Gao, Q. 2013. The Huashan rock art site (China) – The sacred meeting place for sky, water and earth. Rock Art Research 30: 22-32. (original) (raw)
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Travel and landscape: the Zuo River Valley rock art of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Rock art, especially in China, has often been associated with the non-literate, non- Chinese periphery. It is often thought of very broadly as a universal phenomenon rooted in religion and sharing a widely recognised iconography. This paper challenges both of these assumptions. Its focus is the rock art of the Zuo River in the Guangxi Province of China and in particular its landscape location and visibility. Broadening the parameters of what we categorise as rock art, such art is shown to have multi-layered meanings that spoke to different groups in different ways. The content, location and visibility of images along this arterial waterway reveal how rock art played a significant role in life and death in Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Guangxi.
Overlapping Cosmologies In Asia Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Approaches, 2022
A unique Sino-Buddhist-Indian encounter can be observed in the heavenly representations of the wall paintings in Mogao Cave 285 in Dunhuang, dated to 538/539 CE according to the votive inscriptions. Iconographical study of the heavenly motifs represented on the ceiling and western wall leads to the conclusion that this cave was intended to be a syncretistic visual space, in which one image could convey multiple meanings according to the religious affiliation of viewers. This cave can be regarded as a legacy of the ideological trends of the Northern Wei that were brought to Dunhuang by the governor Yuan Rong. Visual syncretism was likely employed as a diplomatic tool to strengthen relationships with the multiethnic residents of Dunhuang, including the Hephthalite donor groups portrayed on the northern wall. They were likely associated with the depictions of Indian deities that were given prestigious positions in this cave space. The visual bricolage of the Sino-Buddhist-Indian heavens in this cave allowed for a unique aesthetic-cognitive experience, through which widely varied bodies of cosmological notions could have been constantly reinterpreted by each individual who visited this temple.
Thinking Rocks, Living Stones: Reflections on Chinese Lithophilia (2005)
Diogenes, 2005
One of the most fascinating features that distinguish Chinese culture from the world's other great traditions is its enduring passion for stone. As in many other places, there is prehistoric evidence in China of religious practices in which stone plays a key role, but the Chinese veneration for stone in its natural, unworked state is unparalleled in its intensity and range. A classic historical text from around the 3rd century BCE mentions 'weird rocks' or 'strange stones' (guai shi) being sent as tribute to the mythical emperor Yu, and records of rocks being arranged in emperors' parks go back some two thousand years. 1 At first a prerogative of the imperial families, enthusiasm for stone spread subsequently to the literati, and it remains widespread in the culture to this day. This enthusiasm manifests itself not only in the art of garden making, where sizeable rocks constitute both the framework and the primary features of classical gardens, but also on a smaller scale in the practice of collecting and displaying stones of more modest size to be placed in trays or on the desks of scholars. After assessing the nature of this love of stone in China, and then sketching the philosophical presuppositions for it, I conclude with a brief outline of implications for our experience of, and interactions with, stone and rocks.
The Hongshan Culture “As an important part of the Neolithic Age in Northern China, the Hongshan Culture covers an area from the Wuerjimulun River valley of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia in the north to Chaoyang, Lingyuan and the northern part of Hebei Province in the south, and extends eastward to cover Tongliao and Jinzhou. Hongshan Culture is characterized primarily by the ancient painted potteries, the “Z”-stripped potteries, and the unique digging tools-stone spades and laurel leave-shaped two-holed stone knives. The potteries of Hongshan Culture fall into two types-clay potteries and sand-mixed potteries, both manually made. The clay potteries are mostly red, usually in the forms of bowl, basin, jar, and pots, etc., most of which are containers with small flat bottoms. Most of the clay potteries are decorated with black or purple stripes arranged mainly in parallel lines, triangles, scale-shaped patterns, and occasionally in “Z”-shaped pressed stripes. The stoneware of Hongshan Culture is made by grinding with the blades of stone knives finely ground and the edges and backs in curved symmetry, indicating a fairly developed agricultural economy of the culture. Within the area of Hongshan Culture, bones of oxen, lambs, pigs, deer, and river deer have been unearthed, though in small numbers. The oxen, lambs, and pigs, which are presumably domestic animals, vaguely indicate that the early inhabitants of Hongshan Culture lived a settled life supplemented by animal husbandry, fishery, and hunting.” “More than 20 cirrus-shaped jade articles have been unearthed at the site of Hongshan Culture, and each of them represents two fundamental themes-cirrus-shaped angles and minor convexities. A combination of cirrus-shaped angles and minor convexities in different ways constitute the various patterns and designs of the cirrus-shaped jade articles of Hongshan Culture, which is best demonstrated by the enormous blackish-green jade dragon unearthed at Sanxingtala Township of Wengniute Banner. The dragon is 26 cm in height with the head of a swine and the body of a serpent, coiling like cirrus. Similar dragons were found later in Balin Right Banner and the Antiques Store of Liaoning Province. These cirrus-shaped jade articles can be classified into four types by analyzing their patterns and designs: decorative articles, tools, animals, and special ones, of which the hoop-shaped articles are among the typical pieces of the jade ware of Hongshan Culture. The association of the shapes of these jade articles with their cultural context indicates that the special articles and the tools were made to meet the needs of religious ceremonies. The discovery of cirrus-shaped jade dragon at Hongshan Culture strongly suggests Inner Mongolia as one of the essential sites to trace the worship for dragons by the Chinese people.” “From religious relics of Hongshan Culture like the “Goddess Temple” and stone-pile tombs have been found at Dongshanzui of Kazuo County and Niuheliang at the juncture of Lingyuan County and Jianping County of Liaoning Province. The central part of Dongshanzui relics is the foundation of a large-scaled square structure built of stone. The overall layout of the bilateral symmetry of the foundation to a south-north axis, which is characteristic of the traditional Chinese architectural style, is the first of its kind ever discovered at the site of Neolithic Age. The pottery figures unearthed at the relics indicate that the sites used to be places for sacrificial ceremonies or similar activities. In the first place, archeological studies show that Hongshan Culture was developed on the basis of Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture, and the inheritance and development in religious traditions between the three cultures are evident. No sites devoted exclusively to sacrificial rites have been found so far in Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture. The discovery of Niulianghe Relics indicates that large-scaled centers for sacrificial rites had shown up by the end of Hongshan Culture. This is not only a breakthrough in the study of Hongshan Culture but a discovery of great significance to the exploration of the origin of the Chinese civilization.” “Secondly, Hongshan Culture is credited with remarkable achievements in architecture, pottery-making, jade-carving, and pottery sculptures which are at higher levels than those of Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture. The duet of square pottery molds unearthed at the relics of a house of Hongshan Culture at Xitai, Aohan Banner, which is the earliest mold for metal casting, shows that the early people of Hongshan Culture had mastered the technology of bronze casting. Next, hunting was in the dominant position in Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture, while by contrast, agriculture played an essential role in the economy of Hongshan Culture. Judging from the position of Hongshan Culture in the archeological culture of ancient Northern China and China in the Neolithic Age, we can well assume that Hongshan Culture is one of the most advanced cultures among the ranks of its peers in both southern and northern China at that time when the smelting of bronze had made appearance, the earliest cities surrounded by ditches had shown up, and the division between urban and rural areas had taken shape. Religious activities characterized by worshiping dragon and jade and respecting the ancestors were in vogue. The conflicts among social groups and the subsequent fights for the unification of religious beliefs had become the fundamental social issue. This is another proof to the assumption that the people of Hongshan Culture had marched from the clan society into the historical phase of ancient kingdoms. Therefore, we can say that by laying a foundation for the development of the Chinese civilization of five thousand years and formulating and influencing the layout of the origin and the progress of the protocol-dominating culture of China, Hongshan Culture plays an extremely essential role in the evolution of the Chinese civilization.”
Naturalism, nature and questions of style in Jinsha River rock art, northwest Yunnan, China
Cambridge …, 2010
The naturalistic rock art of Yunnan Province is poorly known outside of China despite two decades of investigation by local researchers. The authors report on the first major international study of this art, its place in antiquity and its resemblance to some of the rock art of Europe, southern Africa and elsewhere. While not arguing a direct connection between China, Europe and other widely separated places, this article suggests that rock-art studies about the nature of style, culture contact and the transmission of iconography across space and time need to take better account of the results of neuroscience research, similar economic/ecological circumstances and the probability of independent invention.
The Shanhaijing 山海經 (“List s of Mountains and Seas”, hereafter the SHJ), compiled no later than the beginning of the first century B.C.E., occupies a special place among terrestrial descriptions surviving from ancient China. Being the most voluminous among these texts (ca. 30,000 characters), it is distinguished by the large scope of territories encompassed, the multiplicity of landmarks enumerated, and the many details related to these landmarks. This paper is concerned with the nature of the representation of terrestrial space according to the SHJ. The investigation of this question is preceded by a critical survey of relevant studies that helps to define the perspectives of the proposed research.
The 2017 rock art mission in Hubei Province, China
Rock Art Research, 2020
The first direct-dating work of rock art in Hubei Province, China, is reported. A series of over one hundred rock exposures were investigated in the Huai River area near the town of Tongbai, a hilly and wooded granite terrain, using microerosion analysis. Cupules dominate the extensive petroglyph traditions and eight preliminary age estimates obtained from seven of them suggest that the majority of the petroglyphs in the study area are likely to be between 600 and 1500 years old.