Five thousand years ago, the Hongshan culture rose to prominence—there was no metal or systematic writing, but they used their own unique way of expressing civilization to create an ancient jade civilization unique to the Chinese nation. In prehistory, the use of ancient jade can be almost comparable to metal, it can be used as a ritual instrument for sacrifice, a magic weapon for theosophy, a weapon for fighting, a tool for life, and can also be used as a ritual ornament. Using ancient jade to carve out the totems and emblems of each tribe can fully play a communication role like words. It can be seen that from the very beginning of Chinese civilization, it narrated its own culture in its own unique way of expression, and some people called this period of prehistory that used jade to exercise important theocratic functions as the "Shenyu Era", and the Hongshan culture was undoubtedly the best among the various civilizations in the same period. Among the essence of civilization left over from the Hongshan culture, the most representative is the star-studded Hongshan ancient jade, which has entered a new chapter of jade carving centered on the premise of imitating nature and spiritual expression, and established the concept of the unity of heaven and man that communicates man and nature. It is the most unique spiritual bond and artistic product of the ancestors of Hongshan Mountain, and it is also an important link that cannot be ignored in the history of human art and even the history of civilization.
Perhaps, many people are reluctant to use artistic vision to explain ancient jade, thinking that this perspective is too monotonous. There are also some people who feel that art is no standard, beauty and ugliness vary from person to person, depending on things, and what is considered ugly in China may be considered a kind of beauty in the West. Just like the beauty who closed the moon and shy flowers in the Qing Dynasty, it may be a pathology in the Tang Dynasty. However, these examples can only show that in different eras and regions, people's aesthetic orientation has changed, which does not mean that there is no difference in the essential attributes of beauty and ugliness.
Beauty exists in nature, society, matter, and spirit, and when it is discovered, created, and embodied in the essential power of man, it will form an image of pleasure and admiration. The essential characteristics of beauty have always been the center of debate among aestheticians, and the famous doctrines from ancient times to the present include objective theory, subjectivity, subjective theory, subjective and objective unity theory and other views. Objective theory holds that beauty is the property of the equilibrium, proportion, harmony and other material forms of the objective existence of things, and beauty is the spiritual attribute and perceptual manifestation of objective existence such as ideas; subjective theory believes that beauty is the product of the subjective mind, the result of empathy, etc.; subjective and objective unity theory believes that the nature and shape of things are beautiful only if they conform to subjective consciousness. The object of aesthetics and the source of beauty develop with the development of human aesthetic practice and the ability to perceive and create beauty. [1] Since beauty has certain standards and changes with the times, it is necessary to explore the inner laws and roots of beauty in creating the shape and art of beauty and exploring the essence and attributes of beauty.
The beauty of Hongshan jade carving is the natural beauty of the unity of heaven and man and the imitation of all things, the simple beauty of humanistic refinement and skillful management, the beauty of the color corresponding to all things and the color of the color, the beauty of the intuitive feeling and the imagery of the object, the beauty of the craftsmanship of the delicate slow grinding and precision in place, and the beauty of the natural charm and vivid charm.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, which was thousands of years later than the Hongshan culture, the famous figure painter and art theorist Sheikh put forward the artistic standard of painting in his book "Catalogue of Ancient Paintings"," which included six aspects: vivid rhyme, bone pen, pictogram of objects, coloring with class, business position, and transmission and transfer molding. [2] In fact, the "Six Laws Theory" also represents the aesthetic standards of the ancients at different angles, and is the sublimation and crystallization of aesthetic standards for thousands of years. In view of the great influence of prehistoric and even subsequent jade culture on the humanistic concepts and evaluation systems in Chinese civilization, China has become a "jade country" that loves jade, appreciates jade, and tastes jade. The author tries to use the aesthetic theory of the past to taste the artistic beauty of the prehistoric Hongshan culture, and we can find that the jade carving of the Hongshan culture has six unique beauties pursued by later generations in Chinese painting. It can be said that the evaluation standards of Chinese paintings by later generations, and even the aesthetic value of Chinese culture, actually stem from the values of ancient jade aesthetics formed at the root of Chinese civilization.
First, the beauty of nature
The transmission of molds in the Six Laws refers to sketching and copying, that is, sketching real people and copying ancient works, which is a method of creating that teaches nature and inherits excellent traditions.
Scientists have found that almost all living things in the world have an instinctive ability to imitate, and they also have a certain ability to learn, they will continue the survival experience passed down from their ancestors, and survive in the universe in the best state of life.
All the jade carvings in the ancient jade of Hongshan come from the observation and imitation of natural things by the ancestors of Hongshan, who understand the shape of objects through memory, and carve them out through their hearts and hands, which reflects the strong sensitivity and profound understanding of objects by the people of Hongshan. When expressing natural objects, Hongshan people can not only retain the modeling characteristics of objects, but also exaggerate and refine the typical characteristics of objects, and combine the figurative forms and abstract forms of objects to present a semi-abstract state. The Hongshan people even creatively combine different objects and images to express a richer spiritual support, so that the jade carving itself carries a deeper spiritual connotation. It can be said that the Hongshan people's imitation of nature is not limited to the reproduction of objective nature, but mainly to meet the spiritual needs of the witches to communicate between people, man and nature, and man and God.
We often think that the progress of jade carving technology is often reflected in the innovation of tools, such as: machines replaced iron stones, iron stones replaced copper stones, and copper stones replaced stone stones. It is true that every instrumental revolution has brought about a substantial increase in productivity, but not a revolution of tools necessarily leads to the progress of art. The decisive factor in the development of arts and crafts naturally contains the part of craftsmanship and technology, and must also contain aesthetic and artistic components. From an empirical point of view, the aesthetic taste of art often determines the level of the spiritual level of art, and efficiency can often only be linked to productivity, and cannot be directly proportional to the development of art. A high-class work of art can be completed in a short period of time, or it can be pondered and finally released after several years. The beauty and ugliness of works of art often depend on the creator's spiritual sustenance, aesthetic taste and ability to feel.
Sometimes, jumping out of the craftsmanship and materials, and tasting the jade carving works of different periods from the perspective of pure artistic aesthetics, we can draw some conclusions: the greatness of the prehistoric Huaxia people in art can be described as miraculous and natural. They can condense natural objects into spiritual images in their hearts and create C-shaped jade carved dragons, jade pig dragons, jade phoenixes, and cloud-shaped jade objects; they can also reproduce natural objects and create them as ceremonial objects or decorations, such as jade birds, jade tigers, jade turtles, jade silkworms, jade praying mantises, etc.; what is even more incredible is that they can create imitations of natural objects and achieve extremely realistic degrees, such as jade turtle shells, jade masks, etc. These jade carvings are not made out of nothing, but from natural jade, and the Hongshan people imitate natural things with natural objects, creating a virtual world in the human spiritual kingdom. The most amazing thing is that their works can meet the common and supreme requirements of human beings for beauty, leading to the artistic essence of truth and goodness.
The ancestors of Hongshan had an extremely keen sense of natural beauty, and they turned the process into a process of natural growth and growth of all things, strengthening the temporality and weakening the traces of man-made. They tend to do their best to polish the traces of artificial axes to be extremely polished. Some people say that the most prominent craft feature of Hongshan jade is polishing, and the author believes that there is a spiritual core that is more worthy of people's consideration, that is, through long processing, the Hongshan people have made the surface of Hongshan jade as smooth and natural as rain and flower stone, which seems to be naturally washed by water and caused by years of pondering. Is this tens of thousands of great works of art created through a long period of time and a consistent spirituality worthy of serious consideration by our arts and crafts artists or artists today?
From some of the bionic ancient jades of Hongshan contained in this book, it can be seen that the ancestors of Hongshan worshiped nature incomparably. They once imitated nature and vigorously pursued consistency with nature. The natural beauty we propose here has two meanings, intuitively speaking, it is believed that the Hongshan people imitate natural objects to achieve realistic transmission; and digging into the deeper connotation, we can find that Hongshan ancestors used the law of natural structure to create beauty, which makes each of their jade carving works contain the inherent essence of natural beauty, such as: the richness of natural objects, the coordination of proportions, the randomness of construction, the delicacy of polishing, the rhythm of texture, the collocation and application of colors, and so on. These aesthetic principles contained in the Hongshan jade are created on the basis of conforming to the intrinsic nature of nature, although they come from nature, but they are higher than the beauty of nature.
Figure 1 Jade turtle shell - Hongshan culture
The highest realm of art, from the perspective of humanistic aesthetics, is still to return to nature, so that the great beauty of nature can enrich the limitations of human thinking. We start from the first meaning of natural beauty mentioned earlier, starting from the ancient jade that imitates the beauty of nature (Figure 1), the shape of this turtle shell is almost the same as the turtle shell in nature, whether it is the surface and inside of the turtle shell, or the texture and curve changes of the turtle shell, especially the holes inside the turtle shell, and also strive to show the state in the hole vividly, so that all of them are imitating the modeling state of the real turtle shell. This is a tribute to nature, but also a manifestation of a certain humanistic spiritual concept, these details are enough to prove that the ancestors of Hongshan have spiritual sustenance and worship of turtle shells. Moreover, we can know through this jade mask that the image characteristics of the Hongshan people for the characters, the size, position and shape of the facial features have reached a considerable height, and the image in the mask allows people to identify the characteristics of the Mongols at a glance (Figure 2). Whether this mask is similar to the deceased himself or not, we have not been able to verify, but from the multiple masks unearthed have different image characteristics, the portraits represented by these masks have the commonality of a specific race, while retaining more individual image characteristics. From this point of view, it can be judged that the jade mask, which is similar to the size of the real face, should be tailored to the facial features of the deceased, and it is a realistic jade carving with special purposes.
Figure 2 Jade mask - Hongshan culture
The deeper natural beauty we think of more refers to the fact that the jade carving works made by the Hongshan people have the essence of constructing beauty with a natural eye, for example: Hongshan jade carving always weakens the traces of carving, such as engraving lines, perforation patterns, etc., polishing all the traces into a smooth surface that is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. This in itself is to strengthen the height of the shape and spiritual connotation conveyed by the jade carving, so that the artificially carved works return to the natural state of the river milled jade, and the viewer can appreciate its beauty and function at a glance. Even if it is a complex jade carving shape, the Hongshan people must polish it to the edges and corners, even the holes are not spared, and the jade polished by the Hongshan people will eventually be like the jade seed material or stone pieces picked up on the riverbed, extremely smooth, aesthetic and natural, making people easy to approach, willing to touch, and even love to get along with these jades day and night. This may be the Hongshan people inherited the experience of their predecessors in using stone tools, and in the process of making jade carvings by generations of Hongshan people, they have a new understanding, and finally according to the requirements of most users, the ancient jade is finally polished and processed, making many Hongshan jades reach the highest peak of prehistoric jade carving art.
Second, the beauty of simplicity
The typical characteristics of the ancient jade shape of Hongshan Mountain are fully reflected in the ingenuity of the business composition, which has achieved simplicity and ultimate beauty. Just like the flower and bird paintings of the Eight Great Mountain People in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, more strokes and less strokes cannot be established. Every piece of jade in the Hongshan culture is carefully designed, they are ceremonial vessels, ritual instruments, tribal totems, as refined as symbols, to achieve the highest standard of beauty.
So how can the People of Hongshan achieve a few strokes to make the jade carving achieve both form and god? One of the most important points is to operate skillfully, with less winning more. The former is related to the rarity of jade, and the latter is related to the hardness of jade.
In the Sheikh's Six Laws, the so-called business position refers to the composition. Management refers to the design method of composition, which is the artistic process of arranging and adjusting the image according to the needs of the picture, that is, by planning the layout of the article, to present the overall effect of the work. Chinese painting has always attached importance to composition, and it should pay attention to the relationship between the main guest, structure, echo, virtual reality, complexity and simplicity, density, and hidden dew. In addition, the immutable qualities of Chinese painting make the business composition more important, and whether it can be made in the first place sometimes determines the success or failure of the work of art. The process of carving ancient jade is like subtraction, people can only refine the beauty of jade by pondering, but they can never add the volume of jade. Therefore, Hongshan people must slowly carve and grind, while pondering, while carefully reading, so that the previous business design of carving is extremely important, and this characteristic of Hongshan culture has also profoundly influenced the Chinese painting art of later generations. Taking jade material as the body, tailor-made, precise design, and maximum use of jade have become the inevitable requirements of Hongshan jade carvers, and have also become an aesthetic standard for evaluating Hongshan jade.
The beauty of Hongshan's simplicity is reflected in two aspects: one is that it contains a rich sense of formal beauty and visual tension in simplicity; the other is that it reflects a strong spiritual force in simplicity, containing the functions of totems and symbols.
The former is determined by the essential attributes of jade as a medium, in the Hongshan culture era, there are ceramic sculptures, bone carvings and ivory carvings, but ancient jade, as a sacrificial medium, carries an important spiritual connotation. The so-called "theosophical monopoly, only jade is buried" [3], the emergence and use of jade, has become a symbol of class division of labor and hierarchy. In addition, the hardness of river mill jade reaches six degrees, some exceed six degrees, and carving an image on such a hard jade is itself a test of human wisdom and physical strength. Out of the cherishing of jade, Hongshan people will do their best to use the jade to the fullest, and do not waste any piece of raw materials. Of course, they also try not to remove too much jade as much as possible without affecting the aesthetics of the shape, so as to retain more jade mass (Figure 3). In this case, the designers of Hongshan jade carvings will consider designing the largest jade carving with limited jade at the beginning of creation, and express the deepest connotation with the most concise shapes and lines - this is extremely demanding for the designer's modeling generalization ability, they need to use the simplest geometric figures to show a very spiritual totem or ornament (Figure 4); they also need to use a few strokes to carve out the typical characteristics of an animal, and even need to show the animal's active state (Figure 5). The more subtle can also use extremely generalized abstract geometric figures to show relatively realistic shapes (Figure 6). The improvement and progress of these abilities may take tens, hundreds or even thousands of years, which can be described as a long era of handmade jade carving regardless of the cost of time, and some scholars call this era the "Topaz Era".
Figure 3 Jade God People - Hongshan Culture
Figure 4 Yubi - Hongshan culture
Figure 5 Bird catching fish-shaped jade pendant - Hongshan culture
Figure 6 Jade Bird - Hongshan Culture
The latter is determined by the spiritual concept of the ancestors of Hongshan to the ancient jade. In the Hongshan culture period, jade carving is an important medium for communicating between people and people, people and nature, people and gods, it is not an ordinary plaything or ornament, but an important ceremonial instrument, magic weapon and artifact of the ancestors of Hongshan, and even becomes the spiritual totem of different tribes, carrying the function of words. Therefore, the simple and accurate image expression can make people have visual and spiritual memories, so that the jade carving itself has more spiritual characteristics.
We can analyze how the ancestors of Hongshan achieved the simple beauty of jade carving in their business positions: 1. The main guest is clear; 2. The proportion is aesthetic; 3. The structure is clear; 4. The virtual reality is born and dense.
1. The main guest is clear. A beautiful shape will always have a clear aesthetic center, the Orientals call it "painting the eye", and the Westerners call it the "visual center". Whether it is the painting eye or the visual center, it is nothing more than to let the viewer see at a glance, the aesthetic center of the work with clear visual intentions, and this aesthetic concept is also in line with people's visual instincts, according to the analysis of scientists, the human eye can not be very concentrated at the same time to two visual center points, people tend to see a key point first, and then appreciate other parts, which is the visual law of science, but also the human life instinct. The Hongshan ancestors are one of the groups that know how to strengthen the visual subject, and their jade carving works are very clear and exaggerated in terms of visual order. For example, if they want to strengthen the head of the jade carved dragon to the central point, they will enlarge the head, enlarge the eyes, and shrink the capuchin (Figure 7). To reinforce the bird's fish-eating movements, they enlarged the beak and head and reduced the body to a simplification (Figure 5). In order to strengthen the power of the tiger's bite, they enlarged the tiger's mouth, exaggerated the sharp teeth, and shortened the body and legs (Figure 8). This is one of the most simple feelings of the primitive ancestors, and it is also an effective way of artistic expression. Because this kind of artistic expression is naturally contained in the Hongshan culture, every time people appreciate the Hongshan jade carving, they will always be visually concentrated, so that they feel that the subject is very clear and there will be no sense of uncertainty.
Figure 7 Jade carved dragon - Hongshan culture
2. The proportions are aesthetic. The jade carving works in the Hongshan culture, in terms of structural arrangement and division, are one of the most classic representatives of prehistoric art. If we look at the hundreds of Hongshan jade carvings in the collection, or read this atlas, we will feel that the Hongshan ancestors' grasp of the proportion structure has reached a height that was difficult for the contemporaries to reach, and even reached the proportion of the golden section that Westerners call. For example, the C-shaped jade carved dragon (Figure 9), from the segmentation point of the dragon's shape to analyze, from the kiss to the eyes, and then to the starting point of the mane, these steps of the proportion are very perfect, in line with the visual beauty of the golden ratio; from the end of the mane to the height of the dragon's tail, it is also the relationship between the golden ratio; into the details of the local depiction, the golden ratio of the horizontal line of the dragon's mouth and the face, the golden ratio of the dividing line of the dragon's eye and the face, and even the golden ratio of the width of the mane and the width of the dragon's body, etc. Almost all the proportional division points of the entire jade carved dragon are on the golden section points that conform to the visual beauty of people. Whether it is the "First Dragon of China" collected by the National Museum or the Hongshan Jade Dragon collected by various museums, it implies a similar proportion of division. The author believes that this is not an accident, let alone a coincidence, this is an extremely keen aesthetic perception and the supreme and pure aesthetic requirements, which can be said to have been perfected. In addition, almost all the abstract jade hoop shaped vessels, jade bi, and jade seals in the Hongshan culture have reached a very high level in the division of proportions.
Figure 8 Jade Tiger - Hongshan Culture
Figure 9 C-shaped jade carved dragon - Hongshan culture
3. Clear structure. Hongshan ancient jade has extremely high requirements for structure. The so-called structure, like the framework of the building, is the basic skeleton that supports the work, if the structure is unreasonable, the building may collapse into a pile of ruins, and the work will lose its due beauty. The structure of a jade carving also determines the visual beauty of people when appreciating works of art. The beautiful structural arrangement will make people feel strong, so that the jade carving itself is full of visual strength. In the treatment of structure, Hongshan jade carving pays special attention to the fit between the external structure and the internal structure. In the use of large structures, three-dimensional objects are as far as possible to grasp within the three major blocks - no matter how complex the content, can be placed in the large block structure to organize, so that the viewer can read its level and beauty very clearly at a glance. We can clearly perceive their structural arrangements from most of the Hongshan jade carvings, such as jade carving dragons, jade people, jade birds, jade turtles, and Gouyun-shaped jade. Especially in the arrangement of structural lines, it is both holistic and contains rich changes. In addition, there is also a clear correlation between the structural lines of Hongshan jade, which constitute an organic whole between them, so that each structural line and block surface become an important part of the whole. As Ingres put it: "A good sketch is like a basket, as long as the basket has no holes, not even a single branch can be extracted." [4] That is to say, excellent sketches do not have any superfluous parts in their internal structure, which also fully illustrates the organic connection of jade carving works as a whole.
4. Virtual reality is born and dense. The simple beauty of Hongshan ancient jade is also reflected in the simple form of conveying rich changes through subtle virtual-real relationships and dense linear relationships. Each work of art contains infinite beauty in simplicity, which is intriguing. We can analyze the density and virtual reality changes of the Hongshan culture through several typical instruments, observe the structure of the jade carved dragon (Figure 7), if the carved entity is compared to the real, then the space outside it, including the hollow part, is virtual. The real carving of the jade pig dragon is very full, the contrast between the size of several hollow voids is relatively sharp, and the mutual echo between the virtual and the real will also stimulate people's infinite associations. In particular, the expression of the details of the head of the jade carved dragon, the contemplation of the facial features, all the lines are from real to virtual, and the changes are rich and subtle. Another example is the dragon and phoenix-type cloud-shaped device (Figure 10), and the overall virtual and real arrangement of the jade is also exquisite. All the virtual spaces have been cleverly designed and arranged, which is very decent. In addition, the main part in the middle of the jade accounts for a very large proportion, and the objects on both sides also have a sharp size contrast with the main body, so as to achieve the effect of echoing each other. The shape of the real place is set off by the virtual place, and the virtual place is contrasted by the real place, which is the so-called virtual cause realization, and the virtual reality is born. The distribution of the lines of the cloud-shaped jade is also very subtle, and the combination of denseness is appropriate, making people feel smooth and varied, extremely rich.
Figure 10 Gouyun-shaped jade - Hongshan culture
It can be seen from the above that the hongshan ancestors have reached a considerable aesthetic height for the structural design of jade carving, that is, the business position, and this ability to refine and express beauty can be described as fascinating and wonderful.
Third, the beauty of color
The application of color refers to the application of color, that is, the application of different colors according to the differences in the object, time and place of the depiction. The way Chinese painting uses color is different from Western painting, Chinese painting likes to use inherent color, that is, the color of the object itself, which includes the color of the objective object, but also includes the color of the painter's spiritual feelings, which is the so-called "image spring color".
Figure 11 C-shaped jade carving dragon - Hongshan culture
The jade of Hongshan culture is mainly The Xiuyan River milled jade in Liaoning, its color is extremely rich, with yellow, white, green, green, dark green, gray green, brown, black and other colors. A few regions also use Russian Lake Baikal tremolite jade, which is mainly white, gray and gray black. For the selection of jade, including the choice of jade color, the ancestors of Hongshan are very particular. For example, there are many types of C-shaped jade carving dragons, but they can be roughly divided into two types: long mane and short mane. The long-maned jade carved dragon mainly refers to the length of the mane that flutters backwards and rolls back to the shape of the jade dragon below the parallel line of the dragon's mouth, which is particularly flowing and majestic (Figure 9). The short-maned jade carved dragon refers to the jade dragon shape with a relatively short mane, a rolling mane that floats upwards backwards, and a length of which is around the longitudinal line of the dragon's back, which is relatively gentle and cute (Figure 11). The styles of the two dragons are different and the momentum is different: the former has male characteristics and is more powerful; the latter has the characteristics of motherhood, which is more feminine and elegant. The former type of jade carved dragon, the author has examined more than a dozen, most of which are mainly yellow-green or dark green jade. The latter type of jade carved dragon, the author has also examined dozens of them, most of which are mainly yellow-white jade. In addition, most of the horseshoe-shaped jade is made of green jade and less yellow jade. Jade silkworms and jade insects will use topaz jade, which may be closer to the inherent color of the object. Jade god people also use yellow and white jade, can it be understood that yellow and white jade and human skin color are relatively close? And jade frogs, jade tigers and other animal-shaped jade, mostly use green jade, is it because frogs are originally green, and tigers always haunt the green forest? This makes the author wonder, is this a coincidence, or is it a conscious choice? If most jade carvings will be selected according to the inherent color of the object, this is enough to show that the requirements of the ancestors of hongshan for all aspects of jade carving have reached an extremely strict and standardized realm. When the jade material is sufficient and the conditions for selection are met, the author believes that the ancestors of hongshan will choose jade materials that are closer to the inherent color of the object to carve.
Secondly, the ancestors of Hongshan often used the inherent skin color of jade to embellish the overly pale jade color, so that the color of jade carving works was clearly contrasted, enhancing people's aesthetic feelings when viewing and the richness of the work itself. This tendency also guarantees the uniqueness of each jade carving, making it the only mark for the user of the jade carving (Fig. 3). The jade skin on the right side of the head of the jade person is basically retained, while the slight red jade skin retained on the right side of the body can increase the color beauty of the body. Among the Hongshan jade, jade skin and jade Qin have different ways of expression, the epidermis of jade skin has thick pores, potholes, and the transition with jade is relatively blunt and clear. In contrast, Qin color is often immersed, which will produce transitions such as ink smudging, there is a gradual process, and the jade will slightly shrink in the parts that are seriously affected. Most of the use of jade skin by the ancestors of Hongshan is to retain the color of jade skin in a helpless situation - because the jade is extremely rare, the ancestors of Hongshan must do their best to retain the size of the jade, so they will retain the jade skin in a forced state, which is mainly to ensure the integrity of the jade shape. After several generations of inheritance, the ancestors of Hongshan discovered that the color of jade skin will also bring some ingenious beauty to jade carving, and gradually retain the inherent color of jade skin within the scope of conditions. Some of the red parts on the side of Figure 3 are the color effects produced by retaining the color of the jade skin, which is similar to the exquisite carving of the Song Dynasty's oil-lifting jade and the Ming and Qing jade. It can be imagined that five or six thousand years ago, the ability of human eyes to feel and the ability to think of the mind were actually not too different from today five or six thousand years later, and the changes of the times brought about a revolution in tools and the consequent improvement in efficiency. However, due to the change of efficiency, the time for people to pour into things has become very different, which makes the amount of human emotions transferred in the jade processing process obviously different. If you go faster and pursue early completion, you may not be able to think deeply. The speed slows down, and perhaps with the fine processing, the aesthetic and emotional experience of the carver will all move into the jade carving work, making the Hongshan jade carving have a human hue, temperature and light.
Fourth, the beauty of imagery
The pictogram of objects in the Six Laws of Sheikh means that when the painter depicts the object, he should respect the original appearance of the thing and use the means of modeling to express it. That is to say, the depiction of things must have a certain objective basis as a basis and reliance, and cannot be arbitrarily subjectively fabricated. Any art must be carried out under the premise of respecting objective things, which can be said to be a creative attitude and method.
The image modeling method of Hongshan ancient jade is the founder of the ancient Chinese jade carving art, and it is a model. The so-called image refers to a kind of appearance, that is, an imaginary appearance transformed from the memory appearance or the existing perceptual image. In the process of literary and artistic creation, imagery, also known as "aesthetic imagery", is the imagination processing and generating the empirical materials provided by actual life, and the image formed in the author's mind appears. [5] Image modeling is the shape of the image in the author's mind, and it is also a way of subjective selection, generalization, imagination and exaggeration under the premise of respecting objective things, and finally reaching the spiritual idea. It not only retains the original characteristics of objective things, but also sublimates and refines the creator's emotions, making the work an image model with human emotions and temperature. Hongshan ancient jade contains the beauty of imagery, which is the result of the worship and respect of nature by the ancestors of Hongshan Mountain, whose unceasing admiration for life has formed a ceremonial instrument of embryonic shape such as jade carving dragons; for the sky and dreams, carved out jade birds, jade eagles and other birds; fear and envy of the beasts at the top of the food chain on the grassland, shaping jade tigers, jade bears and other beasts. These are the nature recreated by the ancestors of the Red Mountain—they have created spiritual objects that are close to eternity in their own unique way of expression. In the field of art, this is perhaps the earliest expression of the pictograms of the later Six Laws. The beauty of their imagery is mainly reflected in the following two aspects: on the one hand, to retain the typical characteristics of the object; on the other hand, to use geometric symbols and summarize them as spiritual totems.
This characteristic of Hongshan jade can be described as the artistic achievements accumulated by the ancestors of Hongshan through the aesthetic experience passed down from generation to generation. The portrayal of these jade carving images has never been separated from the objective object and become pure abstraction, which always retains a kind of figurativeness, so that people can strongly feel the typical characteristics of the object while reading the beauty of the form, triggering people's associations with the object and being emotional. For example, the jade owl (Fig. 6), from the overall point of view, the viewer can feel the image characteristics of the owl at a glance. Looking more closely, the five features of the owl can be summarized into several geometric shapes, the face is simplified to an inverted triangle, the ears are positive triangles, the eyes are round, the beak is also represented by a triangle, the body is summarized by a square shape, and then the legs and claws are shaped with two semicircles, and the overall image is condensed and summarized, with strong spirituality and imagery. Re-read the animal face jade hook cloud shaper (Figure 12), the main body of this kind of cloud shape device is similar to the owl's eyes, extremely sharp, the left and right sides of the jade are like the owl's outstretched wings, these totems are derived from some characteristics of the objective object, or typical features, and then sublimated into a spiritual symbol. This form of artistic expression had a great influence on the jade carvings of the Later Shang Zhou and Qin and Han Dynasties, and also laid an important foundation for the imagery expression of Oriental art.
Figure 12 Gouyun-shaped jade - Hongshan culture
The way Chinese culture was born is different from that of the West, she has a strong spirituality, and this spiritual civilization is embodied in the Hongshan culture as three basic ways of sacrifice: altar, female temple, and stone tomb. This spiritual demand will inevitably make the process of making and using jade carving full of spiritual color, especially the user of important jade carving, the witch, to achieve the realm of psychic. Therefore, the jade carver must make artificial generalizations on the basis of objective objects, making it a spiritual totem, a process that is actually image modeling. Looking at the important ceremonial vessels in the Hongshan culture, they have never been completely separated from the object, nor have they been separated from the typical characteristics of the object, which makes the Hongshan jade full of mysterious color, more touching people's hearts, and can evoke the emotional experience of human nature. For example, the typical jade carved dragon (Figure 7, Figure 9), their general shape is similar, often have some common features, such as the mane of the head, eyes, nose, and curly body, these shapes are extracted from a certain kind of object, and transformed into a spiritual symbol, thus symbolically conveying a certain spiritual concept, with symbolic significance. The author believes that all the jade carved dragons, whether unearthed in Inner Mongolia or Liaoning, have the same shape and shape similar to the shape of mammalian embryos. There is some truth to the fact that people call them "Jade Pig Dragons". The ancients raised pigs at home as a basic living guarantee, and finally, pigs became a symbol of family wealth, so the word "home" in the oracle bone is "pig". After the death of the person, he was buried in the stone mound, "tsukasa" is a shape and sound character, its oracle bone is like an animal under the cliff (Figure 13), the author thinks it is like a high platform made of stone, and a pig is placed underneath, which is very similar to the state of the stone mound excavated by Niuheliang. Most important stone mounds contain one or several jade carved dragons. Perhaps before life, pigs need to be raised to ensure the necessities of life, and after death, they also hope to have the company of symbolic "pigs" in the stone mound, in order to pray for life in another free kingdom. Therefore, most of the imagery artifacts such as jade carvings and dragons in the Hongshan culture have symbolic significance and are spiritual totems. Although they all originate from a certain characteristic of objective objects, they are more endowed with rich spiritual connotations and spiritual sustenance of the ancestors of Hongshan. Therefore, these jades often show pluralism in form, without a particularly clear single direction, but composite the characteristics of multiple objects to meet the spiritual needs of independent individuals. This may also explain why jade dragons have different forms—some resemble pig embryos, some bear-like embryos, and some even dog-like embryos, but they all present a common spiritual orientation, which is similar to embryonic shapes. Perhaps this is also the original meaning of "Tsukasa" in the oracle bone, in the Hongshan culture period, the jade carved dragon is a totem, a spiritual totem tailored for each deceased.
Figure 13 The Oracle of Tsukasa
Therefore, the pictograms of the objects in the Six Laws have transcended the "form" of the objects and then sublimated into the "forms" in the author's mind. This point has been fully expressed in the Hongshan culture period at the beginning of Chinese civilization.
Fifth, the beauty of craftsmanship
The bone method of the six methods can be divided into two levels: bone method and pen. The bone method originally referred to the physical characteristics of the character, and later referred to the outline of all depicted objects. Using a pen is a unique brush and ink technique of Chinese painting. In general, the bone method of using the pen refers to the use of pen and ink techniques to properly depict the shape and texture of the object, its essence is to use the pen to express the image, but the emphasis is on the accuracy of the pen.
The refining process of Hongshan jade carving contains the tenacious perseverance and long time of the ancestors of Hongshan Mountain, and its carving process fully reflects all the essence of the bone method pen in the Wei and Jin Six Methods. The craft characteristics of Hongshan culture jade carving are concentrated in the grinding, drilling and hollowing, especially in the polishing process, which is even more miraculous. Compared with the jade carving process of the same cultural period, the polishing level of Hongshan culture is undoubtedly the highest, which makes future generations judge directly from the level of polishing when identifying and appreciating Hongshan jade carving. The author believes that the beauty of the craftsmanship of Hongshan jade carving is concentrated in three aspects: 1. 2. Polished to the utmost care; 2. The meaningful beauty of the lines; The aesthetic value of punching and hollowing.
1. The polishing beauty of Hongshan jade carving is concentrated on all the traces of craftsmanship. That is to say, the beauty of the lines to be talked about later and the beauty of the punching and hollowing are permeated with the characteristics of the polishing process. Some scholars believe that understanding the polishing process of Hongshan can basically identify the authenticity of Hongshan jade. Because grinding is the last of all processing processes, if the polishing is correct, then the characteristics of the jade inside should be correct, if the grinding is not correct, then the holes, jade, etc. inside will appear or right or wrong. The polishing process of Hongshan jade carving is concentrated in the surface of the work marks. The so-called "work marks" means that there is a process of polishing in the processing line and punching of a Hongshan jade carving. The so-called "outside the work marks" mainly refers to the polishing of the skin outside the carving and punching. Moreover, all polishing can be divided into several processes, and the sharpening level of the most superficial layer can almost be used as a standard for measuring the authenticity of Hongshan jade carving.
The polishing level of Hongshan jade carving in the "work marks" is mainly related to the limited tools at that time, such as the polishing of the tile groove line, which is both a line and a surface, and at the same time as expressing the line, it is completed by the grinding method of the block surface, and the polishing process is very long. Including the carved line of jade carving, it is often used to add jade sand with a blade to slowly figure out the yin carved line, and sometimes, the convex string pattern of reducing the ground and the yang is also completed. Due to the simplicity of the tool, the speed of the engraving line is relatively slow, and the amount of labor paid is too large, the carving error cannot be compensated, so the position, length, depth, and virtual reality of each line are particularly important. In the end, the fineness of Hongshan jade carving reached an unimaginable level, and it reached the peak of prehistoric jade carving technology. One more knife is not, one less knife is not valid, a little longer or shorter is not beautiful enough, and the left or right point is not fit enough - these grinding processes are finally reflected in the meaningful form of the line. Without the beauty of lines and structures, only the delicacy of polishing cannot constitute profound meaning. For example, the beauty revealed in a pebble is limited, because it does not have a readable, meaningful form of beauty, which is also the connotation of the ancients' so-called "jade is not thoughtful, not a tool".
2. In the Hongshan jade carving, all the lines reveal a meaningful sense of formal beauty. If the line is compared to the pen used in Chinese painting, then the bone method with the pen can be understood as the use of accurate carved lines to show the most essential appearance characteristics and texture of the object, in this regard, the Hongshan jade carving is very well represented. Its line position is extremely accurate, and there are also higher requirements for the length and echo of the line, and even the thickness of the line is selected according to the characteristics of the utensils. For example, the jade carved dragon we are familiar with (Figure 7), the position and size of the dragon's eye, the position and length of the nose, the length of the snout fold line, and the correspondence between the end of the dragon's mane and the mouth of the utensil, and so on, forming an organic interaction similar to Taiji Bagua. These seemingly simple images can be handled so intriguingly and variedly that they rely on the precision and delicacy of the threading and polishing process. We can simply analyze several lines on the face of the jade carved dragon, first of all, the large arc at the mane, this curve shape is very charming, it is not a semicircle, nor is it a perfect circle, but a circle in the middle of the circle, a square in the square, very subtle. In particular, the closing part is slowly blurred, and finally merged into the plane, and the blurred line guides to the position of the carved dragon's mouth, forming an echo relationship. Looking at the round lines of the eyes, the turns are particularly smooth, although they are joined by countless short lines, but the final look and feel is very smooth and rounded. The yin line of the nose and mouth is also rich in variation, and the position of each individual is extremely in place, especially the end and length of the line, which are in a relatively reasonable position. In a single line, the change of virtual reality, light and heavy, width and narrowness, and thickness in thinness can be seen everywhere in the process of Hongshan jade carving. Especially in the depiction line of the cloud-shaped jade, it is rich and wonderful, reaching the peak of the prehistoric jade relief craft.
3. The most fascinating part of the Hongshan jade carving process is the punching and hollowing process. This feature can also be described by the accuracy of the bone method with the pen, and the punching and hollowing process of Hongshan jade carving has independent aesthetic value. The subtleties of the Hongshan jade carving punching process are mainly reflected in the aesthetics and concealment of the location, such as: the jade carving dragon of Hongshan Mountain, the C-shaped jade carving dragon, and the jade hook cloud shaper and the jade bi, etc., often punching the hole in an important position that is visually visible, but it seems so harmonious and beautiful. The middle hole of the Hongshan jade carved dragon represents the space, how big the central hole is, how big the dragon's eye is, the longan is real, and the central hole is virtual. But if that's all, the shape will appear too simple and there will be no change, so the Hongshan people arrange the small hole used for the hanging of the jade carved dragon on the back neck that can be seen on the front, which increases the size of the hole. Suppose we block the small hole of the jade carved dragon, we will feel that the overall lack of change in the work is tasteless. There is also a kind of punching hole in Hongshan jade carving that is hidden, that is, the punching hole cannot be seen on the front of the jade carving, and the hole is punched in the back or side that does not affect the visual beauty, such as some cloud shapers, jade phoenixes, jade eagles, jade gods and so on. Most of these jade objects have conveyed the aesthetic beauty of jade carvings very well on the front, and there is no need to use punches to add charm. Therefore, the Hongshan people pioneered a process of perforation in a plane, that is, the two holes are 45° obliquely hit to the same point, and after opening, they can not affect the beauty of the front. As the name suggests, this hole is called a cow nostril. Sometimes, similar concealment is reflected in the punching of the Jade God People, and the Ancestors of the Red Mountain often punched the holes on both sides of the necks or the back of the necks of the Gods, which is suitable for hanging through the rope, thus fixing the Gods to the wood.
Figure 14 Jade Bear Head - Hongshan Culture
The most attractive "hole" of Hongshan jade carving is the hollowing process, which is used in combination with the punching technique. The so-called hollowing is to reduce the volume of the jade itself and better convey the sense of space of the jade carving. For example, the red mountain cloud-shaped jade, especially the animal face-shaped jade (Figure 12), observe the hollowing out of the eyes and eyebrows in the middle of the mountain, and it can be found that the eyes are completed by punching holes, while the eyebrows are pushed from both sides to grind the grooves, and finally penetrate and skeletonize the basic eyebrow shape. Thus, its hollowness is both virtual and real; it is both space and subject. Another example is the eyes of some jade bear heads and jade eagles (Figure 14), which are often replaced by drill holes, and the part of the drill hole is the eye of the artifact, and the hole becomes a solid. The most worth mentioning is the jade hoop shaped vessel, excavated cultural relics can prove that the hollow in the middle of the horseshoe-shaped jade is to add jade sand with a rope, and the inner core of the jade is hollowed out by means of soft Kegang, and its hollow curve is very varied and beautiful. This fully reflects the essence of the aesthetics of the ancients, that is, the true core of the bone method used by later generations.
Sixth, the beauty of Shen Yun
Hongshan jade carving has the beauty of Shen Yun, which is reflected in the shape, structure, process and many other links of Hongshan jade. Some people say that although they can't understand hongshan jade, they always feel that hongshan jade is very beautiful and has a spirit. In fact, these evaluations are derived from the figurative portrayal of the weakened image of Hongshan jade carving, and attach importance to the leisurely charm of the shape. Hongshan ancient jade has the reputation of "divine jade", which is indeed worthy of the name.
The vivid charm in sheikh's six laws refers to the spiritual temperament of the picture image, which is what the Eastern Jin Dynasty figure painter Gu Kai called "god". In general, vivid qi rhyme means that the spiritual temperament of the work is vivid and lively, vivid and vivid, and then reaches the realm of "both form and god". For Chinese painting, it is not only necessary to depict the shape of the object, but also to show its spirit.
The beauty of the charm of Hongshan jade carving is reflected in all aspects, it is like a person's blood, flowing in all parts of the body, so that the human body has the vitality of life. The word Shen Yun is difficult to describe in words, it is a metaphysical beauty, but in the end it must be expressed in images. It coexists with the image, and the highest realm is both form and god. The beauty of Hongshan ancient jade contains many aspects, including the beauty of composition, the beauty of shape, the beauty of craftsmanship, the beauty of color, etc., but in the end, it must be injected with the metaphysical temperament of Shen Yun, so that all the beauty has a pulse and soul. We can try to use metaphysical visual perception to illustrate the beauty of the charm of Hongshan jade carving. Its charm is reflected in the following aspects: 1. There is charm between the structural lines of Hongshan jade carving; 2. There is rhyme between the shapes of Hongshan jade carving; 3. The polishing process of Hongshan jade carving reflects the sense of rhythm.
1. Almost all Hongshan jade carvings pay special attention to the structural lines of the shape. When dealing with structural lines, the Ancestors of Hongshan were good at using methods that have been handed down for thousands of years to make all the structural lines flow in a big way, thus forming a vivid form. When we admire a piece of Red Mountain jade carving, we can clearly feel the flow of its shape. This sense of flow is not as solemn and stable as the Egyptian triangular pyramids, nor is it as stable as Liangzhu jade, nor is it as angular as the Guanghan Sanxing jade. We can feel the flowing sensation of natural clouds from the Hongshan jade, which can even be interpreted more deeply as the sense of the passage of time. It is as hazy as cloud water, coming and going freely, such as C-shaped jade carved dragon, jade pig dragon, jade dragon, etc.; also like the desert is unpredictable, up and down, such as all kinds of cloud-shaped jade, etc.; also like the speed and movement of eagles in the grassland, such as jade birds, jade eagles, eagles catching fish-shaped pendants, jade tigers, etc. These jades give us the feeling of a state of integration into all things in nature, which comes from the crystallization of natural jade, and returns to nature, becoming part of the sense of natural beauty. What the ancestors of Hongshan wanted to convey was presumably to communicate the relationship between man and nature through ancient jade, so as to communicate the relationship between man and the gods. In an era when the earth is vast and sparsely visited, what they see, hear, and feel is all related to nature, and they strive to create a medium between man and nature, in order to pin their feelings on their feelings, and expect to get natural recognition. Therefore, these jade objects are as relevant as possible to nature in the treatment of structural lines. The natural changes are amazing, and the shape of hongshan jade is unpredictable. When we look at the shape of the C-shaped jade carved dragon, each structural line is full of rhythmic beauty, like the curve of a cloud, flexible and changeable - it is fluttering, it is flowing, it is unstable. In the Hongshan era, these artifacts appeared in important ceremonial activities in the form of hanging or holding, rather than standing on a flat surface. Because of this, it adds to the charm of the artifacts, so that the cold jade carving works have a sense of life and movement like living things, with fluidity and movement. These qualities are reflected in the structural line of the shape of the Hongshan jade carving, and also let us feel the structural beauty of the Red Mountain Jade when we appreciate it at close range.
2. There is a charm between the shapes of red mountain jade. The simple modeling method of Hongshan jade has been analyzed above, and it will not be repeated here, but from a deeper level, the charm of Hongshan jade is an important factor in the vivid charm of Hongshan jade. The charm of a jade carving is actually the relationship between figuration and abstraction—the figurative "beauty" contains the abstract "god". Hongshan jade can be described as the originator of Chinese abstract art, which exerts the beauty of the pure form of objects and images to the extreme, and reaches the essence of art. It is not completely detached from the object, it is "abstract", not "imageless". Until now, when people today read the Hongshan jade carving, they can still have natural experiences and emotional communication, and can feel the temperature of human nature, which are derived from the charm and connotation of the shape.
Of course, there are also some pure spiritual jade carvings, which can be said to be "imageless" symbols, and most of them are geometric figures. For example, jade bi, jade jue, jade ring, jade hoop shaped device, etc., they have no direct image relationship with the objective world, they are totems in the spiritual and symbolic sense, representing a certain spiritual concept and sustenance. For this kind of relatively simple jade carving, the ancestors of Hongshan also tried their best to make it charming and beautiful. For example, the square jade bi, the quadrangle is originally relatively blunt and rigid, but they grind the four corners of the square round, so that the square has a circle, has a sense of movement, and the round bi heart produces an internal echo. Another example is the jade hoop shape, which is also a relatively simple instrument type, but the Hongshan ancestors added a little change in the barrel of a cylinder: when they cut the inner core of the cylinder, they showed the shape of the circle with squares, and when polishing the shape, the shape of the cylinder was polished into a flat circle, and the lower mouth was cut flat, and the upper mouth was ground into an abducted oblique mouth. In this way, the simple cylinder produces a sense of flow, and it also forms a sense of air charm.
Another major component of Hongshan culture is the semi-abstract jade carving works, which condense the typical form of objective objects, and then form an art with a strong sense of form. Such works occupy a large proportion of Hongshan jade, such as C-shaped jade carved dragons, jade pig dragons, Gouyun-shaped jade, composite jade, etc. This kind of work seems to be plausible, and there is a resemblance, which is very intriguing, and the more people with higher artistic attainments, the more they can taste the artistic charm in them. These jade objects are not imageless, but rely on human wisdom and talents to read inextricably linked to natural objects in their art forms. In the Red Mountain Jade, even a partial shape is full of rhythm and charm. For example, the complex and changeable gouge cloud-shaped jade, especially the animal face gouge cloud-shaped device, its tooth-like object looks rigid, but when extended to the internal plane, it uses various hooks and arcs to produce a sense of charm and beauty. The hollowed-out straight lines on the left and right sides also deliberately produce straight and oblique modeling features according to the overall momentum. This makes the overall more balanced and symmetrical artifacts add charm and dynamics. There are many such examples, such as the portrayal of the C-shaped jade carving dragon's eye, which often makes the eyes drop-shaped according to the overall rhythm of the jade; the facial features of the pig dragon also echo with the spherical structure of the overall shape. These shapes are not depicted in isolation on the instrument table, but together with the overall momentum, they form the charm of the work.
Hongshan jade carving also has a type of work is imagery, some of these images are worn decorative jade, they are in the grasp of shen yun, in fact, more elusive than pure abstract jade carving, the ancestors of Hongshan on the one hand to carve out recognizable content according to the characteristics of the object, while also refining the meaningful form. Therefore, the detailed portrayal of such works is to extract the charm in the realism, and bring in the dynamics and charm of the object in the shape, such as: the feet of the jade turtle can swim, the wings of the jade owl can soar, the tiger's mouth can be opened, the forelimbs of the praying mantis can be quickly caught and so on. The ancestors of Hongshan brought charm and charm into all aspects of the shape.
3. The polishing process of Hongshan jade carving reflects the sense of rhythm. The production of qi rhyme is closely related to the process, and the carving and polishing process will increase the sense of rhythm of the momentum. The essential difference between a piece of jade imitated by a machine and a piece of Hongshan jade that really "opens the door" lies in the craftsmanship and charm. The threading and polishing process of Hongshan jade carving reflects the characteristics of phased processing, but the whole can be integrated into the rhythm of large modeling. The ancestors of Hongshan did not deliberately highlight the ability of carving and the beauty of independent lines, they tried their best to integrate all the lines into the overall charm, highlighting the overall modeling rhythm and soft jade beauty. Therefore, when we are admiring a piece of hongshan ancient jade, with the change of light and the rotation of the angle of the artifact, the shape and undulation of the artifact will be beautiful and rhythmic. This kind of clear and chaotic craftsmanship produces a round, full, ancient and atmospheric aesthetic tension, and these richness also add to the natural charm of Hongshan jade carving, which we can call this trait vivid.
It can be said that it is precisely because of the existence of Hongshan jade carving that the Hongshan civilization can be regarded to a certain extent as the civilization that best embodies the vivid and true connotation of the many brilliant civilizations created by the Chinese nation in the prehistoric stage.
In summary, if we only study Hongshan jade from the perspective of archaeology, stratigraphic relations, and cultural functions, we may ignore the height and influence of Hongshan jade carving in aesthetics. Just as we continue to accept the audio and video content provided by modern communication equipment, we forget its essential function of connecting the phone and communicating the world. Perhaps, in the totem era without words, the spiritual meaning carried by ancient jade can only be read and communicated through the most instinctive aesthetics of human beings. Only in this way can people clear the barrier between modern civilization and prehistoric civilization, and can more deeply and directly feel the blood and soul of prehistoric human beings, as well as the endless emotional state of the ancestors of the Red Mountains, so that we can comprehensively let the ancient civilization infiltrate our souls through the way of perception and edification.
Perhaps, the jade carvings of the ancestors of the Red Mountain were not created for aesthetic purposes, they were only a continuation of the ritual activities of prehistoric witchcraft, just the materialization of the concept of consciousness, or just a spiritual totem, which some scholars call the "prototype" of the collective unconscious. [6] However, there is no doubt that they consciously or unconsciously present the beauty and eternal beauty of the earliest and finest jade carvings in human history. The Hongshan jade carving condenses the highest aesthetic standards in human history, and also embodies the social consciousness of prehistoric civilization, as well as the simple and pure emotional concepts and aesthetic consciousness of the ancestors of Hongshan. Since then, generations of Chinese sons and daughters have been deeply influenced by the aesthetics of Hongshan ancient jade in terms of social system, moral system, cultural system and artistic standards. It is the jade culture of the Hongshan period that allowed Chinese civilization to examine everything by the "jade standard" in different historical eras, and the Yanhuang land has thus become an authentic "jade country" - this is also the real beauty of Hongshan ancient jade.
I finished my manuscript in March 2021 in Mengxuzhai
Fang Guangzhi is currently a professor, master tutor, director of the Chinese Painting Teaching and Research Office of the School of Art of Xiamen University, a member of the China Artists Association, a member of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, an honorary president of the Fujian Provincial Collection Culture Association, and a director of the Professional Committee of Calligraphy, Painting and Sculpture of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society.
[1] The Sixth Edition of Cihai, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, p. 1281.
[2] Treatise on Calligraphy and Painting of the Six Dynasties of the Han and Wei Dynasties, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 1997, first edition, p. 301.
[3] Guo Dashun, "Hongshan Culture", Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2010, first edition, pp. 202-204.
[4] Matisse, Notes on Painters, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2002, p. 104.
[5] The Sixth Edition of Cihai, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, p. 2263.
[6] Li Zehou, Three Books of Aesthetics, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1999, p. 34.