Along the River During the Qingming Festival, also known by its Chinese name as the Qingming Shanghe Tu, is a painting that not only aesthetically meaningful but also historical valuable. This artwork is considered to be the most eminent work among all Chinese paintings, thus it has been called China's Mona Lisa.
Along the River During the Qingming Festival was painted by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song dynasty (1085–1145). The painting is 25.5 centimeter in height and 5.25 meter long on silk(Cooke, 1996) . There are many copies of the painting by different artists in the later dynasties, but Zhang’s version is the most valuable. It captures the daily life of people from rich to poor and the landscape of the capital in rural and the city, Bianjing, today’s Kaifeng in Henan during the Northern Song. Celebrating the Qingming Festival, which people pray to their ancestors for blessing, is the theme of the painting. Even though there are largely discussion about whether the painting is an imaginary city view, the majority scholars believe the painting is photographic realism with a little bit artist’s expression and concept of Utopia.
The rural and city are the two main settings in the painting, with the Bian river meandering through the entire length. The city gate separate the rural section and city section. A man with his small group of donkeys that carry goods on their back appears on the beginning(right part) of the painting. There are sporadic houses in the rural section. The roof of these houses were made by tiles and thatches. The structure of these houses are very simple without any decoration. The firewood pile up near the house at discretion. There are many willow trees in the small village. The significant amount of willow trees is mainly due to erosion control. The two women who sat on donkeys were guided by three men traveling along the river. The Bian river gradually occupied the main picture as we look from left to right. The two rendered boats moored on the river. The boat construction technology is pretty mature in Song dynasty. The highly developed boat construction technology also enable the waterway transportation to grow. This technology helped Song’s economic environment to continue to growth. The boats’ stern-post rudders are very special, which allow boats to adjust the depth of water and to steer through crowded harbors, narrow channels and even river rapids(Hansen, 1996).
The urban area is densely populated. There are many economic activities in the urban area. There are also tax office on the corner of the painting: three people were arguing with the governor. People from all walks of life are depicted: peddlers, jugglers, actors, paupers begging, monks asking for alms, fortune tellers and seers, doctors, innkeepers, teachers, millers, metalworkers, carpenters, masons, and official scholars from all ranks. The prosperity of economic activity is the result of China’s Commercial Revolution in Song dynasty (Hansen, 2013).
Outside the city proper (separated by the gate to the left), there are businesses of all kinds, selling wine, grain, secondhand goods, cookware, bows and arrows, lanterns, musical instruments, gold and silver, ornaments, dyed fabrics, paintings, medicine, needles, and artifacts, as well as many restaurants. The vendors (and in the Qing revision, the shops themselves) extend all along the great bridge, called the Rainbow Bridge.
The “Rainbow” Bridge (虹橋 Hong Qiao) crosses the river is the main focus of the painting. A great commotion animates the people on the bridge. A boat approaches at an awkward angle with its mast not completely lowered, threatening to crash into the bridge. The crowds on the bridge and along the riverside are shouting and gesturing toward the boat. Someone near the apex of the bridge lowers a rope to the outstretched arms of the crew below.
In addition to the shops and diners, there are inns, temples, private residences, and official buildings varying in grandeur and style, from huts to mansions with grand front- and backyards.
People and commodities are transported by various modes: wheeled wagons, beasts of labor (in particular, a large number of donkeys and mules), sedan chairs, and chariots. The river is packed with fishing boats and passenger-carrying ferries, with men at the river bank, pulling the larger ships.
The reason that Along the River During the Qingming Festival is valued as country treasure is its visually sophisticated and historically grounded. The vivid depiction of people’s daily life offers historians important primary evidence. The painting offers the view of the architecture, clothing, shops, boats and vehicles in a twelfth century city setting.
The painting also showed artist’s imaginary of an ideal city, a Utopia.
Vivid depict people’s life:
one example in urban setting (doing business); another in rural setting(farming)
References:
What Is the Most Important Classical Chinese Painting? – Quora. www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-important-classical-Chinese-painting.
Huang, Judith. “The New Old River: Qingming Shanghe Tu as Epic.” China Daily, 2012,judithhuang.com/words/the-new-old-river-the-epic-ambitions-and-aspirations-of-qing-ming-shang-he-tu/.
Hansen, Valerie. “China’s Commercial Revolution: The Qingming Scroll.” 2013, doi:10.4135/9781526406965.
Hansen, Valerie. “The Beijing Qingming Scroll and its Significance for the Study of Chinese History. ” 1996. ISBN:1889145017
Johnson, Linda Cooke. “The Place Of "Qingming Shanghe Tu" In The Historical Geography Of Song Dynasty Dongjing.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, no. 26, 1996, pp. 145–182. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23496051.