As the landscape painting rose and became the dominant style in North Song dynasty, artists began to shift their attention from jiehua painting, which indicates paintings of Chinese architectural objects such as buildings, boats, wheels and vehicles, towards landscape paintings. Intertwining with the imperial landscape painting, water mill, an element of jiehua painting, though, is still use as an imperial symbol. Water mill depicted in the Water Mill is a representation for the revolution of technology, economy, science , mechanical engineering and transportation in Song dynasty. It represents the government directly participate in the milling industry which can influence the commercial activities. Another evidence that shows the government interfered with the commercial is a wineshop appears besides the water mill. The water mill in Shanghai Scroll reflects the development in engineering and a growing knowledge in hydrology. Furthermore, water mill can also used for identify a painting and used as a literature metaphor. Lately, the water mill transform into a symbolic form representing the imperial court.

A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains by Wang Ximemg, celebrates the imperial patronage and builds up a bridge that ties the later emperors, Huizong, Shenzong with their ancestors, Taizu and Taizong. The water mill in this painting, unlike that is painted in previous Shanghai scroll to be solid and weighted, it is painted to be ambiguous and vague to match up with the court taste of that time. The painting reflects a slow pace and peaceful idyllic style of living. Located deeply in a village, the water mill is driven by the force of a huge, vertical waterwheel which is powered by a sluice gate. The artist seems to be ignorance towards hydraulic engineering since he only roughly drew out the mechanism of the whole process. A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainspainted by Wang Ximeng, a court artist taught directly by Huizong himself. Thus, the artwork A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainsshould directly review the taste of the imperial taste of the landscape painting. Combining richness bright blue and turquoise pigments heritage from Tang dynasty with the vastness and solemn space and mountains from Northern Song, the scroll is a perfect representation of imperial power and aesthetic taste of the aristocrats.  ^[1]

There is a long tradition of having hidden meaning behind certain objects in Chinese paintings. A fan painting by an unknown artist from North Song period depicts three gibbons capturing baby egrets and scaring the parents away. The rebus behind this scene is interpreted as celebrating the examination success. Since anther painting which have similar subjects--- gibbons and egrets, is given the title of San yuan de lu三猿得鹭, or Three gibbons catching egrets. As the rebus, the sound of the title can also be written as 三元得路, meaning “a triple first gains [one] power.” 元represents “first” replaces its homophonous 猿, and 路means road, replaces 鹭. Sanyuan is firstly recorded as a term referring to people getting triple first place in an exam in Qingsuo gaoyi by a North Song writer Liu Fu, and the usage of this new term gradually spread across the country where the scenery of gibbons and egrets is widely accepted. Lately, other scenery derived from the original paintings, including deer in the scene because in Chinese, deer, lu is also a homophonous of egrets. Moreover, the number of gibbons depicted in the painting can be flexible, not only limited to three, sanyuan. Since the positions in Song courts are hold by elites who achieved jinshi degree, the paintings with gibbons, egrets or deer are used for praising those elites in general.

Emperor Huizong personally painted a painting called Birds in a blossom wax-plum tree, features with two “hoary headed birds,” “Baitou weng” resting on a tree branch together. “Baitou” in Chinese culture is allusion to faithful love and marriage. In a well-known love poem, it wrote: “I wish for a lover in whose heart I alone exist, unseparated even our heads turn hoary.” During Huizong’s rule, literati rebus is embedded in court painting academy and became part of the test routine to enter the imperial court. During Song dynasty, the connection between painters and literati, paintings and poem is closer.^[2]

“The country is broken; mountains and rivers remain.” The poem by Du Fu (712-770) reflects the major principle in Chinese culture: the dynasty might change, but the landscape is eternal. This timelessness theme evolved from Six Dynasty period and early Northern Song. A donkey rider travelling through the mountains, rivers and villages is studied as an important iconographical character in developing of landscape painting.

The donkey rider in the painting Travelers in a wintry forestby Li Cheng is assumed to be a portrait painting of Meng Haoran, “a tall and lanky man dressed in a scholar plain robe, riding on a small horse followed by a young servant.” Except Meng Haoran, other famous people for example, Ruan Ji, one of the seven sages of the Bamboo Grove and Du Fu, a younger contemporary of Meng are also depicted as donkey rider. Tang dynasty poets Jia Dao and Li He and early Song dynasty elites Pan Lang, Wang Anshi appears on the paintings as donkey rider. North Song poets Lin Bu and Su Shi are lately depicted as donkey rider. In this specific painting Travelers in a wintry forest, the potential candidates for the donkey rider are dismissed and the character can only be Meng Haoran. Meng Haoran has made more than two hundred poems in his life but none of them is related with donkey ride. Depicting him as a donkey rider is a historical invention and Meng represents a general persona than an individual character. Ruan Ji was depicted as donkey rider since he decided to escape the office life and went back to the wilderness. The donkey he was riding is representing his poverty and eccentricity. Du Fu was portrayed as the rider to emphasis his failure in office achievement and also his poor living condition. Meng Haoran, similar to those two figures, disinterested in office career and acted as a pure scholar in the field of poem by writing real poems with real experience and real emotional attachment with the landscape. The donkey rider is said to travel through time and space. The audience are able to connect with the scholars and poets in the past by walking on the same route as those superior ancestors have gone on. Besides the donkey rider, there is always a bridge for the donkey to across. The bridge is interpreted to have symbolic meaning that represents the road which hermits depart from capital city and their official careers and go back to the natural world.^[3]

During Song dynasty, paintings with themes ranging from animals, flower, landscape and classical stories, are used as ornaments in imperial palace, government office and elites’ residence for multiple purposes. The theme of the art in display is carefully picked to reflect not only a personal taste, but also his social status and political achievement. In emperor Zhezong’s lecture hall, a painting depicting stories form Zhou dynasty was hanging on the wall to remind Zhezong how to be a good ruler of the empire. The painting also serves the purpose of expressing his determination to his court officers that he is an enlightened emperor.

The main walls of the government office, also called walls of the “Jade Hall,” meaning the residence of the immortals in Taoism are decorated by decorative murals. Most educated and respected scholars were selected and given the title xueshi. They were divided into groups in helping the Instituted of Literature and were described as descending from the immortals. Xueshi are receiving high social status and doing carefree jobs. Lately, the xueshi yuan, the place where xueshi lives, became the permanent government institution that helped the emperor to make imperial decrees.

During Tang dynasty reign of Emperor Xianzong (805-820), the west wall of the xueshi yuan was covered by murals depicting dragon-like mountain scene. In 820-822, immortal animals like Mount Ao, flying cranes, and xianqin, a kind of immortal birds were added to the murals. Those immortal symbols all indicate that the xueshi yuan as eternal existing government office.

During Song dynasty, the xueshi yuan was modified and moved with the dynasty to the new capital Hangzhou in 1127. The mural painted by Song artist Dong yu, closely followed the tradition of Tang dynasty in depicting the misty sea surrounding the immortal mountains. The scenery on the walls of the Jade Hall which full of mist clouds and mysterious land is closely related to Taoism tradition. When Yan Su, a painter followed the style of Li Cheng, was invited to paint the screen behind the seat of the emperor, he included elaborated constructed pavilions, mist clouds and mountain landscape painting in his work. The theme of his painting is suggesting the immortal realm which accord with the entire theme of the Jade Hall provides to its viewer the feeling of otherworldliness. Another painter, Guo Xi made another screen painting for emperor Shenzong, depicting mountains in spring in a harmonized atmosphere. The image also includes immortal elements Mount Tianlao which is one of the realms of the immortals. In his painting, Early Spring, the strong branches of the trees reflects the life force of the living creatures and implying the emperor’s benevolent rule.  ^[4]

Northern Song landscape painting different from Southern Song painting because of its paradigm shift in representation. If Southern Song period landscape painting is said to be looking inward, Northern Song painting is reaching outward. During the Northern Song period, the rulers’ goal is to consolidate and extent the elites value across the society. Whereas Southern Song painters decided to focus on personal expression. Northern Song landscapes are regarded as “real landscape”, since the court appreciated the representation relationship between art and the external world, rather than the relationship between art and the artists inner voice. The painting, A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainsis horizontally displayed and there are four mountain ranges arranged from left to right. Similar to another early Southern Song painter, Zhou Boju, both artists glorified their patrons by presenting the gigantic empire images in blue and green landscape painting. The only difference is that in Zhou’s painting, there are five mountain ranges that arranges from right to left. The scenes in the Sothern Song paintings are about north landscape that echos the memory of their lost north territory. However, ironically, some scholars suggested that Wang Ximeng’s A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainsdepicts the scenes of the south not the north. ^[5]

The Chinese landscape painting are believed to be affected by the intertwining Chinese traditional religious beliefs, for example, “the Taoist love of nature”, and “Buddhist principle of emptiness,” and can represent the diversification of artists attitudes and thoughts from previous period. The Taoist love of nature is not always present in Chinese landscape painting but gradually developed from Six Dynasties period when Taoists Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, the Pao-p’u tzu’s thoughts are reflected in literature documents. Apart from the contemporary Confucian tradition of insisting on human cultivation and learning to be more educated and build up social framework, Taoist persist on going back to human’s origin, which is to be ignorance. Taoists believe that if one discard wise, the robbery will stop. If people abandon expensive jewelry, thieves will not exist. From Han Dynasty, the practice of Taoism was associated with alchemical and medicine made. In order to better pursuit Taoism belief, Taoist need to go on pilgrim into specific mountains to connect themselves with the spirits and immortals that lived in those mountains. In the third and fourth century, the practice of escaping society and going back to nature mediating in the countryside is further enhanced by a group called Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove who would like to escape from the civil unrest. The wise men fleet the world and wonder in the countryside and enjoy the tranquil landscape and forgot to return. The Taoism ideology of forgetfulness, self-cultivation, harmonizing with nature world, and purifying soul by entering the isolated mountains to mediate and seek medicine herbs create the scene of landscape painting.

During Han Dynasty, the mountains appeared in the design of the artworks shows the prevalence role of mountain in Han society. The emperor would climb on to the mountain to sacrifice and religion practice because mountains are thought to have connection between earth and heaven and can link human with spirits and immortals. And sometimes, mountains are depicted as mystical mountains” (shenshan), where sages and legendary animals settled. Hence, landscape painting is used as an object for Taoism practice which provide visualize form for religious ritual. During Six Dynasty period, the landscape painting experienced a stylistic change which myth and poem depiction were introduced into the painting. For example, in Ku Kai-chih’s “Nymph of the river” scroll and “The Admonitions of the Court Preceptress”, audience are able to read narrative description and text accompanied by visualized images.

Furthermore, in Buddhism practice, the mountain also has an important role in religious practice. From iconographical point of view, a Buddha’s image is essence in helping a believer to practice meditation. For instance, Buddha’s reflection image, or shadow, is assimilated the image of a mountain, Lushan. This assimilation is also recorded in a poem by poet from Six Dynasty period who pointed out that the beauty and nominosity of the mountain can elevate the spiritual connection between human being and the spirits. Thus, the landscape painting come into display Buddha’s image in people’s everyday ritual practice. Hui-yuan described in his poem that “Lushan seems to mirror the divine appearance” which unifies the two images—the true image and the reflection of Buddha. Moreover, spiritual elevation can be achieved by contemplating in front of landscape painting which depict the same mountain and path those old sages have been to. The painting contains both the spiritual force (ling) and the truth (li) of Buddha and also the objects that no longer physically presence. Hui-Yuan’s famous image is closely relation with its landscape scene indicating the trend of transformation from Buddha image to landscape painting as a religious practice.  (Traveling on a Mountain Path, by Fan Kuan)^[6]

In Chinese society, there is a long-time appreciation of natural beauty. The early themes of poems, artworks are associated with agriculture and everyday life associates with fields, animals. On the other hand, later Chinese painting pursuits majesty and grand. Thus, mountain scenery become the most popular subject to paint because it’s high which represent human eminence. Also, mountain is stable and permanent suggests the eminent of the imperial power. Furthermore, mountain is difficult to climb showing the difficulties human will face through their lives.

Landscape painting evolved under the influence of Taoist who fled from civil turbulence and prosecution of the government and went back to the wilderness. However, the development of Taoism was hindered by Han dynasty. During Han dynasty, the empire expanded and enlarged its political and economic influence. Hence, the Taoism’s anti-social belief was disfavored by the imperial government. Han rulers only favored portrait painting which enabled their image to be perpetuate and their civilians to see and to memorize their great leaders or generals. Landscape at that time only focus on the trees for literary or talismanic value. The usage of landscape painting as ornament is suspects to be borrowed from other societies outside Han empire during its expansion to the Near East. Landscape and animal scene began to appear on the jars, but the decoration has little to do with connection with the natural world. Also, there is evidence showing that the emerging of landscape painting is not derived from map-making.

During the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasty, landscape painting began to have connection with literati and the production of poems. Taoism influence on people’s appreciation of landscaping deceased and nature worshipping superseded. However, Taoist still used landscape painting in their meditation just as Confucius uses portrait painting in their ritual practice. (Ku Kai Chih’s admonitions) During this time period, the landscape painting is more coherence with variation trees, rocks and branches. Moreover, the painting is more elaborated and organized. The evolution in landscape painting during Six Dynasty is that artists harmonized sprit with the nature. (Wu Tao-tzu) Buddhism might also contribute in affecting changes in landscape painting. The artists began to show space and depth in their works where they showed mountain mass, distanced hills and clouds. The emptiness of the space is helping the believers meditating to enter the space of emptiness and nothingness.

The most important development in landscape painting is that people came to recognize the infinity variation of the nature world, so they tended to make each tree individualized. Every landscape painting is restricted by storytelling and is dependent on artists memory.  ^[7]

Women character is almost excluded from traditional Chinese painting under the influence of Confucianism. Dong Zhongshu, an influential Confucian scholar in Han dynasty, purposed the three-bond theory saying that: “the ruler is Yang and the subject is Yin, father is Yang and son is Yin…The husband is Yang, and the wife is Yin,” which place female to a subordinate position to the male. Under the three-bond theory, women are depicted as housewives who need to obey to their husbands and fathers in literature. Similarly, in the portrait paintings, female characters are also depicted as exemplary women to elevate males rule. A hand roll Exemplary Womenby Ku Kai Zhi, a six Dynasty artist, depicted woman characters who might be wife, daughter or widow.

During Tang Dynasty, artists began to appreciate the beauty of woman body (shinu). Artist Zhang Xuan produced painting namedpalace women listening to musicthat captured women’s elegance and pretty faces. However, women are still being depicted as submissive and ideal within male system.

In Song dynasty, as the love poems emerged, the images associated with those love stories were made as attractive as possible to meet the taste of the male viewers.^[8]

“Arts in maps, arts as maps, maps in arts, and maps as arts,” are the four relationships between art and map. Making a distinction between map and art is difficult because there are cartographic elements in both paintings. Early Chinese map making considered earth surface as flat, so artists would not take projection into consideration. Moreover, map makers did not have the idea of map scale. Chinese people from Song dynasty called paintings, maps and other pictorial images as tu, so it’s impossible to distinguish the types of each painting by name. Artists who paint landscape as an artwork focus mainly on the natural beauty rather on the accuracy and realistic representation of the object. Map on the other hand should be depicted in a precise manner which more focus on the distance and important geographic features.

The two examples in this case:

The Changjiang Wan Li Tu, although the date and the authorship are not clear, the painting is believed to be made in Song dynasty by examining the place names recorded on the painting. Only based on the name of this painting, it is hard to distinguish whether this painting is painted as a landscape painting or as a map.

The Shu Chuan Shenggai was once thought as the product done by North Song artist Li Gonglin, however, later evidence disapproved this thought and proposed the date should be changed to the end of South Song and artist remains unknown.

Both those paintings, aiming to enhance viewers appreciation on the beauty and majesty of landscape painting, focusing on the light condition and conveying certain attitude, are characterized as masterpiece of art rather than map.^[9]

Chinese landscape painting, “shanshui hua” menas the painting of mountains and rivers which are the two major components that represents the essence of the nature. Shanshui in Chinese tradition is given rich meaning, for example mountain represents Yang and river indicates Yin. According to Yin Yang theory, Yin embodies Yang and Yang involved in Yin, thus, mountain and river is inseparable and is treated as a whole in a painting. In the Mountains and rivers without end, for example, “the dyad of the mountain uplift, subduction, and erosion and the planetary water cycle” is consisted with the dyad of Buddhism iconography, both representing austerity and generous loving spirit.^[10]

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