China

The integratio n of foreign motifs and styles with the traditiona l arts of China is the focus of this catalogue. The exhibition comprised some three hundred objects, most of them excavated in recent years and many never before seen outside China. Each work is discussed in terms of its aesthetic qualities and art-histor ical significan ce and in the context of the philosophi cal and religious ideas that are reflected in iconograph y and style.

Published by the Federal Research Division of the U.S. Library of Congress as part of the Country Studies/Area Handbook Series sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army between 1986 and 1998, offering a comprehensive description and analysis of the historical setting, geography, society, economy, political system, and foreign policy.

Pronounced "chin" (stringed instrument) or "goo chin" (old stringed instrument), the guqin throughout its long history has been the musical instrument most prized by China's literati. They categorized it as one of their "four arts", collected it as an art object, praised its beautiful music, and built around it a complex ideology. No other instrument was so often depicted in paintings, or so regularly mentioned in poetry. Because of the literati's fondness for writing things down, it also has the world's oldest detailed written instrumental music tradition, providing sufficient information to allow both historically informed performance (requiring use of silk strings) of the many early melodies, and practical exploration of the relationship between Chinese music theory and music practice.

This is a forum for members of the SCA who are interested in creating Chinese personae or in all things medieval and Chinese.