Thursday morning -- pre-modern Chinese art (Lee)

[Anonymous]

As Professor Lee reviewed some of the tomb artifacts form the Ming Dynasty I thought “nice bling.” When you consider how extravagant the capital was rebuilt during the Ming period the quote from the reading “ everything about Ming-period China was done on a grander scale than that of its contemporaries” became quite evident. They seemed determined to show the greatness of their dynasty through art and architecture, it also illustrates the economic impact of war and peace.

[Anonymous]

I have been teaching the Silk Road now for five years and this is the first I have heard of the [font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif] Magao caves of Dunhuan! I knew about the Buddhist Ajanta caves in India and have shown a nice powerpoint about them but never the Magao caves. I loved this session! Perhaps that is because this is part of what I teach. The Silk Road was adventurous and exciting. It was a way to make money and hear wonderful stories of courage, adventure and death. No wonder people, even royalty wanted to be there and perhaps even have a family cave. Professor Lee's presentation sent my mind chasing as to things I might do to teach this better. I really want to take my classes to the Getty to see this exhibit next spring. I wonder if the reason there are so many signs of religion in these caves is because of the danger and excitement of traveling on the Silk Road, maybe people wanting extra protection or to do some last minute repenting or soul searching before they left on their journey. I came home and looked up what I could find about the caves, especially the library cave. Interesting religious documents, music, even business receipts. What a goldmine find in today's lesson by Professor Lee![/font]

[Anonymous]

I thought it was interesting to hear about the different Buddhas and the diversity of the religion in various places around the world too. I had never considered that!

[Anonymous]

I really want to do my lessons on the Silk Road after this presentation! I am formulating ideas and things I want to use. I love the Silk Road hands on exhibit at PAM. I have snuck in there a few times this week trying to soak it all in and get inspiration I know I want to use the storyteller from the link given on our USC links. I listened to the story and it was great! The Magao Caves will also be part of my lesson as well as how they survived the Silk Road. What made camels the perfect animal? Students will research and teach this. Why the caves? I will ask them to try to answer these questions.

[Anonymous]

Buddhism is definitely a topic that is taught when I teach 7th grade history and it comes up sometimes in 8th grade classes. The subject of the Silk Road becomes a primary discussion point because not only does it show how Buddhism spread, but also how different ideas of social and government structures developed in other areas. Especially when I teach about Japan I do at least 1.5 dedicated classes on the spread of ideas from mainland Asia into Japan, with a focus on the relationship between Korea and Japan during the Asuka/Nara period. As for Sonya Lee's lesson, I would love to show how artistic styles of the same subject/religion are shown very differently in different parts of the world by showing the cave paintings and comparing those, if talking about Japan, with the Buddhist art of Japan. Students could do a compare/contrast and then complete a short writing assignment noting the comparisons.

[Anonymous]

Regarding the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, I was intrigued by the dual purpose of the caves and who used them. Why were they separated as one section was used by monks and the other by families? It is pretty unfathomable to me that the outside world could forget about these caves for such an extensive period of time. I was impressed by the Buddah in Cave 275. At such an early time period, for people to construct this object so beautifully with tools likely to be rudimentary.

[Anonymous]

While reading about the caves, I found that a theme park is set to open on the site of the caves. Officials in Gansu made an agreement with a company in Beijing to create a theme park connecting the caves with a separate area of sand dunes that is already a designated area for tourist’s to visit. According to the NY Times, “the connecting strip of desert would be filled with faux temples, folk villages and souvenir stands.” I understand the idea of wanting to share the caves with the rest of the world. However, is a theme park the way to introduce a cultural gem to the world while maintaining its beauty and ensuring its integrity? Probably not!

[Anonymous]

The presentation of Buddhist art within the Mogao Caves and the fact that an exhibit will be showing at the Getty starting May 2016 was exciting to me! It is an excellent culmination of a unit on China and a special opportunity to introduce an important element inspired by the caves along the Silk Road to my students. After learning about the caves in the classroom, my students will create their own mural for our classroom, using a specific set of guidelines that promotes the central importance of the caves. Additionally, I would guide them in comparing the murals of the Magao Caves to frescos of Michelangelo, murals of Diego Rivera, and present day art murals—especially, the contrasting inspirations behind their creation (religion, politics, etc.). This would be an opportunity to help students understand the differences and link the striking similarities between these artistic pieces, as well as the artistic tendencies of humans, spanning cultures throughout the world. A project like this would help students hone their compare/contrast skills. By the time my students visit the Getty, I believe it would be a powerful and meaningful experience for them.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I have never taught anything on Buddhism or the Ming Dynasty. When I was an English teacher, none of our units involved or discussed Asian art or literature or religion or history, and so I would not have taught anything that is related to Professor Lee's discussion on the caves of Dunhuang. Anything that I may have taught about intercultural exchanges would not have been related to Asian cultures.

Regardless, the presentation on the caves was very interesting; I particularly liked learning about the painting choice for each room, each wall, each corner - how there was thought and purpose to each image or artifact that was placed/left in the cave. I also found it fascinating that aspects of Buddha's life/story was so often chosen to go on the walls of these caves. I was curious, when Professor Lee mentioned that caves were often torn down to expand or rebuild, how it was done. I wondered if the structure of the cave would be compromised with renovations but didn't get the chance to ask.

I think that Professor Lee's discussion/information would be most useful as supplementary information for a lesson on Buddhism.

I would definitely recommend the exhibitions to teachers at my school who may teach units more closely related to the topics discussed by Professor Lee.

[Anonymous]

The Silk Road has always been a "hazard" for travelers; whether it is the weather, marauders, banditos, raiders, etc. To my understanding, the Mongols were one if not the only ones, to "tame" and bring under control those unsavory characters and to allow prosperity to flourish along the Silk Road.

With that said, I have always been interested in the caves at Dunhuang. The presentation was marvelous. I really enjoyed the historical background that was given. I am amazed at how well some of the art has been preserved, fully understanding that the climate has much to do with it. It also nice to know that these caves/grottoes have not been closed to the public. It will be a wonderful treat when the Getty brings its wonderful exhibit to Los Angeles.

A few years ago I attended a presentation at the NHM as part of the Silk Road exhibit, "Travelling the Silk Road: Under Silk Road Skies" (https://www.facebook.com/USCPhysics/posts/847864311906044 ). I knew about the manuscripts and the paintings, but what I did not know was the presence of the cosmos/astronomy/astrology in the paintings. Especially evident were the symbols in cave 61.

One possible lesson may be to compare some of the caves/grottoes to other East Asian of the same; the Sokkuram grotto in Korea comes to mind. Including not only the great Western explorers and those who were able to bring this treasure to them is a must for students in order for them to understand that history is made also by the common man. http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/05/index.html.en

[Anonymous]

I plan on using a Youtube video to show my 3rd grade the Dunhuang art and the caves, because I don't think we will mention anything that deep in social study. However, it is great art that students should appreciate it as same as the Great Wall.

Here is the video I will use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb0FaBfzRxg
2:20-4:30 Mogao Cave
7:11-7:01 Dunhuang performance art
12:12-14:34 the silk road; camel

[Anonymous]

Profesor Lee did a great job. She only piqued my interest in art and history on the silk road. I really enjoyed going to the photography of the Mogao caves by the Getty Conservation Institute and perusing them at my leisure. I highly recommend this for teachers, particularly by making a sort of "webquest" so students have specific tasks to achieve, thereby examining the art in more detail.

[clay dube]

Please use this section of the forum to talk about the ideas in the readings shared by Sonya Lee. Do you teach about Buddhism? About intercultural exchanges? About the Ming dynasty? Can you utilize the ideas Sonya shared or take advantage of the upcoming exhibitions?

[Anonymous]

One of the early units covered in 6th grade ancient civilizations includes cave art and our final unit covers the ancient China Empires. My students are currently studying the cave art found in the Lascaux caves and creating their own "cave art" project. Having them compare the details and symbols, and images in Lascaux caves to Dunhuang will be a great way to analyze how images evolved. It will also allow them the opportunity to think about the importance of the images and what was relevant and important to the people who painted it and the surrounding community. The time frame of the exhibition of the "Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road" will coincide with out unit. It approved it would be the perfect way to reintroduce students to cave art and/or study in depth the cave temples.

http://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/cave_temples_dunhuang/index.html
edited by malvarenga on 9/7/2015

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