"Art" magazine launched in Beijing
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-02 23:21:38

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- "Art," a specialized magazine thatis
aimed to guide China's booming art market, was launched in Beijing
recently, by a sub-committee on calligraphy, painting and sculpture
under the China Society of Cultural Heritage.

The magazine will carry articles on art and art-related economic issues,
said Liu Rendao, director and editor-in-chief of the monthly.

The articles will be neutral and objective on the assessment of art
works, while closely monitoring the movements of art market, Liu said.

"The magazine will adopt a simple and vivid style," he noted.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/02/content_2641143.htm

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E. China's sacred mountain to get renovation
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-01 14:30:57

JINAN, March 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China will renovate the sacred mountain of
Taishan, a World Heritage site, to boom local tourism beginning in early
March.

The face-lift, which costs an estimated 15 million yuan (about 1.8
million US dollars), will finish in late October, said an official with
the tourism bureau of Shandong Province, where the mountain is located.

Dubbed as "the most preeminent of China's five sacred mountains,"
Taishan was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientificand
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1987 as a world natural and cultural
heritage.

The other four mountains are western Huashan, southern Hengshan,northern
Eternity and central Songshan.

The renovation includes repair work on historic relics and rebuilding
damaged cultural architecture. Besides, blots on the landscape
inconsistent with the historic scenery, such as modern buildings, will
be demolished, the official said.

Taishan has received the warning for its commercialization, followed by
Huangshan Mountain in east China's Anhui Province and The Wulingyuan
Scenic Area in Zhangjiajie in central China's Hunan Province.

With the peak 1,540 meters above sea level, Taishan Mountain isa symbol
of loftiness and grandeur. In ancient times, emperors used to ascend the
mountain to pray and say thanks to heaven and earth for peace and
prosperity. High officials, noted scholars andcommoners have followed suit.

"The sacred Mount Tai (Taishan) was the object of an imperial cult for
nearly 2,000 years, and the artistic masterpieces found there are in
perfect harmony with the natural landscape. It has always been a source
of inspiration for Chinese artists and scholars and symbolizes ancient
Chinese civilizations and beliefs," says an introduction to Taishan
Mountain on the website of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/01/content_2633625.htm

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Sticky porridge used to cement ancient walls
www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-27 20:56:07

XI'AN, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet)-- The legend that ancient Chinese craftsmen
used glutinous rice porridge in the mortar while building ramparts has
been verified by archaeological research in northwest China's Shaanxi
Province.

In a recent maintenance to the ancient city wall of Xi'an, the
provincial capital, workers discovered that the plaster remnants on the
ancient bricks were quite hard to remove, said Qin Jianming,a researcher
with the Xi'an Preservation and Restoration Center ofCultural Relics.

A chemical test showed that the mortar reacted the same as glutinous
rice to the reagent. And infrared spectral analysis also showed that the
mortar displayed similar molecule structure to glutinous rice.

"Thus we can conclude that the sticky material was in the mortar," Qin said.

The use of this sticky material, Qin said, helps explain why many
ancient Chinese brick structures are still standing.

The walls of Xi'an, the capital of China during several kingdoms and
dynasties, were built in the early years of the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). The construction was based on wall relics of the Sui and
Tang dynasties (581-907).

The 13.74-kilometer, 12-meter high ancient wall, which still encircles
central Xi'an, is well preserved today.

It is said that ancient construction workers used glutinous rice
porridge when building the Great Wall more than 2,000 years ago.

Qin said that the new finding is useful in further study of ancient
Chinese brick constructions.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/27/content_2626135.htm

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222 valuable cultural relics lost
www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-26 11:29:10

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet)-- Two hundred and twenty-two valuable
cultural relics were stolen in 2004, prompting the Chinese State
Administration of Cultural Heritage to warn the nation about the rising
cases of theft, the Beijing Daily reported Friday.

2004 saw an 81.8 percent increase of theft in cultural relics in China,
the paper said.

The newspaper, citing the State Administration of Cultural Heritage,
said 40 thefts of cultural relics were reported in Chinalast year, with
222 valuable relics lost. Seven of these cases have been cracked, with
related relics recovered.

The administration told the paper that disorganized management by local
historical relics authorities is the major reason for therebounding
theft cases last year.

According to the newspaper, 24 of the 40 thefts were committed by
groups. At dawn on January 3, 2004, six or seven armed thieves rushed
into an ancestral temple in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and stole
two stone monuments after tying up the staff. Therefore, the
administration called for more efforts to strengthen protection of
cultural relics.

Many of the stolen cultural relics are carved stones or Buddhaspreserved
in some temples or even in open fields, said the newspaper.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/26/content_2621930.htm

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Ancient kilns found fires imagination
www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-22 16:13:50

BEIJING, Feb. 22 -- Few question the fact that the Palace Museum, better
known as the Forbidden City, is where people see the best of ancient
Chinese porcelain pieces.
[image]

Even fewer would dispute the fact that Jingdezhen, in east China's
Jiangxi Province, was the ancient "capital of porcelain."

Most of the valuable ceramics kept at the Forbidden City, which date
back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, were made
there.

But at which kilns were the works for royals kneaded and fired?

The answer remained elusive as ancient imperial annals recorded that the
one and only kiln complex with the five centuries' patronage from two
dynasties was destroyed in a peasants' rebellion in the late 19th century.

The restored version later disappeared without even an oral or paper
trail, following the downfall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the porcelain town sprawled.
Houses and porcelain factories were built and roads were opened in
Jingdezhen.

It was not until the early 1980s that researchers stumbled upon the
possible ruins of the royal kiln complex in the central area of Jingdezhen.

Liu Xinyuan, professor of ceramics history with a local college, spent
years searching every possible building site. In early 1982, he was
walking by a construction site when he watched piles of broken porcelain
pieces fall from a bulldozer.

The construction workers had seen too many broken pieces in the area to
pay attention to them. But Liu was different. With his knowledge and a
pair of keen eyes, he believed the broken pieces he saw could only have
come from the royal kiln complex. It was said that Liu practically had
to stand in front of a bulldozer to stop the construction.

But extensive excavations at the ruins started some 20 years later in 2001.

A group of archaeologists from Peking University, Jingdezhen and
provincial archaeological institutions have kept very busy over the past
four years on the northeastern and southern part of the kiln complex site.

According to Quan Kuishan, one of the leading archaeologists in the
investigation team from Peking University, they have unearthed a large
amount of valuable remains and relics at the kiln sites.

With the artifacts, archaeologists and historians have begun to piece
together the puzzle of the royal porcelain making in the Ming and Qing
dynasties, and rewrite the history of ceramics of the Ming and Qing
dynasties.

Unknown wares

For porcelain connoisseurs, the highlight in the archaeologists' work
has been the discovery of the rich varieties of porcelain pieces.

"We've found many types of porcelains that were not in the record books
or among the ceramic works handed down," said Quan.

These include a blue underglazed jar decorated with the drawings of the
sea and dragon and a red underglazed brushbox embellished with incised
plum blossom and bamboo. A blue and white glazed porcelain spoon of the
Yongle period (1403-1424) in the Ming Dynasty is 33.5 centimeters long,
bearing scriptures of good wishes in Sanskrit.

The excavated pieces were mainly fired in the early and middle stages of
the Ming Dynasty. During the reigns of Emperor Chengzu (1403-24, reign
title Yongle) and Emperor Xuanzong (1426-35, reign title Xuande), the
porcelain production was of the largest quantity and finest quality.

The colors of the items varied at different times, such as mainly red
glaze and red underglaze during Yongle period, and primarily white glaze
and classic blue and white during Xuande period.

The items were bowls, jars, vases and other dish wares. The major
decorations are carved designs, printings or drawings.

Some ceramic pieces bear inscriptions indicating the time of
manufacture, which offers important clues to the puzzling ceramic
production development.

Kiln shapes

"These items add a new dimension for us to explore the porcelain
production skills at those times," said Quan, who with his
co-researchers, have been able to make out the size and the shapes of
the royal kilns.

"They are indispensable in revealing the great changes of firing
activities of the kilns," he added.

The excavation now covers an area of nearly 1,000 square meters.

Judging from their position and age, the archaeologists concluded that
the size of the royal kiln complex was much larger in the early stage of
the Ming Dynasty than in the Qing Dynasty.

Two shapes of kilns were unearthed, one resembling a gourd and the other
steamed bread.

Excavated in the northeastern part of the site, the Gourd Kiln Hulu Yao
is surrounded by a brick wall. The kiln is huge in size, and the kiln
bed slightly rises from the front to the back.

Drawing on the best functions of the common Dragon Kiln (Long Yao) and
the Steamed Bread Kiln (Mantou Yao), the Gourd Kiln enabled the
craftsmen to better control the fluctuation of temperature.

"The Gourd Kiln was already common during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368),
but this is the first time we have unearthed this type of kiln in the
royal kiln site," Quan said.

Another 14 so-called smaller Steamed Bread Kilns were also excavated in
the southern part of the site. These were built with small bricks.

The excavation showed that the Gourd Kiln was mainly used before the
reign of Emperor Xuanzong (1426-35) of the Ming Dynasty. Afterwards, the
Steamed Bread Kiln was more utilized.

Though both kilns were already commonly used before the Ming Dynasty,
they were not simple copies, but went through further reconstruction at
the time.

What greatly aroused the archaeologists' interests was the "kiln sweats."

The glass-like sinter produced in the high-temperature chemical
reaction, between the inside walls and the substances volatilizing from
the burning wood and pottery glaze, hung inside the walls of some
Steamed Bread Kilns, accumulating in thick layers and indicating a high
firing temperature of over 1,200 C. But such a phenomenon is not
widespread among all Steamed Bread Kilns.

"It is absolutely not accidental. We think work divisions among the
kilns already existed at the time," said Quan.

Some kilns were used for firing the small blue utensils of qingci
celadon requiring a high temperature. Comparatively, in some
low-temperature kilns, the colorful ceramic glaze could be fired.

"The wide varieties of exquisite pottery of the Ming Dynasty should not
be separated from its advanced kiln structure and the reasonable work
division of the kilns," said Quan.

During the Ming Dynasty, in order to avoid any copies of the royal
tributes from the civilian kilns, the defect products and the works
failing to meet imperial standards were all shattered and buried with
discarded kiln tools and slag.

The archaeologists discovered three different ways of dealing with these
defective pieces.

Broken pieces

They have excavated 14 small pits, all dating back to the Ming Dynasty,
arranged in a round or irregular circle and were dug specially to bury
the ceramic fragments.

However, the researchers also found piles of broken pieces that seemed
to have been thrown together at random.

They surmised that sometimes, after the craftsman smashed the defect
works, they just dumped them onto the ground at will.

Most of the fragments could be recovered into their original appearance.

To the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty, these pieces were not as good as
the ones that have survived. But to contemporary researchers and
historians, these add to the design and creations in the list of Ming
Chinese porcelain.
(Source: China Daily)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-02/22/content_2604522.htm

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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