#BEIJING

[secondlifep]

I have been to the Lama Temple in Peking (now Beijing). It is a beautiful temple.

I was there on a day that it was snowing, believe it or not.

Elizabeth Keith - Lama Temple, Peking (1922)

[mothmiso]

Yuanmingyuan (2) (3) (4) (5) by Matthew Huntbach

Via Flickr:

(3) (4) (5) Xiyang Lou     

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

The Beijing court supported Ms. Gao on two counts and ruled that Dangdang should continue to honour her original contract of employment. In addition, the court said Dangdang should pay her salary from the date she applied for sick leave to the date of arbitration

The Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court went on to state that “social tolerance is a blessing of the rule of law” and highlighted the need to “respect diverse ways of living and protect the dignity of transgender people.”

[zegalba]

Anzas Studio by Yoshimasa Tsutsumi (2011) Location: Beijing, China

[niteshade925]

Have never self-reblogged this kind of post, but I did spend a lot of effort on this post in particular.

April 20, Beijing, China, National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆 (Part 5 – Ancient Chinese Porcelain exhibition/中国古代瓷器展):

First post of the year, gotta start with something good: this is a rather famous vase from Qianlong era of Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911). It's made in the suantouping/蒜头瓶 (lit. "garlic-head vase") shape, and decorated with falangcai/珐琅彩 (basically cloisonné but done on porcelain instead of metal). The design features a nice combination of traditional Chinese chanzhihua/缠枝花 motifs (traditionally this continuous plant motif symbolizes longevity) and European art influence, specifically from rococo. This is interesting as rococo was also influenced by Chinese porcelain, making this vase another example of cultural influence going both ways.

As mentioned in my previous announcement post, my visit to the National Museum of China was very brief, everything took place in the span of one day (plus traveling to and from Beijing), please pardon the picture quality.

And from here on I will be going in chronological order. Below is an urn from the Northern Dynasties (439 - 581 AD). This urn was decorated with lotus petals all around, and was specifically a type of grave good, not made to be used by the living. Lotuses are a commonly used symbol in funerary rites due to its association with Sukhavati (Sanskrit: सुखावती; referred to as "极乐世界" or "Land of Bliss" in Chinese) in Mahayana Buddhism.

Another urn, this time from the Sui dynasty (581 - 618 AD) Shouzhou kiln/寿州窑. This urn may also have been grave good, as evidenced by the numerous Buddhist symbols all around.

Left: a small Sui-era vessel, found in a tomb. It's probably also a grave good, because of its pointy design (imagine holding that).

Right: a group of small Sui-era grave goods, these were tiny and adorable

In the middle is a Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD) pitcher, made by the Lushan kiln/鲁山窑. This pitcher displays Lushan wares' characteristic blueish glaze, where the blue comes from different concentrations of iron oxides.

Left: a Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127) white-glazed wine vessel called a meiping/梅瓶 (lit. "plum vase"), but in Song dynasty it was called a jingping/经瓶.

Middle: a Northern Song era white-glazed Ding ware/定窑 plate decorated with the double fish motif.

Right: this one is pretty cute, it's a container for weiqi/围棋 pieces that's shaped like a drum, made by Yaozhou kiln/耀州窑.

Left: forgot to take a picture of the placard, but my guess is that it's a bamboo-necked celadon-glazed Longquan ware/龙泉窑 vase (I might be wrong).

Right: a small Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279) Ge ware/哥窑 bixi/笔洗. Bixi are containers used to rinse traditional brushes. This bixi has the crackled glaze that's characteristic of Ge wares.

Left: a small haitang/海棠 flower-shaped celadon-glazed lidded container box called a taohe/套盒, made by Southern Song dynasty guan kiln/官窑 (guan/官 means "official", so "guan kiln" is best understood as the kiln that's run by the imperial court; this is important as later dynasties may have their own guan kilns). These containers can hold various small objects including food, and are stackable.

Right: a Song-era haitang-shaped rose purple flower pot, made by Jun kiln/钧窑. Jun wares are known for their glaze colors, which shift and change according to the firing temperature, this is known as yaobian/窑变 (aka kiln transmutation or "flambé"). This particular flower pot became part of Qing imperial court's collection later on.

A Yuan dynasty (1206 - 1368) qinghua/青花 ("blue and white") porcelain pot, decorated with dragons. The blue color in the famous qinghua porcelain comes from cobalt blue pigment in the underglaze.

A Yuan-era qinghua porcelain vase decorated with a flying fenghuang:

Two Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) tall-footed bowls, the left one has a glaze known as "sweet white glaze" (甜白釉), since this shade of white was likened to the white of crystal sugar; the reign mark indicated that it was made during the Yongle era of Ming dynasty. The bowl on the right has the peacock blue glaze (孔雀蓝釉), and the reign mark indicated that it was made during the Xuande era of Ming dynasty. Reign marks are markings that indicate the dynasty and era during which a piece was made.

A side note on era names or nianhao/年号: nianhao was a way of identifying years in imperial China and was usually decided by the reigning emperor at the time. One emperor may have multiple era names during their reign if they so choose, however since Ming and Qing dynasty mostly have just one era name per emperor, Ming and Qing emperors are often referred to simply by the era name they used, for example Yongle Emperor (temple name Emperor Chengzu of Ming) or Qianlong Emperor (temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing). Depending on the context, usage of a Ming or Qing era name may refer to the time period during which an emperor reigned, the emperor who used the era name, or even both.

Three Ming-era monochrome (called danseyou/单色釉 in Chinese) porcelain plates. Monochrome porcelain became popular in Song dynasty, and has been popular ever since, but overall three dynasties were the most famous for their production of monochrome porcelain: Song dynasty, Ming dynasty, and Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911). Recently monochrome porcelain has been gaining popularity again, since their vibrant colors fit into modern aesthetics surprisingly well.

A wall of monochrome porcelain plates, illustrating the effect of different elements and firing temperatures on glaze color.

A set of wares that may be found in a study, made in the Kangxi era of Qing dynasty (1662 - 1722). The glaze used here is quite famous, called jiangdouhong/豇豆红 (aka cowpea red), created by applying copper red glaze in high temperatures. The end result is notoriously hard to control, so some pieces may turn out to have multiple colors, mostly the shade of red as seen below and apple green. The left and back pieces are both small decorative vases (for the longest time I thought the one on the left was an upside-down bowl......lol), the small box in the front is a seal paste box, and the flat bowl on the right is a bixi.

Left: red and blue yaobian vase, made during the Yongzheng era of Qing dynasty (1723 - 1735); unfortunately due to the angle here, you can only see a little bit of the blue streak running down the front. The colors are so vibrant here that this kind of yaobian has earned the nickname of "flaming red"/火焰红.

Right: a langyaohong/郎窑红 (also called "sang de boeuf" or "oxblood") vase, made during the Kangxi era of Qing dynasty. Langyaohong glaze is known for its deeply red color, hence the names that relate it to blood.

A Kangxi era blue glazed gilt porcelain vase. I love the intricate interconnected lotus patterns (chanzhilianwen/缠枝莲纹) here. I didn't have time to take a picture of the placard so it literally took hours of pulling my hair out reverse image searching to find out when (which era) this vase was made................. (btw the text in the back refers to the painting in the background, not this vase)

Left: a youlihong/釉里红 vessel that's shaped like an apple, so it's quite literally named a pingguozun/苹果尊. This shape is rather unique to the Kangxi era. Youlihong (lit: "red inside glaze") is basically a red copper oxide underglaze.

Middle: a youlihong vase made in the Yongzheng era.

Right: a larger vase made in the Yongzheng era that combines qinghua underglaze and youlihong underglaze in one piece.

This giant qinghua vase from the Qianlong era of Qing dynasty (1736 - 1795) was made in the shape of Shang and Zhou dynasty ancient bronze ritual vessel named gu/觚. This is also one of the few pieces produced in history that had the name of the potter attached to it. The potter who made this vase was Tang Ying/唐英, and he was the superintendent who oversaw imperial porcelain production in Jingdezhen/景德镇 (basically the Ming and Qing dynasty guan kiln) during the Yongzheng era and the Qianlong era. Together with the Kangxi era, these three Qing dynasty eras are collectively called "清三代", or "the three Qing generations (of emperors)", this was the second height of porcelain making in Chinese history after the "five great kilns"/"五大窑" of Song dynasty.

A column shaped openwork fencai/粉彩 incense holder from Qianlong era, where fencai is basically overglaze enamel decoration that falls under famille rose.

Left: a Qianlong era green fencai vase that feature kaiguang/开光, which were window or panel-like designs on the piece where scenes may be painted. This particular vase also displays poetry by Qianlong Emperor himself.

Middle: a fencai shuanglianping/双联瓶 made during the Jiaqing era of Qing dynasty (1796 - 1820). Shuanglianping are conjoined vases that symbolize the coming together of matching talents or generally good things.

Right: a Qianlong era gourd-shaped doucai/斗彩 vase with kaiguang. Doucai combines both underglaze decorations and overglaze decorations.

I want to draw special attention to this leaf-shaped fencai cup in the middle that was made in the Guangxu era of Qing dynasty (1875 - 1908). The "leaf" part is actually a lotus flower, but the cool thing about it is that the green stem part is a built-in straw, so this is a highly decorative porcelain straw cup. I really do hope there are cheaper modern replicas of this cup sold somewhere, I want one

Finally, to wrap up this exhibition, here's an arrangement to show how these different porcelain pieces would be utilized in a traditional study room.

[iloveabortions]

Anzas Studio by Yoshimasa Tsutsumi (2011) Location: Beijing, China

[matthewgrantanson]

Spring Sunset, Beijing -- April 20th, 2024

Etsy

[kaalbela]

Marc Riboud | The Antique Dealer's Window. Beijing, 1965.

[keepingitneutral]

House of Bluff, Mentougou, Beijing, China,

Chaoffice Architects

[byseanbrown]

[ilikeit-art]

Girls transform into robots at Beijing World Robot Conference.

[mapsontheweb]

Beijing Subway's new map after the opening of Line 3 and 12.

[reasonsforhope]

"Proving that change is possible if the will to create it is present, Chinese megacities like Beijing that were once famous for their apocalyptic grey skies are enjoying the lowest levels of air pollution they’ve experienced in the 21st century.

Falling 42% from an average high in 2013 when Chinese air pollution was higher than 50 particles per cubic centimeters of city air, the change has increased the lifespan of Chinese urbanites by 2.2 years.

The news comes from a report published by the University of Chicago called the Air Quality Life Index which listed some of the actions taken by the Chinese government to reduce air pollution, described by the CCP as a “war on pollution.”

This has included reducing the presence of heavy industry like steel production in city centers, as well as restricting coal power plants from being built inside cities while shuttering those that were already there.

Some cities like Beijing have reduced the number of cars allowed on the roads during peak hours, similar to London’s congestion charge. Lastly, China’s mass urban tree-planting campaigns have been well documented.

While the life expectancy has risen on average 2.2 years, some cities have seen far more drastic increases. Citizens living under the new “Beijing Blue,” are predicted to live 4 additional years, while those 11 million in the north-central city of Baoding are predicted to gain 6.

“At the foundation of those actions were common elements: political will and resources, both human and financial, that reinforced each other,” the report said. “When the public and policymakers have these tools, action becomes much more likely.”

In fact, the decline in China’s pollution levels has been so drastic that it lowered the world average, which the report says would have increased if not for the Middle Kingdom’s war on pollution.

Although Chinese city air is still several times higher than the WHO’s recommended minimum, it shows what’s accomplishable with political and civic effort—particularly to its neighbors in South Asia where the report warns air quality is worsening."

-via Good News Network, September 1, 2023

[niteshade925]

April 20, Beijing, China, National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆 (Part 1 - Dehua white porcelain exhibition/德化白瓷展):

Aaand finally, the National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆! I was lucky enough to see the famed Dehua white porcelain exhibition/德化白瓷展 here. Some of you may recognize some of these pieces already, since pictures and shorts of them have been circulating online way before I went on this trip, but there are many many other pieces too. The pieces I post here are only a small portion of the entire exhibition, so if you ever get a chance to see the exhibition elsewhere in person, don't hesitate. This stuff is amazing.

First up is one of the two that has been gaining popularity online, the piece named 神话 or "Legend".

The first time I saw a porcelain piece like this, I thought that the clothing part was made with paper? But no, the light fabric of the clothing, the hair, it's all porcelain. Keep in mind when looking through these pictures: every part of every piece is porcelain.

This piece is the other one that was becoming popular, the piece named simply 纸, or "Paper". If you don't look up close and see the glossy surface, you can't tell it's actually porcelain. I cannot for the life of me imagine the kind of magic that was used to turn clay into this

Anyway, this is a good point to introduce Dehua porcelain a little bit. Dehua porcelain is a regional specialty of Dehua/德化, which is located in Fujian province, and is known for its expressiveness and white color. For this reason it's also known in the West as "Blanc de Chine" (French: "white of China"), and this should be the reason why this exhibition is named 中国白, which basically means the same thing. The history of Dehua porcelain goes back to Song dynasty (960 - 1279), and it is still being produced today. Many of the pieces I'm posting here are modern pieces.

But Dehua white porcelain can be colored too (I imagine the color must be painted on later, because the white comes from the clay itself), and when it is colored, it looks like it came right out of a painting

This piece is especially amazing to me. Look at the texture, look at those details. Zoom in and you will find that there are actually a bunch of porcelain ants on this porcelain tree stump. Porcelain ants. I never expected to use porcelain as an adjective when describing ants. Wtf. It's like a manifestation of a scene from an older animated movie.

Peanuts are called 花生 in Chinese, which literally means "flower grow", and because it also has a long shelf life, it symbolizes longevity and a happy marriage. Also a fun fact: because Watson of Sherlock Holmes is usually phoenetically translated as 华生 (huá shēng) in Chinese and sounds similar to 花生 (huā shēng), you will find that many in the Chinese SH fandom refers to Watson as "peanut".

This piece is titled 春色满园, or "garden filled with spring scenery". This is also a common 4-character word used to describe gardens in spring. I'm guessing the figure depicted here is one of the flower gods. It is one of my personal favorites because of its superb depiction of movement, it's as if the flower god will really fly away on clouds at any moment

More depictions of traditional Chinese deities, specifically Chang'e/嫦娥, the moon goddess. That moon rabbit is too cute.

Depictions of what I'm assuming is the Four Heavenly Kings/四大天王, based on the items they are holding. The Four Heavenly Kings are Buddhist deities.

Look at her clothing! That porcelain is so thin it's almost see-through! Also is it depicting Li Qingzhao/李清照, the famous female poet from Song dynasty? She does have a famous ci poem that's about paddling a boat in a lake full of lotuses while drunk

The piece titled 锦绣前程, or "future as vibrant and prosperous as silk brocade". This is also a common 4-character word used in well wishing. The figure in this piece is holding a xiuqiu/绣球, a ball made of silk, which was usually seen as a token of love

Somewhat more modern-themed pieces:

Among the hundreds of amazing pieces, this one caught my attention for its unique texture. When everyone else was trying to turn the clay into these thin sheets representing fabric or paper or flower petals, this artist took the noodle approach. Not many visitors seemed to like it, but I think it's pretty cool

Piece titled 运势如虹, or "fortune like the rainbow", also a 4-character word used in well wishing. Traditionally horses symbolize vitality and success, hence why many people use the words 马到成功 ("horse's arrival brings success") and 龙马精神 ("vitality of dragons and horses") in well wishes during Year of the Horse

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Dehua white porcelain exhibition!

[yodaprod]

90s Coke sign

[zegalba]

Wang Wei: Yin Hang, Beijing (2020)