Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

Typological Features of Chinese Culture in the Ming Dynasty (1398-1644)

 

 

481

central and centripetal vectors. These plastic principles are maintained at the 

macro and micro levels of the whole. 

Chinese artists are known for their special love of curved, wavy lines, 

which allow the energy of motion to be translated visually. Hidden channels 

through which internal life impulses can pass, trajectories formed by 

interactions between the rhythms of space and matter, these lines were 

called “dragon veins.” 

“The system of dragon veins, lost in the infinitely complex geometry of the 

space-time continuum, in every moment of deployment appears a grasp of 

form and shape, extended and intermittent. We can see signs of this grasp in 

those lines favoured by Chinese painters of the curve of branches and swirls 

of clouds, in winding paths and streams, the broken contours of mountains 

and the lacy outline of stones, reached by emptiness - in all that gives the 

impression of a cliff, the transition to otherness, the convergence of the 

dissimilar.”

19

 

China masters began to give their attention to the concept of energy 

quite early in the days of the ancient kingdoms and empires, when the first 

state associations formed in the Bronze Age (second millennium BC). Much 

as in India, art at this time was a part of complex magic rituals, which 

accounts for the special suggestive qualities of ancient Shan artefacts.

20

 

“Shan Dynasty art represented the sacred power of the state. ... The purpose 

of ritual was to maintain cosmic balance and the continuing dominance of 

the Shan government, in connection with which in the casting of ‘green 

bronze’ received an unprecedented concentration of energy, producing 

significantly superior artefacts compared both to those of neighbouring 

states and the products of later ages.”

21

 

The development of culture in during the Zhou Dynasty (7

th

-3

rd

 

century BC), the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) and the Han Dynasty (206 BC-

220 AD) was marked by the dominance of the political sphere. The Qin 

Dynasty, through military progress, created the conditions for many 

innovations in the field of art, which moved in the direction of the cultural 

synthesis and aesthetic pluralism which was fully realised in the ideology of 

the Han era (Confucianism-Legalism-Taoism). Particularly noteworthy is 

the heritage of three famous military writers Sunzi, Wuzi and Wei Liaozi. 

Ancient treatises describing martial arts techniques indicated the 

concentration of artistic efforts not only within the arts, but also in military 

strategy. An essay by Sunzi, The Art of War, describes 13 stratagems, among 

                                                 

19

 Ibid., p. 268. 

20

 Kozhin 2009, p. 15-22. 

21

 Titarenko 2010, p. 32-33. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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R. K. Bazhanova, D. E. Martynov, Y. A. Martynova 

 

 

482

which a special place is occupied by tactical subterfuge. Sunzi describes the 

necessity in military activities of exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses, using 

camouflage, feints and other misleading tactics, such as misrepresenting 

one’s defences as weak. He emphasises that strategy does not mean 

planning in the sense of making a list of tasks, but action on the basis of 

rapid and appropriate response to constantly changing conditions. 

Much of the text is given over to the discussion of how to make war 

without actual military engagement and how to outwit the enemy without 

physical effort, i.e. without a fight. Warfare, according to the author, is 

based on deception. Military campaigns which achieve rapid success are 

preferable to a protracted war, which is costly, so the actions of a successful 

commander must be characterised by speed, efficiency and flexibility. The 

treatise has a curious passage describing a mysterious method called “a 

treasure for the governor.” Dealing with intrigue and subterfuge, it 

describes obtaining advance knowledge through the use of five types of 

spies: local, domestic, converted, doomed and retrievable. Advance 

knowledge, it states, does not come from heavenly signs, spirits, demons, 

but from the people. This knowledge is of the “true state of the enemy.” In 

addition he proposes that the conduct of a military leader should be calm 

and inspirational to others, direct, disciplined, and able to “deaden the 

hearing and sight” of soldiers and commanders, i.e. to keep them in 

ignorance. He makes changes to strategy and plans that those around him 

do not know about; he hides his position and acts in a roundabout way such 

that others can not foresee his actions.

22

 

Although these principles of military ingenuity lie far from the sphere 

of artistic activity, in the latter field it is also impossible not to see 

manifestations of rationalism and pragmatism, combined with camouflage 

and a spontaneous approach. Also clear is the penetration into artistic 

working practices of new ideas about the nature of particular skills 

associated with the phenomenon of gradation (variations in shade, tone and 

colour) and the nuances of its formal features. 

This quality is most vividly revealed in masterpieces of calligraphy 

from this period. Black ink, with its silver-grey nuances, gave a sense of the 

unity and integrity of the world. Here two styles of writing were singled out: 

one thorough, with precise representation of every detail, known as 

“diligent brush” (gongbi) and the other free-style, careless and spontaneous, 

referred to as “painting ideas” (seyi). Nadezhda Vinogradova emphasises 

that: 

                                                 

22

 http://lib.ru/POECHIN/suntzur.txt, accessed 20 June 2014. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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