Zhao Juan: Why has the appeal of China's "magical beasts" to the West not diminished for a hundred years?
China News Service, Beijing, April 27 Title: Zhao Juan: Why has the attraction of China's "magical beasts" to the West not diminished for a hundred years?
Author Sun Mengyu
On March 26, a batch of Classical Chinese Glass Building Materials arrived in Duisburg, Germany, by China-Europe train from Wuhan to support the roof repair of the local "China Garden". As early as a hundred years ago, the sheltered "little beasts" on the roofs of traditional Chinese buildings attracted the interest of the West - in 1924, the world's first systematic study of roof beasts was written by the German collector Eduard Fuchs.
What is unique about this architectural decoration, known as the roof beast? Why have these Chinese "magical beasts" not lost their appeal to the West for a hundred years? Zhao Juan, associate professor of the School of Humanities of Beijing Sport University, recently gave an exclusive interview to China News Agency's "East and West Question" to interpret this.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: What are the typical representatives of China's "roof beasts" and what are their unique features? Are there similar roof ridges in traditional Western buildings?
Zhao Juan: The "roof ridge beast" is an important part of traditional Chinese architectural decoration, mainly used to decorate the roof and roof parts. Different from architectural painting, it is a kind of "three-dimensional decoration", which belongs to the category of "tile and stone construction" from the perspective of the construction of traditional Chinese architecture. Traditional "roof ridge" decoration often uses the image of "sacred beasts", these small beasts are also called "trotting", in addition to various "immortal" images.
This kind of decoration has a strong ceremonial and cultural function, and the number, size and image of placement and placement are specified. In addition to the 10 "trots" used in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing, up to 9 are used elsewhere. The order is: dragon, phoenix, lion, pegasus, seahorse, fox (cape), oshi (fish), badger (badger), bullfighting (bull), xingshi (monkey); among which the positions of pegasus and seahorse, fox and oshi can be interchangeable. When the number is less than 9, in order.
Exhibitions at the Capital Museum. Photo by Du Jianpo, China News Service
Western traditional buildings also have roofing and roof decoration, but due to different building materials, construction methods and cultural concepts, they show a different form from traditional Chinese buildings. The eaves decoration of ancient Greek temples include animal shapes and plant patterns, and sculptures of human figures are often placed on the roof of temples.
There is a word in German " Dachreiter " , " Dach " is the roof , "Reiter" is "knight", together is the building component riding on the roof or roof ridge, which can be translated as "roof turret", "roof ridge small tower (building)", "roof ridge knight", etc., that is, the building component of the roof protruding. Because of their independent spatial location and height, they have a strong visual appeal, especially in Gothic architecture, and the spiritual connotation of roof decoration pointing to the sky is richer.
There is a very interesting phenomenon in cross-cultural viewing and understanding, and there are differences in the form of Chinese and Western roof decoration, and it is this difference that attracts people from different cultural backgrounds to become interested in foreign cultures. Although the forms of expression of architectural art are different, people of different cultures are consistent in their spiritual appeal to living peacefully between the universe of heaven and earth and their desire for beauty.
Foreign photographers show off the Beijing buildings he photographed. China News Service reporter Jia Tianyong photographed
China News Service: In addition to writing books, The German collector and historian Edward Fox also has a large collection of roof beasts. What is the progress of the collection and research of roof ridge beasts from a western perspective?
Zhao Juan: It is not common in the West to collect "roof beasts", but there are many such collections scattered. For example, the German architect Ernst Boerschmann mentioned in his book "Chinese Architecture" that part of the German Marienburg pottery collection is made of roof glass. There are also some "roof beasts" in the collection of "sculpture" or "ceramics" such as the Museum of East Asian Art in Germany, the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, and the Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
With "Roof Beast" as a dedicated collectible subject, Edward Fox was a maverick. He also published a book in 1924, the aforementioned pioneering work "Dachreiter", subtitled "Related Chinese Ceramic Sculptures of the 15th and 18th Centuries". In the same year, a book of Tang Dynasty Sculptures was also published in the same series. Put the two books together to see the historical span, subject matter and purpose of his collection of Chinese sculpture.
The German thinker Benjamin once said that Fox saw in the grotesque of "Tang Dynasty sculpture" "the highest form of the sensual imagination", "the expression of a certain era of abundant health" and a kind of "full of fun and exuberant vitality".
Fox's collection of "Chinese roof decoration" is incompatible with the spirit of the museum in the william II period, they are not the masterpieces expected by the museum at that time, but Fox just wanted to show Europe through these collections that only through those "European masterpieces", people's understanding of history and culture is incomplete, in addition to the museum's "festive costumes", there are "simple weekday clothes", and he prefers the kind of "magnificent works" that are good at "showing beauty in the most simple".
Here, we can see that Chinese art and culture play a special role in participating in and promoting self-reflection and self-construction of other cultures.
On January 6, 2019, the partial eclipse of the sun came out with food and rose from the corner of the eaves of the Forbidden City. Photo by Sun Zifa, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: German architect Bouchmann has come to China three times to study architecture, and his book "Chinese Architecture" also has a chapter on "roof decoration".
Zhao Juan: Bochmann came to China three times in the first half of the 20th century.
The first time was in 1902-1904 as an architect for the German garrison. During his vacation in Xishan, he conducted a meticulous investigation and mapping of the Biyun Temple in Xiangshan, and later published a research report on the "Beijing Biyun Temple" in the "Berlin Journal of Architects". He was touched by the beauty of Chinese architecture and became deeply interested in the spiritual and cultural world behind Chinese architecture. After returning to Germany, he submitted an application to the government to study Chinese architecture.
The second time was from 1906 to 1909 to Engage in architectural investigation and research in China, trying to understand the spiritual world of Chinese culture more deeply through Chinese architecture. His expedition expanded from the Ming Tombs, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace in Beijing, and finally traveled to 14 of the 18 provinces inhabited by the Han chinese at that time. In his research, the architecture of the Beijing area can represent the highest specifications and level of Chinese building technology construction, but it is more important to collect more samples from different regions, and on this basis, scientific mapping, documentation and academic research are carried out.
Bauchmann's Chinese Architecture is a two-volume work published in 1925, the "Golden Twenties of the Weimar Republic", and "Roof Decoration" is one of the chapters that is explored as the basic formal language of Chinese architecture. For Bauchmann, curved roofs, high cornices, and rich ornamentation have brought the rigorous building to life, making them symbols of Chinese natural philosophy and spiritual beliefs. This is also a common pursuit among all art forms in China, and clarifying this point has become the core concern of Bauchmann's chinese architectural research.
Beijing Tuancheng Scenic Area started repairs, and scaffolding was erected next to the roof of the building. Photo by China News Agency
China News Service: From a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective, what impact have Beenchmann, Fox and other Westerners on the study of Chinese architectural art such as The Roof Beast? What is the practical significance of contemporary Chinese (traditional) architectural research? What kind of mutual learning and mutual learning do Chinese and Western countries have in terms of roof decoration architecture?
Zhao Juan: The special interest of Westerners in "Chinese roof decoration" may imply the collective unconscious cultural psychology of Europe's "exotic cultural imagination" in China in history. The "Chinese style" prevailed in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the visual elements representing "China" – high cornices, curved roofs and "porcelain" sought after by the upper class – still exerted influence on the hearts of Westerners who came to China in the late 19th and second half of the 20th century. The difference is that they no longer stay only in the construction of imagination, but through fieldwork and study of Chinese architectural art, to re-establish reliable knowledge and establish a new cultural understanding.
At that time, a large number of Western scholars from different disciplines to investigate and study Chinese architecture, including missionaries, art historians, sinologists, Orientalists, ethnographers, and of course architectural engineers, the research methods and interests showed an open and diverse situation. Their research and the traditional architectural investigation and research carried out by chinese scholars of the China Construction Society later formed an academic interaction, which included reference and criticism, dialogue and confrontation.
Today, we want to trace the formation process of the paradigm of modern Chinese architectural research, and the excavation, reflection and discussion of the academic history of early Western traditional Chinese architectural research have become an indispensable and important link. The biggest significance of these overseas studies is to remind us that we should look at and understand history through the perspective of cultural exchange and interaction, and we should also pursue a better future through intercultural exchanges and interactions. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Juan Zhao, Ph.D. in Aesthetics of Literature and Art, Fudan University, Postdoctoral Fellow in Art Theory and Art History at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, is currently an associate professor at the School of Humanities, Beijing Sport University. His main research areas are literary and art theory, aesthetics, and cross-cultural art history research. He presided over the Art Project of the National Social Science Foundation "Collection, Exhibition and Research of Chinese Art in the German-speaking World from 1860 to 1949", and completed a special funding project of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and a first-class funding project. He has published many academic papers and translations in journals such as Literary and Art Studies, Fine Arts Studies, Fine Arts, Art Design Studies, and Zhou Yi Studies, and published academic translations such as "Definitions of Art" (2014) and "Temple Architecture in Bauchmann and Chengde Area" (2019).