres of ancient Chinese art carried a deep moral meaning and the idea of ​​human perfection, tuned in to a special perception: admiration for nature, its beauty and the work of a master. This is probably why the beauty of Chinese landscapes, with their special expressiveness and special symbolism, arouses admiration among Europeans, allows them to discover a different vision of the world, a different aesthetics.

Chinese culture of all times has developed in the context of various contradictions within the country, the establishment of domination and enslavement of China by capitalist states. But even in such conditions, the development of culture is further developed.

The surviving material and literary sources make it possible to trace the development of Chinese religious and philosophical views, the emergence of socio-political systems. We see how urban planning, architecture, and plastic art are developing; treasuries of poetry and prose are being created; there are significant works of fine art, including portraiture; a nationwide form of theater is formed, and later musical drama. And the beauty of Chinese porcelain, embroideries, painted enamels, carvings made of stone, wood, ivory, in their elegance and artistic value, claim one of the leading places among such products in the world. Natural-scientific achievements in the field of education, astronomy, magnetism, medicine, book printing, etc. were also significant. Successes have been achieved in economic development and expansion of foreign relations.

The culture of China had a great influence at first on the development of the culture of numerous neighboring peoples who inhabited the vast territories of later Mongolia, Tibet, Indochina, Korea and Japan. Later on a large number of leading powers of the medieval world. Chinese culture has made a significant contribution to the development of world culture. Its originality, high artistic and moral value speak of the creative talent and deep roots of the Chinese people.

2.2 Sculpture of Ancient China

Together with Buddhism, not only the construction of multi-storey pagodas and rock temples came to China, but also the art of monumental sculpture. In the complexes of Longmen, Yungang and Dunhuang, frescoes, bas-reliefs and especially round sculpture became an organic part of architecture. It is characteristic of Indo-Buddhist sculpture, with the canons of images, postures and gestures characteristic of Buddhist saints. In every Chinese temple, you can find sculptural images, the technique of manufacturing and design of which, one way or another, goes back to the Indo-Buddhist. Together with Buddhism, the practice of sculpting a lion, an animal that was practically unknown in China before Buddhism, came to China. But the art of round sculpture was known in China long before Buddhism.

The main monuments that have survived to this day, which can be used to judge the origin and development of sculpture: ritual utensils, bronze vessels, bronze axes and bells, jade discs and pestles, votive sculpture - of the Yin era; bronze mirrors and lamps, document vessels, funerary sculpture - of the Zhou era; funerary sculpture of the period of the Qin and Han empires and the "Underground Army" as the brightest example of the sculptural art of Ancient China.

ancient civilization Shang (Yin) existed in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. in China over a vast territory - from Gansu to Shandong and from Hebei to Hunan and Jiangxi. The emergence of the art of sculpture was associated with the development of crafts, the manufacture of ritual vessels, funerary urns and other ritual objects. During recent excavations of a settlement surrounded by a powerful wall with a palace complex in Panluichen near Huangpi, a unique piece of plastic art was discovered - funeral jade figurines. They depict people of different social status and ethnicity.

The sculptural archaeological finds reflect the religious beliefs of the Shants: totemism, the cult of ancestors, the idea of ​​the supreme deity (Shandi). Items of material culture bear the imprint of a ritual function, for example, ritual bronze vessels. The Shan society lived in the conditions of the developing Bronze Age. Shantsev bronze casting technique made it possible to make various ritual utensils from bronze. Among the finds, the Simuudin cauldron stands out, reaching a weight of 875 kg. Animalistic ornamental motifs and plot compositions predominate on Shan bronze - ritual vessels and weapons. Ancient Chinese bronze vessels were, as it were, a model of the cosmos: this is evidenced by the symbolism of the main forms, the horizontal and vertical structure of the vessels. Other ritual utensils were also found in burials: "bi" disks and "gui" pestles. Ornamental motifs of the Shang era are the magical ornament leiwen ("thunder pattern"). Vessels with "tao-te" masks are bronze vessels on four legs, decorated on four sides with (human) masks. For example, the famous vessel "Tiger devouring a man" as a formal semantic model of an ancient Chinese ritual. Among these objects there are also samples of ancient sculpture made of stone (jasper, jade, marble).

The early history of the Chou people, according to tradition, is associated with lands in the basin of the river. Weihe (a tributary of the Huang He). Period from 1122 to 770 BC Chinese historical tradition dates back to the time of the ancient Chinese state of Western Zhou. The Zhou era is characterized by Zhou bronze. If in the Shang-Yin era bronze was used little, then starting from the Western Zhou era, bronze began to be used more and more widely. Even transactions with slaves, as well as with other property, were formalized by casting the corresponding document on a ritual bronze vessel; this gave the legal act a sacred meaning at the same time. Bronze inscriptions are also epigraphic monuments of the Western Zhou era.

This period includes the appearance of new motifs in the ornament of bronze vessels - a stylized image of dragons among the clouds. The image of the dragon originated from ancient Chinese mythology. Among the archaeological finds: bronze mirrors that play a ritual role (the mirror played the role of a sacred attribute); bronze lamps; funerary sculpture of ancient China. The funerary sculpture of Ancient China during the Zhangguo period left its mark on the development of the entire artistic culture of China.

The Eastern Zhou period is 770-256. BC. By this time, according to traditional historiography, there were about 200 kingdoms in China. Among them, some referred themselves to the descendants of the Chou people, others - to the Shants. But all of them recognized the supreme power of the Zhou wang, proclaimed the Son of Heaven, over themselves, and considered themselves the "middle kingdoms" (zhongguo) of the world - the center of the universe. The ritual-magic concept of the Zhou wang as the Son of Heaven, which spread at that time, was associated with the cult of Heaven, the supreme deity, that originated in China along with the Zhou statehood. This is reflected in art, including sculpture. The Zhou civilization adopted and developed the important achievements of the Shanin culture. At this time, the technology of manufacturing bronze alloys is progressing. The production of bronze products is expanding.

In addition to the "middle kingdoms" in China, there were other large states with a high original culture. For example, Zhongshan products are among the best artistic examples of bronze casting art of ancient China in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The relationship between the "middle kingdoms" and the peripheral kingdoms is becoming ever closer, fierce wars between the kingdoms are taking place, which acquired an exceptionally tense character at the beginning of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Militarily strong kingdoms actively intervene in the internecine struggle of the "middle kingdoms", and it is their participation in this or that military coalition that often decides the outcome of conflicts. "States with ten thousand war chariots" ("Wan cheng guo") were presented to contemporaries as a mighty force that determined the fate of the Celestial Empire. These processes are reflected in sculpture, especially ritual sculpture, in images symbolizing mighty power.

The cultural and historical development of the Han Empire is vividly reflected in Han architecture and sculpture. The "cosmic" structure of the Chinese city (Chang'an, Luoyang) is characteristic - mostly tower-shaped buildings, and a combination of ground and underground structures in burial complexes. The ritual objects found there also contain cosmogonic symbolism. Among the Han grave goods were found: lamps, incense burners, bronze mirrors, ceramic vessels. The funeral rite and "jade clothes" of the Han period, the ancient Chinese custom of mummifying the body of the deceased influenced the development of votive sculpture. Funerary relief is the leading type of sculpture from the Han era. The Han relief is also rich in cosmogonic symbolism. It reflects the mythology of ancient China. For example, the image of the "Great Exile", which was reconstructed from the images in the tombs. Stylistic features of the Han relief: the motif of divine flight. The provinces of Shandong and Sichuan were the main artistic centers for the production of reliefs.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the map of Ancient China is changing dramatically: less than thirty of the two hundred state formations remain, among which the "seven strongest" stand out - Qin, Yan and Chu, which are among the "peripheral", as well as Wei, Zhao, Han and Qi - the largest of the "middle kingdoms." The irreconcilable struggle between them for dominance and dominance in the Celestial Empire becomes the determining factor in the history of ancient China in the subsequent period.

The formation of empires and the fierce struggle for the power of empires was also reflected in the art of ancient China. The period of the early Qin and Han empires is characterized by the dominance of the principles of imperial art. That could not but leave an imprint on the development of sculpture. The great monuments of the past testify to the imperial state policy. This is the Great Wall of China as an act of cosmogonic order. In the same spirit, the necropolis of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was built - the central monument of the era and a sample of the burial complex, unique for world art. An example of the funerary sculpture of the Qin era is the "Underground Army" (or Clay Army) of Qin Shi Huang. The phenomenon of the Clay Army is covered in historical sources (Sima Qian "Historical Notes"). The symbolism of the Clay Army is the greatness of the empire and its invincibility.

But during the period of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the development of realistic features in sculpture also takes place. In the stone reliefs of the burials, concrete images of people are visible. These mythological scenes, executed in the technique of flat relief, are distinguished by sharp expressiveness of silhouettes and dynamism. At that time, monumental sculpture reached a high rise. An example is a stone statue of a horse on a tomb from 117 BC. Realistic features were also manifested in the clay funerary figurines of people and animals found in the graves. These images are characterized by the desire to convey typical features in the images of servants, slaves and dancers.

2.3 Literature of Ancient China

Literature in China, as in other countries of the ancient world, was by no means born as a purely aesthetic phenomenon, but as an indispensable component of practical activity. The earliest written texts in Chinese were divinatory inscriptions scratched with some kind of sharp tool on a tortoise shell or a ram's shoulder bone. Wanting to know, for example, whether the hunt would be successful, the ruler ordered to put his question on the shell and then put the shell on the fire. A special fortuneteller interpreted the "deity's answer" in accordance with the nature of the cracks that appeared from the fire. Subsequently, bronze began to serve as the material for inscriptions (giant or other inscriptions were made on huge ritual vessels on behalf of the ancient kings). From the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. The Chinese began to use bamboo strips for writing. About forty hieroglyphs (words) were placed on each such tablet. Planks were strung on a rope and connected into bundles. It is easy to imagine how cumbersome and inconvenient the first Chinese books were. Each, according to our concepts, even a small book occupied several wagons.

In the III century. BC e. The Chinese began to use silk for writing. The high cost of this material led at the beginning of our era to, as a result of which it became possible to widely disseminate the written word.

The utilitarian-practical attitude to the written word is fixed in the term by which the ancient Chinese themselves denoted the concept of “literacy” - “wen” (originally - drawing, ornament). A syncretic understanding of literature as the entire sum of written monuments is found in one of the first Chinese historians and bibliographers, Ban Gu (32-92 AD). Compiling the official “History of the Dynasty”, he took a place in it and a special “Description of the Arts” Each section had its own small headings, as well as brief notes by the compiler, characterizing the features of a group of essays. The bibliography of Ban Gu gives us the opportunity to say what types of written works existed in ancient China and how the then Chinese imagined the composition of their literature, and helps us to imagine what percentage of ancient writings did not reach us.

Since under Ban Gu Confucianism had already been proclaimed the official state ideology, it is quite natural that the ancient historiographer gives the first place in his list to the works of the Confucian canon: “The Book of Changes” - “I Ching” and the ancient divinatory natural-philosophical texts that continue it, “The Book of History” - “Shujing” and, accordingly, its interpretations, “Book of Songs” - “Shijing”, in which Confucius himself allegedly included three hundred and five songs of ancient kingdoms (modern scholars date these works to the 11th-7th centuries BC); writings regulating rites (led by the “Book of Ritual” - “Liji”) and music (“Notes on Music” - “Yueji”), the famous annals of the kingdom of Lu “Spring and Autumn” - “Chunqiu”, the creation or editing of which is attributed also Confucius, and all sorts of interpretations of it, “Conversations and Judgments” - “Lunyu” - records of Confucius's saying, apparently made by his students.

Of these works, which formed the basis of Confucian teaching and were in China for centuries the obligatory minimum for every educated person, the “Book of Songs” was of paramount importance for the development of artistic literature. This poetic collection, consisting of four sections (“Rights of the Kingdoms”, “Small Odes”, “Great Odes”, “Hymns”) brought to us the most diverse examples of ancient lyric and hymn poetry. The spirit of primitive life is still felt in these songs. This is also noticeable in the descriptions of the girls' meetings with their lovers - secret, as in the song “Jung! To our village...”, and open - on the days consecrated by tradition, as in the song “Waters of Zhen and Wei...”, where memories of the ancient spring orgic festival celebrated in the third lunar month are visible. From the songs we learn both about ancient marriage rites and about the cruel custom of burying living people together with the deceased ruler (“The yellow birds flutter ...”). According to the songs of “Shijing”, one can imagine the worries of the farmers, described in detail in the song “Months”, and the hectic life of the sovereign’s close associates (“Still in the east, midnight darkness”, “Complaint of the courtier”), who, for the slightest mistake or being late to the palace, will face a severe punishment, and the fearlessness of the then hunters (“Hunter Shu ...”), who boldly entered into fights with tigers, and the prowess of a valiant dance (“The Best Dancer”), and the sadness of a lonely woman whose husband went on a distant campaign. In the songs of "Shijing" the stratification of society into antagonistic classes is still almost imperceptible.

The songs collected in the vault were created in the era that began in the 12th century. BC e., when China was a series of small kingdoms, nominally subordinate to the Zhou ruler - the son of Heaven. These kingdoms were often small - a capital city with suburbs in which farmers lived. Relations between the ruler and subjects in such kingdoms were still largely patriarchal in nature. At the same time, in the songs, apparently later, for example, “Months” or “Mice ...” (under the guise of mice, the owners are bred there, taking the crops from the farmers), the first sprouts of the farmers’ dissatisfaction with their rulers are noticeable, who, as is sung in the first song, all the wild boars killed during the hunt are taken away or from which, as in the second song, the peasants are going to leave for other happy places. There are in the "Book of Songs", especially in its last part, and relatively large works of a ritual nature, like the "Prince of Millet" - a hymn to the mythical hero-ancestor who taught people to sow cereals.

Along with the “Book of Songs” from the works of the Confucian canon, the famous “Book of History”, and especially the subsequent historical literature attributed in the Ban Gu bibliographic code to the first canonized chronicle of “Spring and Autumn”, are of indisputable artistic interest. In addition to the Chronicle of Zuo (Zozhuan), compiled in the 4th c. to i. O. Zuoqiu Ming and considered to be a commentary on “Springs and Autumns”, among the followers of the ancient chroniclers was Ban Gu and the author of the famous “Historical Notes” (145-86 BC). Sima Qian created his work as an official historical monument. For centuries he amazed his readers with the richness of his poetic language and style, with the special powerful and smooth rhythm of his prose, with his insight into the laws of human society and the destinies of individuals, surprising for an ancient writer. People who left their mark on the history of the country, regardless of their social status, were the subject of his close attention. Ancient philosophers of various schools and trends, dignitaries and generals, poets and jesters-actors, “avengers” and “slippery talkers” - all of them were given a place in his huge book by Sima Qian, in that section of it, which he called “lezhzhuan” - “ separate biographies. A significant part of the information about ancient Chinese authors, samples of whose works are also given in this volume, is known to us precisely thanks to the work of Sima Qian.

The next place after the works of Confucian mentors was given by Ban Gu to the writings of representatives of another influential philosophical school of antiquity - the Taoists. Tradition considers the semi-mythical old man Lao Tzu, who supposedly lived at the same time as Confucius, in the 6th century BC, to be its ancestor. BC e., and leading discussions with him on the problems of being. The work attributed to Lao Tzu is "Daodejing" - "The Book of the Way and Virtue". Unlike the Confucians, who were primarily interested in the problems of the ethics of government, the followers of Taoism developed the problems of being, asserting the primacy of the natural Path - Tao as the basis of everything that exists in the universe, as the source of all things and phenomena. “Virtue” in this case is a very conditional translation of the Taoist concept of Te, which was considered as an individual manifestation of the Tao - the Way, as a form of the manifestation of Tao in an individual, showing the moral perfection of a person who follows the Tao and has achieved absolute harmony with the outside world. “The Book of the Way and Virtue” is a very special monument in the history of ancient Chinese literature - this is a rhythmically organized aphoristic prose, which for centuries was considered unsurpassed in its artistic merits and found its continuation in the book “Zhuang Tzu”, the author of which is considered to be another classic of Taoist thought - Zhuang Zhou, the famous Zhuangzi (4th century BC). He combined poetic aphorism with the tradition of an example, a parable, often explaining in very unusual forms the ideas of the vanity and illusory nature of human existence and the importance of human influence with natural nature.

After listing ten schools of thinkers, Ban Gu moved on to describing poetic literature (let us recall that he considered the “Book of Songs” as a monument of the Confucian canon earlier). To this literature, he attributed the works of the two leading genres of his time: poems-fu and songs-geshi. If geshi were sung, then fu were chanted, they seemed to be written in prose, but rhymed, being an intermediate phenomenon between poetry and prose. “The tradition says: “What is not sung, but chanted, is called fu. He who, having risen high, can compose fu, is worthy of being called a great man. ... The men who studied the “Book of Songs” stand above the common people in linen dresses, the wise, having lost hope of fulfilling their aspirations, composed fu-poems. The great Confucian Sun Qing and Qu Yuan, a dignitary of the kingdom of Chu, who, being slandered and dismissed, mourned for his homeland, both composed poems to admonish the ruler, their writings conveyed the pain of the soul, and the meaning of their fu is similar to the meaning of ancient poems. And after them Xiang Yu, Tang Le, and during the heyday of the Han Dynasty; My Sheng, Sima Xiangru, and finally Yang Xiong all competed in pomp and variety of words. They no longer put an allegorical and edifying meaning into their poems, ”Ban Gu explained the features and evolution of the fu genre. To this it should be added that fu poems were usually written in a three-part form and consisted of an introduction (stop), a proper description (fu) and a conclusion (luan or xun). The introduction was often a dialogue between the poet and one of the rulers, in which the main idea of ​​the poem was expressed, which was developed already in the second part, and in the conclusion the author gave his summary and expressed his personal view of the events described.

The authors mentioned by Ban Gu are represented in our section both by their poetic works (poems by Qu Yuan) and by their fu poems (Xiaq Yu, Sima Xiangru, Zhang Heng). Qu Yuan lived in the kingdom of Chu, in the southwest of what was then China. In the culture of those places there were many peculiar features due to the life of other, non-Chinese tribes, but his poetry quickly became known throughout the country. The slandered poet was twice expelled from Chu, he saw how, not heeding his advice to enter into an alliance with the kingdom of Qi and trusting the treacherous kingdom of Qin, the ruler of Chu lost his country. Qin troops destroyed the ancient capital of the Chu kingdom, the city of Ying. There is no measure of the sadness of the poet, which fanned a poem describing the death of his native country (“Lament for the capital Ying”).

As we have already said, Ban Gu combined Fu poems and Geshi songs in one section of his bibliography. None of the twenty-eight collections of songs he listed have come down to us, but we can judge from their titles that they were mainly collections of songs from individual localities or collections of ritual chants, such as “Chants to the Deities” or “Hymns sung at the farewell and soul meetings. Songs in ancient China, as well as all sorts of "street rumors", were collected in order to clarify the mood of the subjects. Emperor Xiao-wu-di, who ruled in 140-86. BC e., even established a special Music Chamber - Yuefu. “From the time of Xiao-wu-di, when the Music Chamber was established, folk songs began to be collected. This is how the songs of the Dai and Zhao areas, the melodies of Qin and Chu became known, they contained feelings of joy and sorrow, their appearance was caused by certain events, and by them one can judge customs and mores, learn their advantages and disadvantages, ”- so Ban Gu himself determined the role of the Musical Chamber, in which in the early period of its activity up to six hundred officials were in the service. About one hundred and fifty of the song texts they collected have come down to us. Some examples are included in this book.

In ancient China, genres gradually arose, which in the Middle Ages constituted elegant plotless prose. During the time of Ban Gu, these genres were just beginning their independent life in literature. Many of them at the time of their appearance were not recognized as an independent artistic structure. These were composite, but already somehow distinguished parts of ancient monuments, a kind of foreign body in them. Such were, apparently, the ancient decrees or appeals to the sovereign, which were included in the collection of the Book of Historical Traditions. So, as part of the "Historical Notes" by Sima Qian, the zhuan genre was born - biographies, very soon, in the 1st century. n. e., realized as an independent literary phenomenon. However, there were also forms of expression in antiquity, such as parables, which in China until the 20th century did not stand out as an independent literary genre.

We have tried to outline the totality of ancient Chinese written records. In ancient China, the ideological foundation was laid, on which medieval art and literature developed not only in China itself, but also in the neighboring countries of the Far East - Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. At the same time, many themes of Chinese poetry developed, that rich arsenal of symbols and images, without the knowledge of which it is impossible to correctly understand the classical literature of the Far Eastern peoples.

2.4 Chinese painting

The Chinese painting is not a painting as we understand it. It has neither a heavy gilded frame, nor even a thin baguette that would limit it from the plane of the wall, turning it into an isolated closed world. And why did the Chinese picture need a frame, if this narrow and long strip of paper or specially processed glued silk with two rollers along the edges was carefully stored in special boxes and deployed only in rare cases for examination. Since ancient times, apparently at the turn of our era, this form of pictorial scrolls has been developed. In China, where there were no strong and massive walls in the rooms, as in Europe, and the air in the rooms was largely determined by the climate of the street, it would be harmful for them to hang pictures that were not protected by glass, as we do. At the same time, the picture of the ball is a kind of jealously guarded jewel, which was not customary to put on public display and which was shown by collectors only to a narrow circle of connoisseurs.

Chinese scrolls have two forms. One of them is vertical, when the scroll unfolded and raised to the wall hangs perpendicular to the floor, and the other is horizontal, when the scroll gradually unfolds and, as it is viewed, rolls up again on the table. Vertical scrolls usually do not exceed 3 meters, while horizontal ones, being a kind of panorama illustrated by a story, which shows either a series of landscapes combined into a single composition, or scenes of urban street life, sometimes reach over ten meters.

Painting in China as an art form has been highly respected since ancient times. Since the Middle Ages, poems glorifying painting, treatises on the creative paths of painters, descriptions of individual paintings and a kind of summary history of painting, providing information about numerous artists of different eras, have come down. However, today many of those artists from whom no material evidence of their existence has been preserved have receded into the realm of legends, turned into a kind of symbols associated with certain artistic movements. Many famous paintings perished in fires, others survived only in later copies. And yet, the surviving works make it possible to restore the main path of development of Chinese painting, to find out the changes that took place in it over different eras, and the surviving treatises make it possible to understand what aesthetic meaning the artists themselves put into their works.

Chinese painting is an amalgamation art with poetry. In a Chinese painting, one often sees a depiction of a landscape and hieroglyphic inscriptions that explain the essence of the painting. In the Chinese landscape you can see the bare peaked mountains of the north, changing color from the light of the day. Snow-white mighty pines at their feet, deserts scorched by the sun with the remains of ancient cities, abandoned rock temples, tropical forests of the south, inhabited by countless animals and birds. An unknowing person will say that the paintings of China are of the same type, that there are only "Branches and Mountains". Although not suspecting that behind all this wonderful nature lies wonderful poetry. Lyrical and vibrant. The complexity of Chinese painting scares away those who are not familiar with it. His images and forms, his ideas, and often his technique seems to us incomprehensible. Indeed, how do we know that two fluffy tangerine ducks dozing in the coastal reeds or a pair of geese flying in the sky in the painter’s painting are not symbols of dissolvable love, understandable to every educated Chinese, but a combination of bamboo, pine and wild plum meihua (in Chinese : three friends of the cold winter), the image of which we constantly meet both in Chinese paintings and on vases, means stamina and true friendship. And if we look at the painting by the artist Ni Zan (XIV century), where a thin tree with bare branches is painted, which grew up among a small island, lost among the boundless expanse of water, we first perceive only the sad landscape shown by the artist. And only after reading the beautiful inscription placed at the top of the picture, we understand that the artist in this lyrical and sad landscape depicted not only nature, but also wanted to convey his sorrowful feelings caused by the conquest of his homeland by the Mongols. Allegory, symbol and poetic figurative interpretation of the world have entered the flesh and blood of Chinese reality. A bridge over a lake, a cave in the rocks, a pavilion in the park often received such names: “Orchid Bridge”, “Dragon Gate”, “Pavilion for listening to the flow of the river” or “Pavilion for contemplating the moon”, etc. Children were often given and are still given poetic names inspired by images of nature: “swallow”, “Rostochek”, “Meihua”, etc.

This complex figurative worldview, constant communication with the image of nature to convey one's feelings originated in China in ancient times. All Chinese mythology is associated with the struggle of man against the elements, with a naive and figurative interpretation of natural phenomena.

Chinese painting is ambiguous. Poets, artists during the reign of foreign dynasties or in those years when the country was ruined by not smart and cruel rulers, wrote poems and paintings, where they put a completely different, hidden subtext into traditional plots and forms. So, the artist of the XVII - XVIII centuries. Shi Tao in the painting "Wild Herbs", where only the road overgrown with weeds is visible, places an inscription full of hidden meaning: "This is what grows on the road." Under the wild grass that clogs the path, the artist meant the Manchu conquerors who came to power in 1644 and for a long time delayed the path of development of Chinese culture, so glorious in the past. Chinese painting is inextricably linked with poetry. Sometimes artists supplemented their picture with lines from poetry. I must say that Chinese artists were sometimes wonderful poets. One great Chinese critic Zhang Yan-yuan emphasized the inseparability of poetry and painting and said: "When they could not express their thoughts through painting, they wrote hieroglyphs; when they could not express their thoughts through writing, they painted pictures."

This combination of painting and inscription is unusual for European perception. However, Chinese artists not only supplemented and emotionally enriched the meaning of their works with poems that gave rise, as it were, to new images, developed the viewer’s imagination, but also entered their hieroglyphs into the picture with such skill and brilliance that it acquired from this some special completeness and sharpness. . Calligraphy itself, in the form of inscriptions, was often placed separately on scrolls, forming pictures from the same hieroglyphs, and had many different styles.

The development of the landscape genre in China, known as one of the greatest achievements of world art, is calculated for thousands of years. The Chinese landscape is not similar to the European one. They are distinguished not only by the difference in the shape of the picture. Chinese landscape "Shan Shui", i.e. "Mountains-water", developed and reached an extraordinary flowering already in the Middle Ages to the 7th - 8th centuries of our era, laying the foundation for the entire Far Eastern landscape painting, while the landscape in Europe arose as an independent phenomenon only in the Renaissance and was divided into many areas due to with the national characteristics of different countries. In the European landscape, the world depicted by the artist seems to be seen from the window. This is a part of nature, the countryside or the city, which the painter's eye can capture and where a person, even if he is not in the picture, always feels like a master. The Chinese artist perceives the landscape as part of an immense and spacious world, as a grandiose cosmos, where the human personality is nothing, it is, as it were, dissolved in the contemplation of the great, incomprehensible and absorbing space.

The Chinese landscape is always fantastic, despite its reality, it sort of generalizes observations of nature in general. It often contains the image of mountains and waters - this is a tradition that has been established since ancient times, associated with a religious and philosophical understanding of nature, where two forces interact: an active male "yang" and a passive female "yin". Mountains close to the sky are an active force, soft and deep water is passive, feminine. In ancient times, when these ideas were born, mountains and waters were deified as the rulers of human life. Water brought crops, gave crops or carried terrible floods, the happiness or grief of people depended on it. Inaccessible, shrouded in eternal mystery, the mountains were the place where the sun went. Their peaks touched the sky. This ancient symbolism, which has long lost its original meaning in China, nevertheless formed the basis of a strong tradition of depicting nature.

A certain content and significance of the Chinese landscape gave rise to its special role in painting, as well as the unusual form and numerous artistic techniques of its writing. Many of the Chinese paintings, where only a hint of some detail of nature is shown, are perceived as a landscape, although they do not belong to this genre. Nature, as it were, helps the artist to give his picture sublimity, depth and poetry. The Chinese artist never painted from nature and never made sketches, as is customary in European painting. The impression that remains from many Chinese works is that the artist has just touched the silky feathers of a small bird depicted by him or spied the dance of two butterflies over a flowering tree. This impression is based on the fact that the Chinese artist, before painting his paintings, like a naturalist, studied nature with infinite care in all its smallest manifestations. He knew perfectly well the structure of each leaf, the movement of slow caterpillars devouring ripe fruits, he knew the soft tread of a crouching tiger and the wary turn of the head of a young deer listening to the rustles of the forest. The painter seems to dedicate the viewer to the many secrets of nature hidden from him.

The Chinese painter depicts nature in two aspects. One is landscapes of mountains and waters - "shan shui", i.e. a type of classical Chinese landscape on long scrolls, where it is not the details that are important, but the general feeling of the grandeur and harmony of the world; antiquity and preserved its viability today. Sometimes works of this genre were written on round and landscape sheets, on screens and fans, and depicted either a bird on a branch, or a monkey rocking a cub, or a dragonfly fluttering over a lotus flower. It is here that the artist allows himself to consider every movement of a plant or animal as if through a magnifying glass, infinitely bringing them closer to the viewer and at the same time embodying sometimes in these small scenes a single and integral picture of nature.

In the landscapes of "mountains and waters", nature, on the contrary, seems to be distant from the viewer, presenting before him as something titanic and powerful. Peering into this landscape, a person feels like an infinitely small part of this world, and always with that, the insane courage and the boundless breadth of the expanses unfolded in front of him arouses admiration and pride in him. The world of Chinese painting itself is the world of nature, with the life of which a person is connected with all threads.

Over time, Chinese painters developed their own, unlike European, ways of depicting. In the Chinese landscape, the farthest object is located above the previous one. Therefore, the Chinese landscape looks more voluminous. A european landscape is built according to the principles of linear perspective, i.e. the range of the picture is expressed by the reduction of distant objects relative to the foreground. In the Chinese landscape, large objects are placed in the foreground: rocks, trees, sometimes buildings. These foreground details were a kind of scale units. Dali is almost invisible, it is as if blurred, covered in haze.

A blade of grass along which a bug crawls, or a goose in the reeds calling for a girlfriend - these modest images in a Chinese painting never feel like an ordinary everyday scene. The viewer feels and perceives such compositions as the life of a vast world, where each stem is an expression of the great and eternal laws of being.

ChapterIII. The peculiarity of art education in ancient China

3.1 Religion and mythology of ancient China

China is a country of ancient history, culture, philosophy; already in the middle of the second millennium BC. e. in the state of Shang-Yin (XVII-XII centuries BC), a slave-owning economy emerged. The labor of slaves, in which the captured prisoners were converted, was used in cattle breeding, in agriculture. In the XII century BC. e. As a result of the war, the state of Shan-Yin was defeated by the Zhou tribe, which founded its own dynasty, which lasted until the 3rd century BC. BC e.

In the era of Shang-Yin and in the initial period of the existence of the Jok dynasty, the religious and mythological worldview was dominant. One of the distinguishing features of Chinese myths was the zoomorphic nature of the gods and spirits acting in them. Many of the ancient Chinese deities (Shan-di) had a clear resemblance to animals, birds or fish. But Shang-di was not only the supreme deity, but also their ancestor. According to myths, it was he who was the ancestor of the Yin tribe.

The most important element of the ancient Chinese religion was the cult of ancestors, which was based on the recognition of the influence of the dead on the life and fate of their descendants.

In ancient times, when there was neither heaven nor earth, the Universe was a gloomy formless chaos. Two spirits, yin and yang, were born in him, who took up the ordering of the world.

In the myths about the origin of the universe, there are very vague, timid beginnings of natural philosophy.

The mythological form of thinking, as the dominant one, existed until the first millennium BC. e.

The decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of a new system of social production did not lead to the disappearance of myths.

Many mythological images pass into later philosophical treatises. Philosophers who lived in the V-III century. BC BC, often turn to myths in order to substantiate their conceptions of true government and their norms of correct human behavior. At the same time, Confucians carry out the historicization of myths, demythologization of plots and images of ancient myths. "The historicization of myths, which consisted in the desire to humanize the actions of all mythical characters, was the main task of the Confucians. In an effort to bring mythical traditions in line with the dogmas of their teaching, the Confucians worked hard to turn spirits into people and to find a rational explanation for the myths and legends themselves. Thus the myth became part of the traditional story." Rationalized myths become part of philosophical ideas, teachings, and the characters of myths become historical figures used to preach Confucian teachings.

The religions of ancient China include: Confucianism, Taoism.

Confucius (Kung Tzu, 551479 BC) was born and lived in an era of great social and political upheaval, when Zhou China was in a state of severe internal crisis. The power of the Zhou ruler, the van, had long since weakened, patriarchal and tribal norms were being destroyed, and the tribal aristocracy was perishing in internecine strife. The collapse of the ancient foundations of family-planned life, internecine strife, the venality and greed of officials, the disasters and sufferings of the common people - all this caused sharp criticism of the zealots of antiquity. Having criticized his age and highly estimating the centuries of the past, Confucius, on the basis of this opposition, created his ideal of the perfect man Yijun Tzu. A highly moral jun-tzu had to have two of the most important virtues in his view: humanity and a sense of duty. Humanity (zhen) included modesty, restraint, dignity, selflessness, love for people, etc. Zhen is an almost unattainable ideal, a set of perfections that only the ancients possessed. Of his contemporaries, he considered only himself and his beloved disciple Yan Hui to be humane. However, for a true Jun Tzu, humanity alone was not enough. He had to have another important quality - a sense of duty. Duty is a moral obligation that a humane person, by virtue of his virtues, imposes on himself.

Confucius sought to create the ideal of a knight of virtue who fought for high morality against the injustice that reigned around. But with the transformation of his teaching into an official dogma, it was not the essence that came to the fore, but the external form, manifested in demonstrating devotion to antiquity, respect for the old, feigned modesty and virtue. In medieval China, certain norms and stereotypes of the behavior of each person gradually developed and were canonized, depending on their place in the social and bureaucratic hierarchy. At any moment of life, for any occasion, at birth and death, when entering school and when being appointed to the service - always and in everything there were strictly faxed and obligatory rules of conduct for all. In the Han era, a set of rules was compiled - the Lizi treatise, a compendium of Confucian norms. All the rules written in this ritual book should be known and put into practice, and the more diligently, the higher the position in society a person occupied.

Confucianism gave the cult of ancestors a deep meaning as a symbol of social Order and made it the first duty of every Chinese. Confucius developed the doctrine of xiao, sons of honor. The meaning of xiao is to serve your parents according to the rules of Li, to bury them according to the rules of Li, and to sacrifice them to them according to the rules of Li.

The Confucian ancestral cult and the Xiao norm contributed to the flourishing of the cult of the family and clan. The family was considered the core of society, the interests of the family far exceeded the interests of the individual. Hence the constant trend towards family growth. With favorable economic opportunities, the desire for close relatives to live together sharply prevailed over separatist inclinations. A powerful branched clan and relatives arose, holding on to each other and sometimes inhabiting an entire village.

Taoism arose in Zhou China almost almost simultaneously with the teachings of Confucius in the form of an independent philosophical doctrine. The founder of the Taoist philosophy is the philosopher Lao Tzu, who is considered a legendary figure by modern researchers, because there is no reliable historical and biographical information about him. According to the legend, he left China, but agreed to leave his work Tao-te-ching (4th-3rd century BC) to the guard of the border outpost. This treatise outlines the foundations of Taoism, the philosophy of Lao Tzu. At the center of the doctrine is the doctrine of the great Tao, the universal law and the absolute. Tao dominates everywhere and in everything, always and without limits. Nobody created it, but everything comes from it. Invisible and inaudible, inaccessible to the senses, constant and inexhaustible, nameless and formless, it gives rise, name and form to everything in the world. Even the great Heaven follows the Tao. To know the Tao, to follow it, to merge with it - this is the meaning, purpose and happiness of life. Tao manifests itself through its emanation, through Te, and if Tao gives birth to everything, then Te nourishes everything. From this it can be seen that Taoism sets itself the goal of revealing to man the secrets of the universe, the eternal problems of life and death, and it becomes clear why it arose. After all, outside of Confucianism is mystical and irrational, not to mention ancient mythology and primitive prejudices. And without this, a person feels some spiritual discomfort, a certain void that needs to be filled, and therefore all beliefs and rituals were united within the framework of the Taoist religion, which was formed in parallel with Confucianism.

One of the most attractive points in the teachings of the Tao for both the common people and the nobility was the preaching of longevity and immortality for people who knew the Tao. This idea was so captivating that the emperors even equipped expeditions for elixirs of immortality and financed the work of Taoist magicians to make them. Thus, Taoism was able to survive and gain a foothold under the dominance of Confucianism. At the same time, Taoism changed quite a lot, the idea of ​​Tao and Te was relegated to the background, and numerous magicians, healers, shamans came to the fore, who joined Taoism, who skillfully synthesized some ideas of Taoism with peasant superstitions, and thus got over them ( peasants) very great power. This was confirmed by the Daoist peasant uprising that occurred during the crisis of power after the end of the Han Dynasty, led by the Taoist magician Zhang June. He set himself the task of overthrowing the existing system and replacing it with the kingdom of Great Equality (Taiping). He announced the year of the uprising as the beginning of the era of the new "Yellow Sky", so his adherents wore yellow armbands. The uprising was brutally suppressed; Zhang June himself was killed, and the remnants of his adherents fled to the west, in the mountainous border regions, where another Taoist sect, Zhang Lu, operated. This now united sect, after the fall of the Han Dynasty, became an independent theocratic entity, which is also called the state of the Taoist patriarchal popes. Subsequently, even official authorities reckoned with them. Power in this "state within a state" was inherited, it itself consisted of 24 communities headed by bishops. Life in these communities was organized in such a way that everyone could purify themselves, repent and, having gone through a series of fasts and rites, prepare themselves for immortality. According to Tao, the human body is a microcosm - it is an accumulation of spirits and divine forces, the result of the interaction of male and female principles. Aspiring to the attainment of immortality must first of all try to create for all these monad-spirits (there are about 36,000 of them) such conditions that they would not aspire to leave the body. Taoists intended to achieve this through food restrictions, special physical and breathing exercises. Also, in order to achieve immortality, the candidate had to perform at least 1200 good deeds, and at the same time, one bad deed nullified everything.

3.2 Philosophy of Ancient China

Two main stages in the development of philosophical thought in ancient China: the stage of the birth of philosophical views, which covers the period of the VIII-VI centuries. BC e., and the heyday of philosophical thought - the stage of rivalry "100 schools", which traditionally refers to the VI-III centuries. BC e.

The period of the formation of the philosophical views of the ancient peoples who lived in the basins of the Huanghe, Huaihe, Hanshui rivers (VIII-VI centuries BC) and laid the foundations of Chinese civilization coincides in time with a similar process in India and Ancient Greece. On the example of the emergence of philosophy in these three regions, one can trace the commonality of the patterns that followed the formation and development of human society of world civilization.

At the same time, the history of the formation and development of philosophy is inextricably linked with the class struggle in society and reflects this struggle. The confrontation of philosophical ideas reflected the struggle of various classes in society, the struggle between the forces of progress and reaction, clinging to everything old that sanctified the authority of tradition, the inviolability and eternity of their domination. Ultimately, the clash of views and points of view resulted in a struggle between the two main trends in philosophy - materialistic and idealistic - with varying degrees of awareness and depth of expression of these trends.

Philosophy and natural science existed in China, as if fenced off from each other by an impenetrable wall, which caused them irreparable damage. Thus, Chinese philosophy deprived itself of a reliable source for the formation of an integral and comprehensive worldview, and natural science, despised by the official ideology, experiencing difficulties in development, remained the lot of singles and seekers of the elixir of immortality. The only methodological compass of Chinese naturalists remained the ancient naive materialistic ideas of natural philosophers about the five primary elements.

This view arose in ancient China at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries and lasted until modern times. As for such an applied branch of natural science as Chinese medicine, it is still guided by these ideas to this day.

Thus, the isolation of Chinese philosophy from specific scientific knowledge narrowed its subject matter. Because of this, natural-philosophical concepts, explanations of nature, as well as problems of the essence of thinking, questions of the nature of human consciousness, and logic have not received greater development in China.

The isolation of ancient Chinese philosophy from natural science and the lack of development of questions of logic are one of the main reasons for the fact that the formation of the philosophical conceptual apparatus proceeded very slowly. For most Chinese schools, the method of logical analysis remained virtually unknown.

Finally, Chinese philosophy was characterized by a close connection with mythology.

In "Shi chi" ("Historical Notes") by Sima Qian (II-I centuries BC), the first classification of the philosophical schools of Ancient China is given. Six schools are named there: "supporters of the doctrine of yin and yang" (natural philosophers), "school of service people" (Confucians), "school of Mohists", "school of nominalists" (sophists), "school of legalists" (legists), "school of supporters teachings about Tao and Te" - Taoists.

Later, at the turn of our era, this classification was supplemented by four more "schools", which, however, with the exception of the zajia, or "school of eclecticists", in fact, have nothing to do with the philosophy of China. Some schools are named after the nature of the social activity of the founder of the school, others - after the founder of the doctrine, and others - according to the main principles of the concept of this doctrine.

At the same time, despite all the specifics of philosophy in ancient China, the relationship between philosophical schools ultimately boiled down to a struggle between two main tendencies - materialistic and idealistic, although, of course, this struggle cannot be imagined in its pure form.

In the early stages of development of Chinese philosophy. For example, even in the time of Confucius and Mo Tzu, the attitude of these thinkers to the main question of philosophy was not expressed directly. Questions about the essence of human consciousness and its relationship to nature, the material world have not been defined clearly enough. Often, the views of those philosophers whom we classify as materialists contained significant elements of religious, mystical ideas of the past, and, conversely, thinkers who generally occupied idealistic positions gave a materialistic interpretation to certain issues.

One of the important places in the struggle of ideas during the VI-V centuries. BC e. occupied the question of the sky and the root cause of the origin of all things. At that time, the concept of heaven included both the supreme lord (Shan-di), and fate, and the concept of the fundamental principle and root cause of everything that exists, and at the same time it was, as it were, a synonym for the natural world, "nature", the surrounding world as a whole.

The ancient Chinese turned all their thoughts, aspirations and hopes to the sky, because, according to their ideas, personal life, state affairs, and all natural phenomena depended on the sky (supreme).

From the huge role of the sky in the life of the ancient Chinese, their faith in its power, many pages speak not only of "Shi jing", but also of "Shu jing".

The decline of the dominance of the hereditary aristocracy was expressed in the decline of faith in the omnipotence of heaven. The former purely religious view of the heavenly path began to be replaced by a more realistic view of the Universe surrounding man - nature, society. However, the basis of all religious superstitions was the cult of ancestors, for this cult is the genealogy of the ancient Chinese state.

The ideology of Confucianism as a whole shared the traditional ideas about the sky and heavenly destiny, in particular those set forth in the "Shi Ching". However, in the context of widespread doubts about the sky in the VI century. before. n. e. Confucians and their main representative Confucius (551-479 BC) focused not on preaching the greatness of heaven, but on fear of heaven, its punishing power and the inevitability of heavenly fate.

Confucius said that "everything was originally predetermined by fate, and nothing can be added or subtracted here" ("Mo Tzu", "Against the Confucians", part II). Confucius said that a noble husband should be afraid of heavenly fate, and even emphasized: "Without knowing the will of heaven, one cannot become a noble husband" ("Lun-Yu", chapter "Yao Yue").

Confucius revered the sky as a formidable, universal and supernatural ruler, while possessing well-known anthropomorphic properties. The sky of Confucius determines for each person his place in society, rewards, punishes.

Along with the dominant religious view of the sky, Confucius already contained elements of the interpretation of the sky as a synonym for nature in general.

Mo Tzu, who lived after Confucius, around 480-400 years. BC, also accepted the idea of ​​faith in heaven and its will, but this idea received a different interpretation from him. Firstly, the will of the sky in Mo-tzu is cognizable and known to everyone - this is universal love and mutual benefit. The fate of Mo-tzu rejects in principle. Thus, Mo-tzu's interpretation of the will of heaven is critical: the denial of the privileges of the ruling class and the affirmation of the will of the common people. Mo Tzu tried to use the weapons of the ruling classes and even the superstitions of ordinary people of ordinary people for political purposes, in the struggle against the ruling class. Mohists, having subjected to fierce criticism the views of Confucians on the heavenly struggle, at the same time considered the sky as a model for the Celestial Empire.

In Mo-tzu's statements about the sky, the survivals of traditional religious views are combined with an approach to the sky as a natural phenomenon. It is with these new elements and in the interpretation of the sky as periods that the Moists connect Tao as an expression of the sequence of changes in the world around man.

Yang Zhu (6th century BC) rejected the religious elements of the early Moist Kofucian views of heaven and denied its supernatural nature. In place of the sky, Yang Zhu puts forward "natural necessity", which he identifies with fate, rethinking the original meaning of this concept.

In IV-III centuries. BC e. the cosmogonic concept associated with the forces of yang and yin and the five principles, the elements - wuxing, receives further development. The relationship between the origins was characterized by two features: mutual defeat and mutual overcoming. Mutuality had the following sequence of origins: wood, fire, earth, metal, water; wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, water again generates wood, etc. The sequence of beginnings from the point of view of mutual overcoming was different: water, fire, metal, wood, earth; water overcomes fire, fire - metal, etc. Back in the VI-III centuries. BC e. a number of important materialistic propositions were formulated.

These provisions are:

· to the explanation of the world as the eternal formation of things;

to the recognition of movement as an inherent property of the lens

· but the existing real world of things;

· to finding the source of this movement within the world itself in the form of a constant collision of two opposite, but interconnected natural forces.

· to explain the change of diverse phenomena as the cause of regularity, subject to the perpetual motion of contradictory and interconnected substantive forces.

In IV-III centuries. before. n. e. materialistic tendencies in the understanding of the sky and nature were developed by representatives of Taoism. The sky itself in the book "Tao Tse Ching" is considered as an integral part of nature, opposite to the earth. The sky is formed from the light particles of yang qi and changes according to the Tao.

"The function of heaven" is the natural process of the emergence and development of things, in the course of which man is also born. Xun Tzu considers man as an integral part of nature - he calls the sky and its sense organs, the very feelings and soul of a person "heavenly", that is, natural. Man and his soul are the result of the natural development of nature.

In the sharpest form, the philosopher speaks out against persons who praise heaven and expect favors from it. The sky cannot have any influence on the fate of a person. Xun Tzu condemned the blind worship of heaven and urged people to strive to subdue nature to the will of man with their work.

This is how the views of ancient Chinese philosophers about nature, the origin of the world, the reasons for its changes went on. This process proceeded in a complex struggle of elements of natural scientific, materialistic ideas with mystical and religious-idealistic views. The naivety of these ideas, their extremely weak natural-scientific justification, is primarily due to the low level of productive forces, as well as the underdevelopment of social relations.

Conclusion

The roots of Chinese culture go deep into antiquity. Already in the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. e. China was a vast country where they owned arable implements, knew how to build houses, fortresses and roads, traded with neighboring countries, sailed along the rivers and dared to go to sea. Apparently, already at that prehistoric time, some of the most important features of Chinese culture were laid down: a high level of building art, the traditional character of buildings and religious rites, the cult of ancestors, and rationalistic humility before the power of the gods. Despite the countless wars, rebellions, destruction caused by the conquerors of the country, the culture of China not only did not weaken, but, on the contrary, always defeated the culture of the conquerors.

Throughout history, Chinese culture has not lost its activity, maintaining its solidity. Each of the cultural epochs left unique beauty, originality and diversity of values ​​for posterity. The works of architecture, sculpture, painting and handicrafts are priceless monuments of China's cultural heritage.

At the end of the era of Ancient China (2nd century BC - 2nd century AD), Confucianism was the official ideology, including education and upbringing. During this period, education was relatively widespread. The prestige of a trained person has grown, a kind of cult of education has developed. School work has become an integral part of state policy. There was a system of state examinations for the occupation of bureaucratic positions. Those who completed the course of school education in passing such exams saw the path to a public career.

The artistic culture of China absorbed the main spiritual values ​​that developed in the teachings of Taoism and Confucianism. Proximity to nature, the desire for spiritual perfection, the search for harmony in every natural phenomenon - be it a flower, a tree, an animal - made it possible to form a completely unique aesthetic consciousness and artistic practice.

Sculpture in China has gone through a very complex and contradictory path of development. Being one of the leading types of fine art, sculpture belonged entirely to cult art for a long period. The sculpture of Ancient China is primarily associated with the burial culture of the Chinese.

In ancient China, the ideological foundation was laid, on which medieval art and literature developed not only in China itself, but also in the neighboring countries of the Far East - Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. At the same time, many themes of Chinese poetry developed, that rich arsenal of symbols and images, without the knowledge of which it is impossible to correctly understand the classical literature of the Far Eastern peoples.

Chinese painting is a complex figurative worldview, constant communication with the image of nature to convey one's feelings originated in China in ancient times. All Chinese mythology is associated with the struggle of man against the elements, with a naive and figurative interpretation of natural phenomena.

The specificity of Chinese philosophy is directly related to its special role in the acute socio-political struggle that took place in numerous states of ancient China during the periods of "Spring and Autumn" and "Fighting Kingdoms". The development of social relations in China did not lead to a clear division of spheres of activity within the ruling classes. In China, a peculiar division of labor between politicians and philosophers was not clearly expressed, which led to the direct, immediate subordination of philosophy to political practice. Questions of social management, relations between different social groups, between kingdoms - that's what mainly interested the philosophers of ancient China.

Another feature of the development of Chinese philosophy is related to the fact that the natural scientific observations of Chinese scientists did not find, with a few exceptions, a more or less adequate expression in philosophy, since philosophers, as a rule, did not consider it necessary to refer to the materials of natural science. Perhaps the only exception of this kind is the Mohist school and the school of natural philosophers, which, however, ceased to exist after the Zhou era.

The formation of the views of ancient Chinese philosophers about nature, the origin of the world, the reasons for its changes. This process proceeded in a complex struggle of elements of natural scientific, materialistic ideas with mystical and religious-idealistic views. The naivety of these ideas, their extremely weak natural science justification is explained, first of all, by the low level of productive forces, as well as the underdevelopment of social relations.

Bibliography

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2) Vasiliev L. S. History of the Religion of the East. - M .: Book house "University", 2001. - p. 425

3) Vinogradova N.A. Chinese landscape painting. - M.: Visual arts, 2003. - p. 160

4) Vinogradova N.A., Nikolaeva N.S. Art of the countries of the Far East // Small history of arts - M.: Art, 1979. - p. 374

5) Vinogradova N.A. The Art of Medieval China - M.: Small Academy of Arts, 1962. - p. 101

6) Baranov N.V. General history of architecture. T.1 - M.: Stroyizdat, 1973. - p. 514

7) Glukhareva O.N., Denike B.P. A Brief History of the Arts of China - M.: Art, 1948. - p. 212

8) Glukhareva O.N. The art of folk China. Painting. Graphics - M.: Art, 1958. - p. 227

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China is one of the oldest states, the culture of which has its own characteristics and attracts millions of travelers from all over the world with its originality. The most ancient monuments of Chinese culture date back to the 5th-3rd millennium BC. It was in China that the remains of one of the oldest human ancestors, Sinanthropus, who lived more than 400 thousand years ago, were found.

However, archaeological evidence suggests that civilization came to China later than to Egypt, India or Sumer - around 11 millennium BC. For a long period, until the middle of the 1st millennium BC, there were no irrigation systems in China, and the civilization itself existed very isolated.

One of the first cultures of ancient China was the Yangshao culture - about 3 thousand years BC. Already during this period, the inhabitants of China built houses deepened into the ground, cultivated the land, tamed animals, and mastered various crafts. There is documentary evidence of their skill in pictographic writing. They praised the Sun, the Moon, various natural phenomena, extolling the cult of ancestors.

Chinese culture has a number of features Remains of ceramic vessels - dishes, jugs, bowls - have been preserved to this day. Masters decorated them with various geometric patterns, as well as zoomorphic patterns. In the II millennium, along with the formation of civilization, the culture of China is undergoing great changes. This period is characterized by the collapse of primitive society and the formation of the first states. The remains of the city-state of Shan that have survived to this day testify that already at that time the city had a clear layout and was surrounded by a 6-meter-thick adobe wall. The palace of the Shang ruler stood on an adobe platform, towering over other buildings. Inside it were found stone sculptures of animals and people, wall paintings made in bright colors of red, white and black. The Shang era is characterized by the invention of bronze casting, the appearance of writing with hieroglyphs. On the remains of sacrificial animals, on tortoiseshell shields, one can see documentary evidence of this. At this time, the ideas of the Chinese about the afterlife change significantly, the importance of the cult of ancestors grows. So, the tomb of the ruler of Shang is distinguished by its two-tiered structure, the presence in it of a whole arsenal of items that can be “useful” to the ruler for the afterlife - chariots, weapons, household items made of bronze and jade, and ceramics. The tomb was guarded by guards in the form of half-humans, half-beasts.

The cultural characteristics of China during the Bronze Age are characterized by an increased belief in mythological and religious patrons. This is evidenced by a huge number of bronze vessels for sacrifices. The lids and handles of such vessels were carved in the shape of the heads of the most revered animals - a bull, a tiger, a ram, a dragon. The surface of such vessels was carved in the form of scales, which multiplied the magical effect of the sacrifice.

In the 1st millennium BC the life of ancient China is changing in all areas of civilization. At the beginning of this period, there is a change in the rule of the Shang to the rule of the Western Zhou, who also began to call themselves kings - "wang". It was during this period that the formation and ordering of the religious doctrine about the “divine” origin of all “vans” was completed. It was based on the mythological representation of this cult of Heaven as the highest deity. The first coherent and unified ancient history of China was created, which was based on the cult of Chinese sages - the rulers of antiquity. Wang Zhou was proclaimed the Son of Heaven and his only earthly incarnation. He was credited with magical abilities - "de", which allowed him to be an intermediary between Heaven and the people of China. He began to be called the lord of the Middle Kingdom. Later, power passes to the Eastern Zhou - in the 8th century BC. The end of the first millennium BC is characterized by the predominance of cultural ethnocentrism, which later flourished even more. The Huaxia ethnic group extols the Chinese origin as the only one deserving respect and worship. All other nations called themselves barbarians.

Characteristics of Chinese culture

Ancient Chinese culture differs from other ancient cultures in its originality and originality. Its rationalism, pragmatism and appeal to the values ​​of real earthly life significantly distinguishes it from Indian culture. Another of its main characteristic features is the huge role of traditions, rituals and ceremonies. This was the origin of the expression "Chinese ceremonies". Chinese culture is closely connected with religion and the worship of the divine forces of nature. The supreme deity for them is Heaven, the main temple is the temple of Heaven, and they call their country the Celestial Empire. Since ancient times, the Chinese have worshiped the Sun and other luminaries, mountains and water elements.

Dance steps Features of China are manifested in aestheticization and poeticization. In China, earlier than anywhere else, landscape painting, architecture and lyrical works about nature arose.

There comes a period in civilization when new centers of trade are actively growing, in cities the population is increasing by half a million. Iron and household tools from it appear in the course, crafts develop. For the first time, hydraulic structures appeared, allowing the active development of agriculture.

The period from the 5th to the 8th century BC is called the "Warring States" period, when there was a struggle for power between several powerful kingdoms in China. The Qin kingdom played an important role in the development of China during this period. An unprecedented flourishing of science and culture took place precisely during this period, also called the period of "the rivalry of a hundred schools." A solar-lunar calendar was created, the length of the year was specified, a catalog of stars was created, the periods of lunar eclipses were calculated, and a theory of the movement of celestial bodies - "tao" - was created. Great achievements are also taking place in the field of mathematics. The development of astronomy, geography, mathematics and philosophy lead to the development of a skeptical attitude towards religious beliefs. Proof of this is the treatise Questions to Heaven, which criticizes the mythological aspects of religion.
This period is also considered the golden age of Chinese philosophy. It is from here that the main currents of philosophy originate - Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism.

Great Confucius and his followers

The great Kung Tzu lived from 551 to 479. BC, and chose the relationship between people as the topic for his philosophical reflections. He believed that the path to peace and order lies through the observance of the norms and centuries-old traditions of the Chinese people. Confucius believed that the main task of educating a person is to master certain norms and strict rules of behavior that can regulate relations between different groups of people, for example, between older and younger people, between people of different social levels, between children and their parents and etc.

Confucius - the man who changed the world

He was a categorical opponent of introducing everything new into relations, including reforms. In his opinion, only the ancient wisdom of the ancestors can become the key to solving modern problems. Only the centuries-old experience of past generations and traditions will help a person find his place in life and accept the truth that a ruler should be a ruler, a father should be a father, and a son should be a son! Confucius considered the state as a projection of the family, in which the main role, the main bearer of norms and rules, undoubtedly, is given to the wise ruler.

Confucius and his followers extended their teachings not only to religion and philosophy, but to the whole way of life. It helps to find the answer to any question, starting with the question of the meaning of life, and ending with any life situation. It was this teaching that formed the basis of the ancient Chinese educational system, where the humanities were fundamental. Confucianism contributed to the formation in Chinese society of a wide class of educated officials who constituted a privileged elite. This teaching contributed to the development of cultural Chinese ethnocentrism.

Features of China - the philosophical doctrine of Taoism

In the same period, another philosophical direction was formed in China - Taoism. Its founder and spiritual leader is Lao Tzu. The main feature of this philosophy is the rejection of active life and the contemplation of everything around. The main direction of this doctrine is the study of the laws of nature and following these laws. The idea of ​​"the path of nature" and the eternal variability of the world is taken as the basis of the doctrine. Taoism, like the teachings of Confucius, goes beyond religion and philosophy, spreading to the whole way of life. Much in this teaching is drawn from Buddhism and yoga, for example, breathing practices. The ultimate goal in this direction is to achieve immortality. Taoism preaches the theory of "non-action", including for the ruler, arguing that the best ruler is the one about whom the people know only what he is.

One of the areas of life where the interest of Taoism spread is natural science, astrology, and alchemy. Eventually, the experiments of the alchemists led to the invention of gunpowder. The science of the connection between outer space and the earth's surface led to the invention of the compass. Astrological forecasts for all occasions became very popular, and no self-respecting ruler made an important decision without the advice of a personal astrologer.

In addition, many principles of Taoism formed the philosophical basis of many Chinese martial arts, in particular wushu.

Legalism - the philosophy of a harsh law

Legalism became the third influential philosophical trend in China. Initially, he was an opponent of the supporters of Confucianism, but later he almost completely entered this philosophical movement. The main fundamental criterion for creating a strong and strong state, according to the legalists, is the observance of laws. They believed that morality and tradition could not be the basis for politics. They were supporters of strict discipline, obedience and severe punishment for misconduct. They developed a state system based on dictatorship. Almost until the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of a despotic state with elements of Confucianism underlay the Chinese statehood.

Artistic culture of ancient China

During the Warring States era, many events of their artistic culture are celebrated. The range of topics that are reflected in art is expanding. It was at this time that the first architectural treatise "Zhouli" was created. It clearly sets out the basic principles of the architectural planning of the city, indicating the width of roads, the dimensional parameters of buildings, and the thickness of the walls of buildings and structures.

The literary achievements of this period are marked by the famous "Book of Songs", which contains about three hundred songs and poems. The editorship of this monument of literature is attributed to Confucius. Among the poets, Qu Yuan is known, who created both lyrical and tragic works. His "Ode to Sorrow" is widely known in China. The first chanter of female beauty and a deep feeling of love between a man and a woman was Sup Yu.

The culture of China reached its peak in the period from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The reason for this was extensive changes in all areas of life.

An adherent of legalism, the minister of the Qin kingdom, Shang Yang, initiated full-scale reforms in all areas of life. Thanks to him, uniform legislation appeared in the country, legal proceedings were developed, inheritance of titles and privileges were abolished, and reforms were carried out in the army. In it, all chariots were replaced by cavalry, bronze weapons were replaced by iron ones. Rigid discipline, strict order and subordination, cruel punishment and violence - these are the basic principles on which the reforms were carried out. However, it was thanks to the implementation of all the reforms that the Qin kingdom was able to subjugate all the other "Warring States" and became a powerful centralized power. In 221 BC, the ruler of Qin began to style himself the Emperor of Qin. After 15 years, the Qin dynasty is replaced by the Han dynasty, which ruled until the very end of the existence of Ancient China, that is, until 220 AD. During this period, the Chinese Empire is considered one of the most powerful in the world. Its population is one fifth of the total world population (approximately 60 million people).

The country is changing before our eyes. There are roads connecting cities with villages, agriculture is developing, which uses many new technologies for growing crops. Many canals are being built in the country, which have become an excellent cheap alternative to transport arteries. Trade flourishes.

Music is one of the most important areas of Chinese culture

Crafts have been widely developed. The Chinese empire becomes the exclusive world supplier of silk. It is produced in large volumes and becomes a major export commodity. Lacquer, invented in China, has also received wide recognition. It was used to cover weapons, various household items, combat equipment, wood products, etc. The varnish not only perfectly protected the products from negative external influences, but also gave them a beautiful look. There is a lot of controversy about who first invented paper. The Chinese consider this invention their gift to all mankind. The first paper appeared in the period from the 2nd to the 1st century BC. Hieroglyphic writing is widely used and finds its distribution in Japan and Vietnam, Korea.

During the reign of these two dynasties, China establishes extensive trade relations with other countries. Great importance had the "Great Silk Road", the total length of which was more than seven thousand kilometers. Trade caravans brought to India, the Mediterranean countries, Iran, and Central Asia not only high-quality silks, but also iron, varnishes, nickel, precious metals, bronzes, and ceramics.

Philosophy of China has many features Ancient China went down in history as the founder of mathematical calculus with negative numbers, as mentioned in the treatise "Mathematics in Nine Books". Chinese scientists do not bypass astrology, new expanded maps of the starry sky are being created, a celestial globe is being created. Medical science is replenished with 36 treatises that have collected complete information about diseases and methods of their treatment, the first pharmacological treatise is being created. A separate point worth noting is the invention of the world's first seismograph.

The architects of ancient China are distinguished by a special look at the planning of cities and the construction of houses. One of the famous architectural creations of this era was the Great Wall of China. The total length of this structure is more than six thousand kilometers. The wall near Beijing is five to eight meters wide and ten meters high. Also one of the grandiose architectural monuments of Ancient China is the burial place of Emperor Qin-Shi Huangdi. Its scope and content is amazing. Inside the underground palace-tomb, ceramic warriors standing shoulder to shoulder, chariots and horses, ready to break into battle at any second by order of the emperor, guard the rest of the emperor. The clay army of thousands of warriors is made in full size. The national characteristics of China lie in a deep belief in the afterlife. That is why the burial places of the greatest rulers were so extensive and rich.

Inventions that China gave the world

The most famous inventions that China has discovered to the world are gunpowder, compass, silk, typography, paper, tea, porcelain, acupuncture, windmills, parachutes, matches and much more. Sometimes the invention of one or another subject occurs independently of each other in different parts of the world. There is evidence of the invention of a double boiler, a fork, various devices for cultivation, agriculture, etc.

National features of Chinese cuisine

In China, they love and know how to cook, and you can only learn this from a master at home. There are no special institutions where they would teach the art of cooking. One of the features of Chinese cuisine is the preparation of vegetables. They are not served raw. Vegetables must be cooked. Like nowhere else, in China you can find various insects cooked - locusts, grasshoppers, ants, as well as snakes. As an exotic, you can taste chicken with sugar, the dish is sold in many stores. As for alcoholic beverages, in China it is not customary to drink them without a serious reason. Families never drink at home. To do this, they gather in a bar and always by a company. One of their favorite drinks is beer, which has a special taste and is somewhat weaker than usual for Europeans (about 4 degrees). The Chinese love to clink glasses with everyone, with obligatory wishes.

Features of the culture of the population of China

In China, the majority of the male population smokes, women practically do not smoke. Vision problems occur in 70% of the population. Light skin is considered an adornment of a woman, so sunbathing is not accepted in China. Many consider the Chinese to be "narrow-eyed", while the Chinese themselves believe that their eye size corresponds to the inhabitants of European countries, and the whole problem is in the impending century. The proverb “It’s clean not where they clean it, but where they don’t litter” is absolutely not suitable for China. China is very clean just because they clean it all the time. The Chinese love to litter even more than our compatriots.

The people of China do not know what "Vacation" is. There is no such word in their everyday life. They are very hardworking and only take a break on the weekends. Only twice a year this weekend is somewhat long - in February in Chinese New Year and in October, during the celebration of the founding of the PRC.

The surnames of the Chinese are not diverse. In total there are about a hundred surnames. The most common surnames are Li and Wang. Due to the variety of dialects, learning Chinese is very difficult. There are about two hundred of them in total, and some of them are more like a completely different language. The most popular dialect is Mandarin. Due to the huge population in China, English language They say more people than in America or England.

In China, no one will invite you to visit, this is not accepted. You can not hug and kiss a girl when meeting. Don't act very emotionally yet, raising your voice and gesticulating, you can offend the Chinese with such a display of feelings. If you want to give a business card to a Chinese, then you should do it with both hands. In our usual understanding of the concept of "queue" the Chinese do not. “Whoever got up first - that and slippers!” It's about China! Many Chinese people don't bother to change clothes in order to go to the store, so don't be surprised if you meet a Chinese person in pajamas in the store, that's par for the course. Older people in China often do special gymnastics, reminiscent of slow kung fu. They do it right on the street, not embarrassed by anyone, more often in the morning. If you decide to use public transport, then you will have to “bounce around”, since there is no custom in China to first release people who get out of it, and then sit down. China is famous for its high-speed Maglev train that runs from Shanghai to the airport. For a long time it was the fastest in the world, as it reaches speeds of up to 413 km/h. The peculiarity of its movement is that it moves on a magnetic "cushion" without touching the rails.

Chinese medicine has a long history and is based on the study of the human body, on its biologically active points, its reactions when exposed to mechanical or other methods. The healing properties of plants that grow in China have been studied by many generations of healers and have scientific evidence. Thousands of people come to China for healing every year.

What types of treatment can be found in Chinese clinics:

• acupuncture - the impact of special needles on biologically active points. Reflexology is a technique aimed at alleviating the patient's condition, at normalizing all processes in his body. This technique is widely used to treat diseases of a nervous nature, the cardiovascular system, to strengthen immune system, reducing pain, etc. It is in China that many clinics work to help children with cerebral palsy recover, to recover from severe accidents and injuries;
• classical massages, foot massage, using various devices (vacuum). Massage perfectly helps to cope with nervous tension, activates blood circulation, relieves pain and strengthens the immune system;
• mud treatment;
• clay treatment;
• scraping channels allows you to get rid of stagnant processes in the body;
• phytotherapy. Herbal preparations, as a rule, are prepared individually for each patient, depending on his disease, on the severity of his condition and on his tolerance of certain ingredients. Collections of herbs based on old recipes are created from raw materials grown in environmentally friendly conditions. Baths for patients, various rinses and wraps, lotions and irrigations are also prepared from decoctions and infusions of herbs;
• treatment with mineral springs;
• thermal water treatment.

For example, visiting a resort in Baidakh perfectly restores the body's own defenses through strengthening its own immune system, through the use of ancient techniques of Chinese healers. Five mineral lakes, which have truly miraculous properties, form the basis of the recovery of the Udalyanchi resort. If you want to combine relaxation in one of the cleanest places on the planet and unique wellness methods, then you should visit the resorts of Sanya. The famous thermal springs of this resort are known all over the world.

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originates in the mists of time. Chinese inscriptions made in ancient times help to see a clearer picture of the emergence of Chinese hieroglyphic writing, its culture and customs.

Thanks to the sources that have come down to our time, for the most part - the literary classics of ancient China, we can observe the process of the birth and further development of religion, philosophy and the emergence of the first ancient socio-political systems. This process has been observed for thousands of years.

Chinese Culture History

Religions of Ancient China , like many peoples of that time, they originated from fetishism, ancient forms of the cult of ancestors, the cult of nature, totemism and was inseparable from magic. The cult of the earth and mountains was quite widespread. It referred to the terrain and the economic life of the times when the ancestors of modern Chinese led a nomadic life and constantly moved from one landscape to another, spent summers in mountainous areas, and spent winters in the steppes.

For a long period of time in China there was a form of divination connected with the earth (geomancy). The Chinese also endowed the moon, sun, stars and planets, trees and rivers with divine power and authority. They also deified their ancestors; this cult persisted for quite a long time.

According to Mao Tse-tung, there are four kinds of power - political power, family power, religious power and the power of a husband (for women) - together they are a reflection of the feudal-patriarchal ideology and the most terrible ties that entangle the Chinese people, especially the peasantry.

The religious beliefs of antiquity existed during the slave-owning and feudal stages of development and partly survived until recently.

Various beliefs in China began to take shape in antiquity. The religious and philosophical ideology, which took shape in the 6th-5th centuries, had the greatest significance. BC e. and later, which served as the basis for later religions. In the culture of China, the philosophical views of Confucius, based on the ancient schools of scribes and fortune-tellers, had significance.

The ideology of Lao Tzu was also widespread; it differed from Confucianism in its clearly marked speculative character. Later, the philosophical system of Lao Tzu served as the basis for Taoism. Tao is the way or foundation of the world. The Taoist religion shrouded the image of Lao Tzu in a mist of legends and various tales. The philosophy of Lao Tzu was in some respects more progressive than Confucianism.

Much more interesting is the spontaneous materialistic philosophy that appeared in the 1st century. n. e. The representative of this philosophy was Wang Chung, who stated: "the sky is a body like the earth" , speaking out against the traditional religious and philosophical views of the society of that time.

However, later it was developed in the philosophical works of the III-V centuries, indicating the fragility of the spirit. But it did not receive further distribution because of the class slave-owning ideology associated with the ancient religion that dominated the country.

Ancient Chinese culture developed slowly, which is indicated by the fact that for thousands of years an ancient and very complex system of hieroglyphic writing existed - a Chinese charter that turned the wisdom of the ancients into a monopoly of priests and aristocratic society . The Taoist religion and Confucianism have left their mark on the entire Chinese culture and have left many varieties of the ancient cult unchanged for thousands of years.

The needs of life led to the emergence of the beginnings of a whole spectrum of sciences. Mathematics, and especially geometry, developed significantly. The need to count time and draw up a calendar was the cause of the birth of ancient astronomy. The beginning of astronomical observations is the Shang-Yin period.

Astronomers of Ancient China learned to observe the movement of the stars, calculate and even predict lunar and solar eclipses, the appearance of comets. The constellations of the North Star were distributed by astronomers to lunar houses and thus a map of the starry sky was created. By observing the positions of the constellations with water clocks, Chinese astronomers could calculate the time.