(Continued from the previous issue)
After talking about the Southern Song Dynasty, the wheel of history rolled to 1227 AD, when Genghis Khan led the Mongol cavalry to conquer the west and died while attacking The Western Xia, and in 1279 AD Kublai Khan annihilated the remnants of the Southern Song Dynasty, conquered the Southern Song Dynasty, and established the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.
First, the historical background of the origin of nomadic civilization
By the thirteenth century AD, due to the emergence of the Mongol Khanate, the Mongols, who had entered their heyday, issued orders to shake the world from here, which had a huge impact on the course of Eurasian history.
In the early thirteenth century AD, under the leadership of its great leader Genghis Khan (i.e., Yuan Taizu, 1162-1227 AD), Mughal Mulvwei, who had been on the stage of history since the 7th century AD, but had always played a supporting role, finally gathered the great achievements of the previous generation of northern nomadic civilization and established the Mongol Khanate, which played the protagonist on the historical stage, and the establishment of the Mongol Khanate symbolized the unity and unity of the Mongols.
The cavalry troops that could recruit good warriors swept through a thousand armies and swept away the eurasian continent one after another, and eventually established the four khanates of Wokoutai, Chagatai, Chincha (Golden Horde), Yi'er, and the prosperous Mongol Dynasty.
It is undeniable that the vast Mongol Yuan Empire was established through a series of war killings.
But at the same time, the Mongol Yuan Empire also made an irreplaceable contribution to the development of the world, and the iron horse of the Mongol army was mighty, opening up a spacious road from Asia to Europe, and after the army passed, it was ceded to the people. Countless merchants, craftsmen, scientists, scholars and missionaries were brought to and from the avenue, so that the East and the West could carry out unimpeded economic, cultural and scientific exchanges.
Without this path, the Italian Marco Polo would not have reached China, nor would he have written the world-famous "Oriental Observations", introducing Asian civilization in detail to Europe, including politics, economy, culture, property, geography, etc., then Columbus (Colombo) would not have gained valuable inspiration from this immortal work to complete the great voyage to discover the Americas.
It was through this avenue that Chinese gunpowder, compass, papermaking, and printing were able to spread to Europe, making it a powerful weapon to destroy the dark barriers of the Middle Ages and paving the way for the emergence of modern European civilization.
Second, the historical and cultural background of the Yuan Dynasty
Last night, I happened to see Hunan TV broadcasting the second part of "China", introducing the confucian and Buddhist governance strategies of Kublai Khan and the Guoshi Baspa, and the Mongols were able to grasp the superior position in the world situation, which is unique in history.
This primitive tribe of nomadic civilization lived on grazing and hunting in the early days, and its population was only about 1 million when the tribe was most prosperous, but it must have had a very impressive achievement and glory in the list of agricultural civilizations and navigation civilizations, and in the early Middle Ages, their martial arts made Eurasia almost all under their control, and the places where the East and West extremes survived were extremely limited.
Due to the unity between their special blood families, and the hard-working character of the nomadic people, especially the living environment, the Mongols have a fierce personality from an early age, providing a steady stream of excellent soldiers for the tribe. In particular, the destruction of the former Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin, in this local war, the tactics of the cavalry corps have been fully trained and brought into play, but Genghis Khan and his successors have expanded it to the extreme.
The Mongols were highly mobile and disciplined, and as a people on horseback, they took the lead by moving at a speedy pace, fighting bravely and invinciblely. At its largest, the territories of Afghanistan and Iraq, including most of Russia, Moscow and Kiev, stretched eastwards including Central Asia and China's Xinjiang, were under the rule of the Great Khan, and several khanates were under the jurisdiction of his descendants.
Kublai Khan's own territory stretched north to the Mongolian desert and south to the coast of the Sea of China. Like all battles for the throne, Kublai Khan met with his brother Ali Bu ge in the battle for the throne, Kublai Khan's Great Khan, who claimed to be the Great Khan in 1260 AD, and after his victory, he still had to deal with the alliance organized by the Mongol leaders of his people in Central Asia, who were led by his brother Haidu, insisting that Kublai Khan's title did not conform to the recommended results determined by Genghis Khan, and until the day of Kublai Khan's death in 1294 AD, the conflict between the two sides had not ceased.
Although Kublai Khan conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Empire, during his reign, he also used troops to the northwest to block other nomadic peoples, so that China would no longer suffer from the ravages of its nomadic iron horses. In a sense, Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty does not have much to do with the Eurasian plate occupied by Genghis Khan, the Yuan Dynasty is just a Management Country rebuilt by the Mongols in the original place of residence with Han and Han culture as the main body, more than ten years ago I once went to Ulaanbaatar, the local Mongols still miss the era of Genghis Khan, but the real relationship between the Yuan Dynasty and Genghis Khan may be only because Kublai Khan is his grandson, because Kublai Khan was in 1271 AD, at the instigation of Han Chen. The Great Khanate Empire under his jurisdiction created the Yuan Dynasty, and this period has been nearly fifty years since the death of Genghis Khan, the three grandsons of Genghis Khan each have their own territory, Kublai Khan in a sense, became the real Great Khan, the power to rule the khanates is also in name only.
But Kublai Khan didn't seem to mind in that regard, and he focused on China in an attempt to monopolize East Asia.
The Mongol Iron Horse took advantage of the speed of the conquest of the fast wind and fast horses, and was almost invincible and invincible.
However, how to run this great empire that spans Europe and Asia, Kublai Khan and his successors still govern the country in the spirit of "immediately" winning the world, emphasizing martial arts and light civil rule, so that the system cannot be put on track and the reform cannot be implemented.
Just ninety years later, this unprecedented empire in Chinese history was replaced by the Ming Dynasty, and Chinese history began to enter a new stage--- the Third Empire.
3. Cultural background and artistic characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty
The ideological and cultural art of the Yuan Dynasty has developed specially, mainly reflected in religion, literature, science and technology, literati painting and Cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
The porcelain we are familiar with now, that is, on the basis of Tang and Song porcelain, Jingdezhen firing underglaze blue flowers, glaze red and sacrifice blue, egg white glaze, etc. have made new achievements, Yuan Qinghua using kaolin cobalt high temperature firing, the prosperity of the Yuan qu of the Yuan Dynasty, and finally became an excellent Chinese literary heritage together with Han Fu, Tang poetry, and Song Ci.
Yuan Dynasty jade, fa ancient Han Tang, but novel and unique decorative techniques, changed the previous dynasty's vivid and vivid artistic style.
Generally speaking, rough work should be northern work, and fine work should be southern work.
Rough utensils are rough and straight, the knife technique is thick, quite ancient, and the southern jade is known for its meticulous carving.
The creation of the shape and momentum of the jade in the Yuan Dynasty originated from the bold character of the Mongols, with a strong national color.
Fourth, the basic characteristics of yuan dynasty jade
Yuan Dynasty jade was developed on the basis of Song and Golden Jade, complementing each other, learning from each other's strengths and complementing each other's weaknesses, and making breakthroughs, forming a new characteristic of rough and bold, which is also a change in Yuan Dynasty jade.
The types of jade are both jade used by imperial court officials and jade used by ordinary people, both exquisitely carved and smooth and plain; and gold-inlaid beads, reflecting the basic general appearance and characteristics of yuan dynasty jade.
The common jade of the Yuan Dynasty includes etiquette, literary play, ornaments, utensils, etc., such as walls, gui, arm rest, ink beds, flower pendants, character pendants, bird and fish pendants, rings, hooks, plates, cups, zuns, pots, stove tops, etc.
There are new hook buckle ornaments, jade oshi, jade sea and so on in the Yuan Dynasty.
Common decorative themes include spring water, autumn mountain, bird pattern, flower pattern, etc., as well as dragon pattern, tiger pattern, cloud pattern, landscape, sea beast, etc., each of which has the characteristics of the times.
Fifth, the appreciation characteristics of yuan dynasty jade
The various carving techniques of Yuan Dynasty jade are quite skilled, almost reaching the point of pure fire.
There are two main categories: hollow carving and relief.
The hollow carving absorbs and inherits the traditional skills of song and Jin superb carving, and has a new development.
Multi-layer hollow carving is widely used, mainly floral patterns, clear layers, with a strong perspective effect.
The relief technique is even more fascinating.
Mainly animal patterns, the theme of the depiction is prominent, the shape is full, and the emphasis is on conveying the gods, but in some relief jade places, sides, inner walls or dark surfaces, they do not seek much refinement, and there are often informalities, which is a primary and secondary, detailed, and coarse art. processing, making the theme more distinct.
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