session 8: ming/qing culture

[Anonymous]

Furniture design in the Ming Dynasty really caught my eye. For the first time in my life, the modernist design was not started in Bauhaus during the 1930's. It started four centuries before in the Ming Dynasty. After getting over that shock, then come to realize that in both cases a modernist style was a reaction to extreme complexity of the previous generations design. As if son is rebelling against their father. Very interesting parallel.

[Anonymous]

I was enlightened by Prof. Ye and did further research today:
Both Ming and Qing furniture had a strong influence on English and French furniture, notably through Chippendale and Hepplewhite in the 18th century. Furniture moved from the heavy, almost bulbous, examples of the William and Mary period to furniture that was light and airy. The chairs, in particular, benefited from the Chinese influence both in technique and design.
Ming furniture has clean, elegant lines with graceful curved details. Often lattice designs are used to create a light open structure. Carvings are minimal and restrained. During the later Qing era, elaborate carvings and figured open-work became the fashion, but during the Ming, the wood was allowed to speak for itself.
That's another Example of "Less is More" in Ming and Qing Dynasty, It clearly shown that China was the leader in design and manufacturering in the world more then 300 years ago.
edited by wchu on 8/4/2011

[Anonymous]

I was fascinated by Professors comment on the fact that the arts and the era's culture portrays a much more accurate picture of a periods history than the historians. I am looking forward to tomorrows visit to the Bowers to see the artifacts. I think that we can use such visits with our students and ask them to make statements about the history of the region. I was fortunate enough to visit a museum in Taiwan which was loaded with artifacts that defined their history. I was also fortunate enough to help design a learning center http://www.dankabiz.com for the Science and Technology Bureau in 2004 which is housed in a huge 4 story building and is packed with the artifacts of that region, which just happens to be a lot of technology (Dongguan China was one of the manufacturing centers of China). It just occurred to me that we were preserving the areas history for the future generations.

[Anonymous]

The functionality of the Great Wall has always be simple to me. It was constructed to defend borders of the Chinese empire against intrusions of the foreigners. However, when Prof. Ye talked about the Great Wall in the afternoon seminar session, he showed us that the functionality of the wall could be considered in a different perspective. Namely, while the Great Wall could keep foreigners from coming in, it also closed people inside. Consequently, the Great wall becomes a symbol of siege. Agree or disagree, it is an interesting view.

[Anonymous]

China had been the leader in functional design over four hundrend years ago, but lost their way. China now has the opportunity to recapure that great history of the worlds leader in design and manufacturing. Watch out European and American designers here come the ghosts of the Ming dynasty.

Also Professor Ye was fantastic. His clarity of thought was so precise. I agree with Clay, we were fortunate to have him.
edited by jdarrough on 8/5/2011

[Anonymous]

I have always felt that I was well-educated through my BA study at Jilin university in China and I thought I knew quite well about Chinese literature and history. However, I honestly felt I was ignorant about so many things. I just found out today that I had been reading one of the most famous poets of Tang Dynasty wrong. I never knew that people used to chant poems although I saw some in TV soap operas where I thought it was a personal style of reading poems.

I especially thought a lot about Siege behaviors or symbols mentioned by Professor Ye. I know both Chinese government and Chinese people are much more confident about China, that is probably why no one has any fear towards international business and any other international activities. Similarly, individual tends to close up and refuse to open to new things when he or she feels in secure.

[Anonymous]

This past week I have been reminded that passionate teachers are contagious. Prof. Ye’s passion for teaching Chinese history through stories, poems, drama, art, music, chanting has inspired me to become a passionate learners. The first step of my journey will be to delve into the history of Chinese Calligraphy. Already, I have received excellent ideas from our group to use in my lesson plan.

Speaking of contagious passion; I am going to challenge my English colleague, who has a beautiful baritone voice, to chant Chinese poems with his AP English classes.

[Anonymous]

I was fascinated by Professor's Ye's presentation in the afternoon. I am especially inspired by the two quotes that Professor Ye shared with the class by the end of the afternoon session. One of the quote was from Jorge Luis Borges. Unfortunately I was not able to write it down. It was something about "affinities." If anyone has it, please share it with me (Thanks in advance). The other quote was the one from Lao Zi: "There is an end to our life, but there is no end to knowledge." This quote represents a piece of the ancient wisdom of Daoism.

[Anonymous]

During the month of July, I attended a 4 day workshop at the Getty Museum that focused on Paris in the 18th century. There were a couple sessions dedicated to the influence of Asian art and furnishings on European design and artifacts. I was amazed to see the influence in everything from porcelain to dressers, paintings, tapestries and gowns. I learned a lot about Chinoiserie, basically a European twist on Asian styles during the 17th and 18th centuries. I think this is a great place for World History teachers to discuss the excesses leading up to the French Revolution and their ties to Asia and the "exotic." One thing that I noticed in many of the paintings and tapestries that showed Europeans in Asia, interacting with Asia religious and government figures, was the fact that the Asian people depicted in the pictures were very European looking (just like some of the videos we saw from Prof. Jung-Kim). I just liked this connection since it was during the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties. I highly recommend heading to the Getty exhibit, as I was able to connect a lot of dots and build upon what I learned from that workshop and this one.

[Anonymous]

Vivian,
What a great quote: "There is an end to our life, but there is no end to knowledge."

Marlyn,
Yes, Professor Ye is very passionate about his subject. I, too, appreciated that.

[Anonymous]

I, too, had learned somewhere along my education that the Great Wall served to keep out invaders and to keep the people inside China. When you think about silk being kept a secret all those centuries, it is not surprising. It connects with the Forbidden City being closed to foreigners, too.
Civil services exams in China have certainly gone through much reform over time.
Zheng He's maritime voyages were very impressive when compared with the Europeans. He was almost 90 years ahead of Columbus, and he commanded ships much larger.
I learned that drama was very late to rise in China; poetry in the Tang, lyric poetry in the Song, and drama in the Yuan dynasty.

[clay dube]

Please post your comments and questions about the ideas and materials introduced during the session.

[Anonymous]

That is an interesting idea that I will utilize in my class discussion of the Great Wall. Our textbook only stipulates that the Great Wall was meant to keep intruders out, but there is no mention that it also kept people from leaving.

[Author]

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