Culture and Art

edited by Hanno E. Lecher
Last updated on 25 May 2009, 70 main entries


Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    General

    Culture & Art - General:   Up | East Asia | China | Tibet | Singapore

    East Asia

  1. Very useful
    Arts of China Consortium (ACC) (Nixi Cura, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, USA)
    (http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/html/chinese/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "[Formerly known as Chinese and Japanese Art History WWW Virtual Library,] ACC conducts an e-mail listserve and maintains this website to provide information on graduate programs in Asian art, symposia and conferences, fellowships and grants, positions available, and web links to facilitate research and pedagogy." Site contents: (1) Positions available (including post-docs); (2) Calls for papers/participation; (3) To attend (Conferences, Symposia, Seminars, Lectures); (4) Graduate student directory; (5) Fellowships and grants; (6) Links to other websites related to Asian art.
    Added 18 Aug 1998 (HL, last revised 10 Apr 2006 (MA/HL)

  2. Very useful
    IntArtData Asia-Pacific (Universes in Universe, Germany)
    ( http://universes-in-universe.de/asia/english.htm).
    Language: Available in English, German or Spanish.
    Description: An extensive directory of art resources in and on the Asian-Pacific region, with own pages for China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan and Singapore. However, the parts just mentioned have not been updated since 1998/99.
    Information supplied by Pat Binder, Germany.
    Last revised 3 Sep 2001 (HL)

  3. Art Index - A Guide to Asian Art on the Internet
    (http://www.artindex.com/home/index.asp).
    "A guide to Asian Art on the internet featuring Galleries and Dealers, upcoming exhibitions and lectures, and links to Museums, Auction Houses and other related sites."
    Last revised 30 Nov 2002 (AST).

  4. Essential!
    Asian Arts E-Journal (Asian Arts, Web Art Publishing, USA)
    (http://www.asianart.com/).
    Language: English.
    Description: Self description: "Asian Arts is dedicated to all aspects of Asian art. It is our ambition to offer a forum for scholars, museums and commercial galleries. We will display highlights of exhibitions in public and private institutions and galleries; present new discoveries by scholars and connoisseurs; and, by providing space for private galleries to present their works, offer the visitor a selection of fine Asian art worldwide." Articles of this (beautyfully designed) journal are available online. Other features include online subscription to their email-list as well as information on current exhibitions and important galeries. In spite of the rather large number of pictures the site is very fast loading.
    Added 23 Jan 1998 (HL)

  5. Essential!
    ´°·×ÃÀ³Nºô = Caves Artnet (Caves Artnet, Taiwan)
    (http://www.gallery.com.tw/).
    Language: Chinese (Big5); parts also in English.
    Supplied note: "[...] founded in 1997. It is a commercial website that contains invaluable information on Chinese art and artists. [...] Its information sources and commercial activities include: art gallery on line, artists, information on galleries, art column, art news, e-commerce, art bookshop, art gifts, art downloads, BBS and art links. Since its inception in 1997, gallery.com.tw has received several gold medals for its design. Gallery.com.tw also cooperated with big fine arts institutions such as the National Museum of History to set up original websites. Works include 'Special Exhibition on Arman' , 'The World of Li Keran' and 'Taipei Art Fair 2000 International'."
    Description: A very rich and professional site with a good database on lifes and works of Chinese artists and other useful material.
    Site contents: (1) 本月展覽 Exhibitions; (2) 藝術家 Artists; (3) 藝術新聞 Art News; (4) 跳蚤市場 Flea Market; (5) 周三拍賣 Weekly Auction; (6) 作品推薦 Recommendations; (7) 藝術禮品 Gift Shop; (8) 網路書店 Bookshop; (9) 全文檢索 Search; (10) 討論區 Discussion Board; etc.
    Resource suggested by Chris Van Peteghem, Caves Art Center, Taiwan.
    Added 11 May 2001 (HL)

    Culture & Art - General:   Up | East Asia | China | Tibet | Singapore

    China

  6. Bibliography of Theory of Chinese Art
    (http://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~bunrius/alist5.html).
    Listed are mostly titles from Chinese authors (contemporary and traditional). This list in Big5. If you prefer GB-code, please go to http://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~bunrius/alistg.html.
    Last revised 30 Nov 2002 (AST).

  7. Useful
    Chinese avant-garde art archive : Wen Pulin archive of Chinese avant garde art (Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia, Kroch Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA ; Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Kroch Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
    (http://wason.library.cornell.edu/Wen/).
    Language: English.
    Description: The Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant Garde Art contains some 360 hours of digital video documenting the history of contemporary Chinese art, installation, and performance since 1985. [...] a unique international resource of video footage of art events, art performances, installations, and artist studio tours and interviews that traces the history of Chinese culture over this consequential twenty year period. This unique collection, which, due to the sensitive nature of its materials, is at present still restricted in use in China, will provide students and researchers with previously unseen documentation of the important developments in contemporary art in China over the past twenty years, the period of China's tremendous growth into a major venue of contemporary art and global culture.
    Contents: (1) Home; (2) About (Content listing of the video Archive; List of the artists occuring in the video segments; Chinese Modern Art - a bibliography; ...); (3) Biographies of various artists (Cui Jian; Du Zhenjun; Feng Mengbo; Li Xianting; Lin Yilin; Lu Shengzhong; Mou Sen; Song Dong; Song Yongping; Xing Danwen; Xu Bing; Yu Xiaofu; Zhang Dali; Zhou Shaobo; Chen Lingyang); (4) Timeline; (5) Biography of Wen Pulin (including a number of interviews); (6) Further readings.
    Added 15 Dec 2006 (HL)

  8. China the Beautiful
    (http://www.chinapage.com/).
    Maintained by Prof. Pei Minglong 裴明龍 (USA), this site is "serving as a primary resource site for the Chinese classics, arts, history, literature, poetry, calligraphy, and paintings [...]".

  9. Art of China (Purdue University, USA)
    (http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/china/china.html).
    Art, chinese music & language, scenery, taste of china, zodiac, other chinese related sites.

  10. International Database for the Study of the History of Christianity in China - Images (The Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco, USA)
    (http://ricci.rt.usfca.edu/images/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "This is a section that includes images pertaining to Christian art and architecture. These images are organized by the institutions that collect them. The section is searchable by the artists, subject of the art work, or the institution that collects the art work."
    Description: The biographical database is part of the Ricci Institute 21st Century Roundtable: an International Database for the Study of the History of Christianity in China site (http://ricci.rt.usfca.edu/splash/main.html).
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Resource suggested via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (26 Apr 1999) by Lawrence Crissman (crissman@asian.gu.edu.au).
    Added/revised on 27. Apr. 1999 (HL)

  11. Interesting
    Sinophilia - Art (Diana Lavarini & Anna del Franco, Italy)
    (http://www.sinophilia.org/art.htm).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "Beside a general history of Chinese art in several chapters [up to Han dynasty - HL], these pages also explore some specific genres."
    Description: Diana Lavarini and Anna del Franco are graduates in Oriental Languages and Literatures at Venice University, Italy.
    Site contents: (1) A history of Chinese art (The Neolithic cultures; The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties; The Qin and Han dynasties); (2) Various topics (Chinese embroidery from the Warring States to Qing Dinasty; Calligraphy: samples by Su Shi, Zhao Mengfu, Huizong and many more; Hanging scrolls by traditional Chinese painter Qi Baishi; Funerary pottery: the wonderful tombal figurines of the Tang dynasty).
    Resource suggested by Diana Lavarini, Sinophilia Homepage, Italy.
    Added 19 Apr 1999 (HL), last revised 04 May 2004 (HL).

  12. Persimmon Magazine
    (http://www.sinologic.com/persimmon/).
    "The only Chinese Web site devoted to contemporary experimental Chinese fiction, and art/culture reviews." By Jerlian Tsao 曹志漣. In Chinese only (Big5)!
    Last revised 30 Nov 2002 (AST).

  13. Wonderfully Absurd Temple (WAT?) 妙繆廟
    (http://www.sinologic.com/webart/).
    Language: The language of art: universal!
    Description: Go and see yourself!

    Culture & Art - General:   Up | East Asia | China | Tibet | Singapore

    Tibet

  14. Very useful
    Guide to Tibetan Art, Theatre & Music
    (http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/anu/tib-art.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: This guide is part of the Tibetan Studies WWW VL (http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-TibetanStudies.html). Site contents: Images of Tibetan Art; Images of Tibetan Architecture; Tibetan Music; Tibetan Textiles, Tents & Carpets; Tibetan Theatre; Images of Tibetan Religious Art in the West; Images of Tibetan Religious Symbols; Tibetan Art Shops and Galleries.
    Last revised 6 Dec 2002 (JH).

    Culture & Art - General:   Up | East Asia | China | Tibet | Singapore

    Singapore

  15. Online Museum of Singapore Art & History (NCB, Singapore)
    (http://www.museum.org.sg/).


  16. National Heritage Board
    (http://www.museum.org.sg/).
    "The National Heritage Board (NHB) which was formed on 1 August 1993 comprises the National Museum and the National Archives of Singapore and Oral History Centre. These institutions of the NHB are the keepers of our nation's history, collective memory and heritage." The site includes links to the National Archives of Singapore, the Asian Civilisations Museum, the Singapore History Museum, and the Singapore Art Museum. When I tried these links, however, connection failed.


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Architecture

  17. Useful
    Chinese Rural Architecture (Olivier Laude/Ronald G. Knapp, Atlas Magazine 6, 1998)
    (http://www.atlasmagazine.com/photo/laude6/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: A very well designed and easily navigable photo album about Chinese rural architecture, with photographs by Olivier Laude (editor of the Atlas Magazine) and texts by Ronald G. Knapp (chairman of the Department of Geography, State University of New York, USA, and author of "China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation", University of Hawaii Press 1998). The site features up to ten photos per province, including short descriptions of where they were taken, and what is noteworthy about the objects.
    Information supplied by Ronald G. Knapp, Department of Geography, State University of New York, USA.
    Added/revised on 04.11.1998 (HL)

  18. Interesting
    Cities/Buildings Image Archive (Meredith L. Clausen, University of Washington, USA)
    (http://www.washington.edu/ark2/).
    Language: English.
    Description: Supplied note: "Prof. Meredith Clausen, who teaches history of architecture at the University of Washington, is creating an electronic photo archive on 'Cities and Architecture' that is world-wide in scope. [...] While the archive is still in its beginning stages, it has the potential to grow in ways that will benefit all of us, and it can grow through donations of images by you who would use the material." Currently the database contains only a few very general photos of Asian buildings with almost no valuable information added. The selection of pictures and their description do not yet reflect any understanding of the Chinese context. Site contents: Information is organised into four layers: (1) Country; (2) City or Location; (3) Subject; (4) View, Detail. Geographic coverage includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, and others. Each photograph is annotated according to the following schedule: slide number; file format; subject; detail; nation; city; state; site; date; architect; materials; type; keywords; photographer; copyright holder; photographer's reference no.; transmission data; date of photograph; source.
    Added/revised on 13.06.1998 (HL)

  19. Essential!
    Clan homes in Fujian (Jens Aaberg-Jørgensen, Copenhagen, Denmark)
    (http://www.chinadwelling.dk/).
    Language: English.
    Supplied note: "The tulous (clan homes in earth walled building) of the Fujian Province represent an epoch in China's history which is now closed, both technologically and socially. Today there are cheaper and faster methods of home construction. Nevertheless the interest in these very special structures has increased since the 1980's. They were built in response to a specific historical situation, with a cohesive clan structure and a weak state that could not manifest its power at the periphery. The reduced importance of the clan today is a logical result of changed social structure. The author, Jens Aaberg-Jørgensen, who is a Danish architect, focuses on three questions 1. Why do the tulou have such a closed and defensive nature? 2. Why are some tulou circular? 3. Why did the building of tulou cease? The article includes a survey of a round tulou: Zhenchenglou in Hongkeng."
    Site contents: (1) Clan homes in Fujian; (2) Hongkeng - a village in Fujian; (3) Construction; (4) Case of survey; (5) Links and sources; (6) Acknowledgement
    Resource suggested via Asian Studies WWW Monitor (30 Sep 2004) by Jens Aaberg-Jørgensen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
    Added 30 Oct 2004 (HL)


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Bookbinding

  20. Very useful
    The History of Chinese Bookbinding (International Dunhuang Project, British Library, UK)
    (http://idp.bl.uk/IDP/bookbinding/chooser-frameset.html).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "The history of Chinese bookbinding has always suffered owing to a lack of material evidence. [...] This site, by combining textual descriptions with diagrams illustrating binding techniques and photographs of the actual objects, aims to give a comprehensive introduction to the different kinds of Chinese bookbinding contained in the Dunhuang collection of the British Library."
    Description: Site contents: Some characteristics of the Dunhuang booklets; Butterfly binding (hudie zhuang); Stitched binding (xian zhuang); The Chinese pothi (fanjia zhuang); Whirlwind binding (xuanfeng zhuang); Concertina binding (jingzhe zhuang); Wrapped-back binding (baobei zhuang); Bibliography.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed! Since this site heavily depends on the use of frames (four at a time), it is advised to set the screen resolution to at least 800x600 (1024x768 recommended).
    Resource suggested by Janice M. Glowski (glowski.1@osu.edu), via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor, Mar. 1999.
    Added/revised on 02. Mar. 1999 (HL)


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Photography

  21. Essential!
    Bibliography of Photo Albums related to China before 1949 (Thomas Hahn, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
    (http://www.library.cornell.edu/wason/Photoweb/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "My bibliography supplies rather exhaustive data on a variety of issues concerning the albums (which may in fact be reprints or modern publications of, say, postcards printed in Hong Hong in the late thirties). Besides the usual bibliographical description such as Author/editor, date and place of printing etc. I try to trace the fotographers themselves under a biographical heading. The precise number of images is given, their actual (or average) size, whether they are b/w or colour, with which camera they were taken, which film was used, and, above all, what the fotographs themselves show." Coverage: 164 entries (May 1999), with English annotations and German keywords.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed! Other browsers please use http://www.library.wisc.edu/guides/EastAsia/photoweb/photoweb.htm to enter.
    Added 31 May 1999, last revised 2 June 2002 (
    HL)

  22. Very useful
    China: Fifty years inside the People's Republic (Asia Society, New York, USA)
    (http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/chinaphotos/frame_set.html).
    Language: English.
    Resource type: Photo exhibition.
    Self description: "China's diversity is revealed in luminous photographs by Hiroji Kubota, in which vibrant emblems of the country's rural past converge with intimate views of present-day life, and in the panoramic landscapes of Lois Conner, resonant with allusions to ancient art forms. Chinese artists Xiao-Ming Li, Zhang Hai-er, and Wang Jinsong explore aspects of contemporary life through religious practices, popular culture, and the proud accumulation of household possessions. Chinese-Americans Reagan Louie, Mark Leong, and Richard Yee use photography as a medium to understand their parents' native land--and in the process, their own identities as artists and world citizens. In Sebastião Salgado's photographs of Shanghai we see the convergence of old and new on a grand scale, while Zheng Nong focuses on yet another aspect of China's modernization: the polarizing effects of rapid urban and industrial growth. These themes and more are further explored in photographs by Eve Arnold, David Butow, Macduff Everton, Stuart Franklin, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Antonin Kratochvil, Liu Heung Shing, Brian Palmer, Wu Jialin, and Xu Jinyan."
    Description: Each photographer's work is introduced by a short biography and a few words by the artist. Includes a 9000 word introductory essay titled "This is our China" by Rae Yang, currently Chair of the East Asian Studies Program at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA.
    Site contents: Introduction; Essay; Photographers; Chronology (Qing Dynasty - Today); Catalogue (ordering information); Credits.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Added 10 Aug 2000 (HL)

  23. Essential!
    Shanghai in Images (Institut d'Asie Orientale, Lyon, France; Center for Chinese Studies, Univ. of California, USA; Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative)
    (http://sdocument.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/IaoDatabase/ShanghaiPictures/index.php).
    Language: English, French.
    Self description: "'Shanghai in Images' is the fruit of a collaboration between the Institute of East Asian Studies (Lyon 2 University - Lyon 3 University ?CNRS), the Center for Chinese Studies (University of California, Berkley) and ECAI (Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative). This database has as its vocation to put forward a history of this great Chinese metropolis through photographs. [...]"
    Description: This extremely useful database is part of the IAO-Databases project and contains 1213 images (May 2002). The images contain basic metadata (often including a short description) and are searchable according to the following criteria: title/subject; keywords - general; date; estimated periods; location; action; caption on print; caption on support; support; author; nature; repository; published; keywords - street name; misc. information. Combined search is possible, as is access via different albums (river; street; school; church; building).
    Added 02 Jun 2002 (HL)

  24. Essential!
    Sidney D. Gamble Photographs (Duke University Libraries, Durham, NC, USA)
    (http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/gamble/).
    Language: English.
    Cited description: "From 1908 to 1932, Sidney Gamble (1890-1968) visited China four times, traveling throughout the country to collect data for social-economic surveys and to photograph urban and rural life, public events, architecture, religious statuary, and the countryside. A sociologist, renowned China scholar, and avid amateur photographer, Gamble used some of the pictures to illustrate his monographs. The Sidney D. Gamble Photographs digital collection marks the first comprehensive public presentation of this large body of work that includes photographs of Korea, Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Russia. The site currently features photographs dated between 1917 and 1932; the 1908 photographs will be digitized and uploaded as part of future additions to the site."
    Description: This impressive collection of photographs is freely accessible, includes searchable metadata, and all photos can be viewed as thumbnails or in full size (with the possibility to zoom in). Additional material such as an interactive map and a timeline of Gamle's itinerary, a filmed documentary of his 1924-1927 voyage and a research guide with extra sources complement this database.
    Contents: (1) About; (2) Browse; (3) Copyright and Citation; (4) Interactive Map of Gamble's China; (5) Original Documentary; (6) Research Guide; (7) Timeline.
    Availability: free.
    Added 16 Nov 2008 (HL)

  25. Essential!
    The Rev. Claude L. Pickens, Jr. Collection on Muslims in China (The Harvard College Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US)
    (http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/harvard-yenching/collections/pickens/).
    Language: English.
    Supplied note: "[The site] is the culmination of a two-year project to catalog and digitize some 1000 photos of China's Muslim population in western China in the 1920s and 1930s and the activities of Christian missionaries working among them. Much of what appears in the photographs has been reported to have been lost or destroyed. The related finding aid to printed material in the collection points to an extensive collection of materials related to Islam in general and Islam in China in particular. We hope that in another year or so to be able to digitize some of the more obscure print materials to make them viewable on-line through a page-turner system. When we created the finding aid, the system could not accept Chinese or Arabic script, so the records appear in romanization only. Some of the printed materials (particularly, posters) also appear in the image catalog (VIA) [...]." [RL]
    Contents: (1) Biographical Note; (2) Islam in China: A Selected Bibliography of English-Language Publications; (3) Finding Aid to the Collection; (4) View the Photographs in the VIA Catalog.
    Resource suggested via the AS WWW Monitor, May 2006, Vol. 13, No. 6 (249) by Raymond Lum, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA).
    Added 27 May 2006 (HL)

  26. Very useful
    Thomas H. Hahn docu-images (Thomas H. Hahn, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
    (http://hahn.zenfolio.com/).
    Language: English.
    Cited description: "The galleries on display here belong to the category of documentary photography. The main subject area is China and that country's rather rapid transformation from a rural to an urban-centered society. Taken together, these galleries constitute a visual archive that for the most part is meant to capture and to preserve information (or 'evidence of certain developments' perhaps). Only sometimes are these photographs suggestive or interpretive. [...]
    As of October 2006, specific themes prevalent in these galleries are: 1. Chinese modern art; 2. Urbanization and architecture (both historical and modern); 3. Daoist and/or Buddhist mountains, monasteries and 'theme parks'; 4. The city of Tianjin (formerly known as Tientsin); 5. Views of the cities Fuzhou and Yangzhou; 6. Impressions of Tibet (scanned photographs from my visit in 1986)."

    Contents: (1) China urban planning materials; (2) Contemporary Chinese art (including Factory 798); (3) Tibetan lands and people; (4) Historical material (Yuanming yuan, ca. 1870; Dayi Landlord Exhibition; Yunnan 1944); and many other topics.
    Resource suggested via Asian Studies WWW Monitor (07 Dec 2006) by Thomas H. Hahn.
    Added 16 Dec 2006 (HL)

  27. Very useful
    Images from the Cultural Revolution = 文化大革命图片库档 (Thomas H. Hahn, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
    (http://hahn.zenfolio.com/f320124069).
    Language: English.
    Cited description: "These galleries with photographs cover various aspects of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China (generally dated 1966-1976). Much has been written about this traumatic segment of China's recent past, but - with the exception of the legacies of Li Zhensheng and Weng Naiqiang - the subject (for very complex and difficult reasons) is not well covered visually. [...] With the exception of Chang Song's striking images, the galleries offered here reflect parts of my own holdings on the subject. [...]"
    Contents: (1) The anti-Kong anti-Lin campaign in Qufu (27 photographs, April 1974); (2) Sports and physical education (15 photographs, November 1971); (3) The nation-wide educational campaign in the mechanical and life sciences (21 photographs, April 1974); (4) China's navy and archaeology on the Xisha Islands (20 photographs, approx. early 1974); (5) China's heavy industry in the early 1970s (18 photographs, no annotations available); (6) Drills and practices of the Peoples Liberation Army PLA in the early 1970s (14 photographs, no annotations available); (7) Ping Pong Politics, i.e., Chinese Foreign Relations marked by invitations to international Ping Pong tournaments (30 photographs); (8) Land reclamation and development measures (20 photographs, 1969 - 1972); (9) A small selection of Chang Song's work covering the campaigns of the late 1960s.
    Resource suggested via the H-Asia mailinglist (12 Nov 2008) by Thomas H. Hahn.
    Added 30 Nov 2008 (HL)


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Drawing & Illustration

  28. Essential!
    Formosa: Nineteenth Century Images (Reed College, Portland, OR, USA)
    (http://academic.reed.edu/formosa/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: Supplied note: "This digital library gathers together a large body of primarily European and American images of the island of Taiwan - called "Formosa" by many foreign visitors in the 19th Century - and its various peoples. These woodcuts, maps, linguistic data and textual representations were originally published in European and North American books and journals during the 19th Century, but are not easily accessible to those interested in the history of Taiwan."
    Site contents: Site contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Maps [90+ maps]; (3) Texts [approx. 30 travelogues, reports and ethnographies in full text]; (4) Images [100+ woodcuts, scetches and etchings]; (5) Linguistic Data [seven tables of comparative word lists]; (6) Timeline [under construction]; (7) Search; (8) Feedback; (9) Credits.
    Note: A fast internet connection and a higher quality monitor are suggested for users of this site.
    Resource suggested by Douglas Fix (douglas.fix@reed.edu) via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (26 Aug 2000).
    Added 07 Sep 2000 (HL), last updated 25 May 2009 (HL)

  29. Very useful
    The Nianhua Gallery (James A. Flath, Department of History, University of Western Ontario, Canada)
    (http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/history/nianhua/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "[...] Most of the prints found on this site are reprints - meaning that they were printed in modern times from wooden printing blocks that were in use during the early part of the 20th century. The prints, therefore, date from the 1980s and 90s, but they do accurately reflect much older designs and themes. The prints originate with the traditional nianhua printing centres of Yangjiabu in Shandong province, Zhuxianzhen in Henan, Fengxiang in Shaanxi and Mianzhu in Sichuan. [...]"
    Site contents: (1) Stove Gods; (2) Door Gods; (3) Honour, Wealth & Glory; (4) Theatre & History; (5) Customs, Folklore & Social Values; (6) Auspicious Images; (7) New Nianhua; (8) Bibliography; (9) Links
    Added 23 Mar 2004 (HL)

  30. Essential!
    Chinese Propaganda Posters (Stefan Landsberger, Leiden Univ., The Netherlands)
    (http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "The opening page of an ever growing number of pages devoted to Chinese propaganda posters. I've been collecting Chinese political posters for more than 25 years now, and have build up quite a nice collection of some 1,000 titles, a number which is still growing. From time to time, I'll upload new pages devoted to various subjects."
    Site contents: (1) On-line exhibitions (Visualizing the Future; New Year Prints (and chubby babies); Early Campaigns; Great Leap Forward; Iron Women and Foxy Ladies; Models and Martyrs; Heroes and Villains; Huxian Peasant Painters; Party and State Leaders; People's Liberation Army; National Minorities; The Mao Cult; Cultural Revolution Campaigns; After the Attack; Socialist Spiritual Civilization; Political Reform; Environment; Hygiene; Legal Knowledge; Population Policy; Reunifications; Sports; Earthquakes; Song and Dance; The Elderly; Falun Gong); (2) Bibliography; (3) Links and Favorites; (4) Artists and Designers (being an unannotated name index to the posters). (Cited partly from the Asian Studies WWW Monitor 22 Oct 1998).
    Information supplied by Michael de Nie (mwdenie@cs.wisc.edu).
    Added 17 Mar 1999 (HL), last revised 23 Feb 2001 (HL)

  31. Very useful
    Rethinking Cultural Revolution Culture (Barbara Mittler, Univ. of Heidelberg, Germany)
    (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/conf/propaganda/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "[...] features posters from the Centre for the Study of Democracy of University of Westminster collection in London as well as video and audio-footage formerly exhibited and prepared at Indiana University and Ohio State Universtiy, USA."
    Description: A very rich Web site accompanying the exhibition "Picturing Power: Art and Propaganda in the Great Proletarian! Cultural Revolution". Currently only the posters are available (each one going with a descripiton; the posters are available in three sizes), but the audio-visual material will go on-line soon. The "Music" section also contains a few introductory texts.
    Site contents: (1) Home; (2) Workshop (Concept; Schedule; Participants); (3) Exhibition (Concept; Pictures; Music).
    Added 23 Feb 2001 (HL)

  32. Very useful
    Picturing Power: Posters of the Cultural Revolution (The Huntington Archive, Ohio State University, USA)
    (http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/poster/exhibintro.html).
    Language: English.
    Resource type: Documents.
    Self description: "Online exhibition features [PRC's] Cultural Revolution posters from the University of Westminster Centre for the Study of Democracy, U.K. - approximately 10% of collection. [...]"
    Description: 74 posters (1963-1979) with very good descriptions including - where available - name of artist, date, title in Chinese characters and in English translation, and some background information on the poster.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Resource suggested via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (06 Oct 1999) by Janice M. Glowski (glowski.1@osu.edu).
    Added/revised on 18 Oct 1999 (HL)

  33. Very useful
    "To Read Too Many Books is Harmful" (Mao Zedong) - Books in Chinese Propaganda Posters: Objects of Veneration, Subjects of Destruction (Stefan Landsberger/Hanno E. Lecher, Institute of Chinese Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands)
    (http://www.tcc.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?c=168).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "The posters exhibited here focus on these changing attitudes of the CCP towards books, book knowledge and learning in general. They also show how the artistic styles employed in propaganda design developed through the decades. Where the new leaders still took great pride in their cultural achievements and the successful struggle against illiteracy in the early 1950s, this changed into suspicion of bookishness in the early 1960s. The Cultural Revolution that followed became widely know for its savage destruction of historical and intellectual artefacts. [...] Once life seemed to have returned to relative normalcy in the early 1980s and the PRC embarked on its second - economic - revolution, the status of books, knowledge and learning was restored. It is obvious that where Mao's continuous efforts at mobilization in the name of the revolution would have been unthinkable without posters, the second revolution that was engineered by Deng could do well without them. Not surprisingly, the images from the 1990s and beyond lack the vitality and urgency that marked those from the preceding periods."
    Description: The posters are displayed as thumbnail as well as larger jpg-file and include the name of designer, year and place of publication (sometimes with some details about circulation etc.), a translation of the text contained, and some notes on content and context, written by Stefan Landsberger (who also wrote the introduction).
    Site contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Posters.
    Added 25 Feb 2005 (HL)

  34. The Chairman Smiles. Posters from the former Soviet Union, Cuba and China (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
    (http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/).
    Language: English.
    Description: Self description: "The former Soviet Union, Cuba and China: three countries where posters played an important political role and got a large amount of artistic attention as well. This is a selection of 99 political posters, famous masterpieces next to equally beautiful, but unknown examples, drawn from the collection of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam." The site contains 33 posters from China, covering the years between 1950 and 1992. Each poster is presented (if available) with name of designer, year of production, title, publisher, size, collector, and a short description with background information. Separate pages with additional information are provided on: (1) designers; (2) collecting and collectors; (3) the conservation of posters (NOG fund); (4) this site and the copyright of the images; (5) postcard reproductions; and (6) further reading.
    Added 20 Nov 1998 (HL), last revised 6 Dec 2002 (JH).

  35. Chinese Pop Posters (Olivier Laude, Atlas Magazine, Winter 1996)
    (http://www.atlasmagazine.com/illust/china_posters/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: A sequence of 24 Chinese propaganda posters (including a few stamps), collected by Olivier Laude, editor of the Atlas Magazine, and showing "images of revolutionaries, babies with peaches, generals on horses and babies with fishes". "These posters are used to decorate the walls of schools, private homes and government institutions. They are produced by the central government in Beijing and reflect the many political changes of the past 47 years of communist rule. They are in many ways a very good historical record of theeconomic, political and social turmoils China has undergone since 1949. They also are tools of the central government's propaganda machine" (from Olivier Laude's introduction to "Chinese Pop Posters"). The site has an informative introduction, and most of the posters are commented on. Unfortunately no general index is provided, so you have to browse the posters one by one.
    Last revised 20 Nov 1998 (JH).

  36. Cultural Revolution Posters (China Books & Periodicals, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA)
    (http://www.chinabooks.com/Catalog/cultrev.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: A collection of 26 Chinese propaganda posters sold by China Books & Periodicals (mostly sold out already). The page includes a picture and short descriptions of the posters.
    Added 20 Nov 1998 (HL)

  37. Essential!
    卡通之窗 -- 樣板戲 (CartoonWin - Model Operas) (CartoonWin.com, Shanghai, China)
    (http://www.cartoonwin.com/seecart/lookback/yangban.html).
    Language: Chinese (GB).
    Description: This site contains scanned comics versions (lianhuan hua 連環畫) of some of the most important model operas (yangban xi 樣板戲) of the Cultural Revolution. Initially there have been eight operas, but at the end of the Cultural Revolution their number had grown to 18. They "[...] are taken as paradigmatic for all there was of Cultural Revolution Culture. They are condemned as an aberration in terms of aesthetic and cultural development. [... However,] the yangbanxi are everything else but the product of an iconoclastic, and xenophobic era as which the Cultural Revolution is so often described. Instead, they are manifestations of a hybrid taste which calls for the transformation of Chinese tradition according to foreign standards, a taste which for a century has led to the creation of a Chinese culture with foreign imprint. Therefore, the model works cannot simply be considered a hideous perversion of the Maoist experiment of re-inventing a new -- Chinese but revolutionary -- culture. Instead, the yangbanxi have their rightful place in a long series of attempted syntheses of foreign and Chinese heritage that continues to the present day." (Barbara Mittler, Introduction to the workshop "Rethinking Cultural Revolution Culture", http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/conf/propaganda/intro.html).
    Site contents: (1) 白毛女 (White-haired Girl); (2) 沙家浜 (The Village Shajiabang); (3) 紅燈記 (Story of the Red Lamp); (4) 紅色娘子軍 (Red Detachment of Women); (5) 奇襲白虎團 (Raid on the White Tiger Regiment); (6) 智取威虎山 (Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy); (7) 平原作戰 (Battle in the Plain); (8) 龍江頌 (Ode on the Dragon River); (9) 海港 (On the Dock).
    Resource suggested by Nico Volland, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
    Last revised 9 Jun 2002 (HL).


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    Painting

  38. Essential!
    China: 5,000 Years -- Modern Section (The Huntington Archive, Ohio State University, USA)
    (http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/gug/intr/china.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: Supplied-note: "An electronic exhibition of the Modern Section of the Guggenheim Exhibition "China: 5,000 Years" is now open to the public. The electronic exhibition is hosted by The Huntington Archive, Dept. of History of Art, Ohio State Univ., USA." Site contents: (1) 'Innovations in Chinese Painting (1850-1950)' - 158 images; (2) 'The Modernist Generations (1920-1950)' - 52 images; (3) 'Art for New China (1950-1980)' - 44 images; (4) 'Transformations of Tradition (1980 - the present)' - 41 images; (5) Introductory text for each section; (6) Catalogue entries for each work of art. (Cited from the Asian Studies WWW Monitor April 1998). Says T.M. Ciolek (Asian Studies WWW VL): "It is only when the nonobvious and nonintuitive navigation links are mastered, that the site reveals its richness and beauty."
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Added/revised on 08.04.1998 (HL)

  39. Classic Chinese Paintings (Ming L. Pei, China the Beautiful, USA)
    (http://www.chinapage.com/paint1.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: Part of the very resourceful China the Beautiful site maintained by Pei Minglong (aka Ming L. Pei), this page and its subsections give examples of Chinese paintings from Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) down to the 20th century. Some of the paintings include detailed background information.
    Added/revised on 14.02.1999 (HL)

  40. Essential!
    Recording the grandeur of the Qing : the southern inspection tour scrolls of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA ; Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
    (http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/).
    Language: English.
    Supplied note: "[...] explores the art, government, and commerce of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) through the presentation of four monumental artworks of the period. These four works are part of two larger sets of scrolls detailing the inspection tours of the realm undertaken by the two greatest Qing monarchs - Kangxi (r. 1662-1722) in 1689, and his grandson Qianlong (r. 1736-96) in 1751, in emulation of his grandfather. [...] Close-up views, interactive scenes, and descriptive essays together give viewers an intimate look at: (1) the commercial life of a busy Chinese city, where viewers encounter landmarks familiar to tourists today; (2) the two emperors themselves, including their extensive entourage, the imperial pomp and pageantry surrounding their travels, and the reception they received from their subjects as they toured Southern China, and their duties as emperors and their responsibilities in maintaining the Mandate of Heaven; (3) the conventions of Chinese painting during this time, and the influence of the techniques of Jesuit artists on these conventions; (4) the Qianlong emperor inspecting water control methods along the Grand Canal and visiting the Silk Commissioner in Suzhou; (5) famous landmarks, such as the Grand Canal, Mount Tai, and Tiger Hill in the city of Suzhou.
    In addition, several complementary topical essays discuss the following: (a) how the government of 18th-century China impressed European political thinkers of the time; (b) the thriving and sophisticated economy of China under the Qing; (c) the role of silver in China's economy and the impact of the Chinese demand for silver on the world economy; (d) the creation of a multi-ethnic state in China, which students can compare with the contemporaneous Russian and Ottoman empires; (e) the creation of the 'Canton system.'"

    Resource suggested via H-Asia mailinglist (20 Dec 2006) by Roberta H. Martin, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
    Added 25 Dec 2006 (HL)

  41. Useful
    Digital Scrolling Paintings Project (Center for the Art of East Asia, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA)
    (http://scrollingpaintings.uchicago.edu/).
    Language: English.
    Cited description: "The Center for the Art of East Asia has initiated a project to create a database of Chinese handscroll paintings in a scrolling digital format. [...] Meant to be unrolled horizontally and viewed section by section as continuous pictures that progress in space and time, handscroll paintings call for a special kind of engagement or participation on the part of the viewer. This temporal and spatial quality is lost in slides or reproductions in books, but can be simulated in the digital medium. Digitized sections of a handscroll that are stitched together can be viewed as a continuous virtual image in the computer through which one can scroll, stop and look more closely, or go back, much as one would experience the actual painting. The digital imaging liberates the viewer from the single viewpoint presented in photographs and slides and creates an exciting tool for teaching and the study of these works of art. It allows the building of interfaces to add text and sound annotations, and zoom properties along with the scrolling capability. [...] this project is progressing on two fronts. The first is to scan existing reproductions into an electronic learning environment for a course site in Chalk. The second is to acquire digital photographs of original paintings to produce a database for research and education purposes."
    Description: Currently (Dec 2005) only three scrolls are available: (1) "Wangchuantu 輞川圖", attributed to Guo Zhongshu 郭忠恕 (ca. 910-977), after Wang Wei 王維 (701-761); (2) "Landscape after Huang Gongwang 臨大痴山水圖" by Lan Ying 藍瑛; and (3) "Orchids" by Yun Xiang 韻香 (fl. 19th cent.). Of special interest is the comparing of scrolls, a feature normally missing from digital projects in the arts. Hopefully, there will be more scrolls available soon. Personally, I missed a "hand tool" for easier scrolling and the use of the right mouse-button, i.e. in zooming in or out.
    Content: (1) About; (2) Scroll Archive; (3) CAEA Website; (4) Contact; (5) Viewer Help.
    Note: Macromedia's Flash Player (version 6+) is required.
    Added 17 Dec 2005 (MA)

  42. International Database for the Study of the History of Christianity in China - Images (The Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco, USA)
    (http://ricci.rt.usfca.edu/images/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "This is a section that includes images pertaining to Christian art and architecture. These images are organized by the institutions that collect them. The section is searchable by the artists, subject of the art work, or the institution that collects the art work."
    Description: The biographical database is part of the Ricci Institute 21st Century Roundtable: an International Database for the Study of the History of Christianity in China site (http://ricci.rt.usfca.edu/splash/main.html).
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Resource suggested via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (26 Apr 1999) by Lawrence Crissman (crissman@asian.gu.edu.au).
    Added/revised on 27. Apr. 1999 (HL)

  43. Very useful
    Inside Out - New Chinese Art (Asia Society & San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
    (http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/insideout/).
    Language: English; parts also available in Chiense (Gif).
    Description: A resourceful website of the exhibition "Inside Out - New Chinese Art", co-curated by the Asia Society and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Site contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Works (23 selected images of the exhibition and a checklist of every work in the show); (3) Commisions (information on two pieces by Cai Guo-qiang and Wenda Gu); (4) Work in Progress (a video file of a work in progress by the artist Xu Bing; warning - the file takes several minutes to download); (5) Chronologies (development of contemporary Chinese art in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan); (6) Artist Biographies; (7) Selected Bibliography; (8) Related Programs; (9) Exhibition Catalogue (on-line ordering facility); (10) Chinese Text Description of the Show.
    Added/revised on 12.10.1998 (HL)

  44. China Avant-Garde (China Avant-Garde, New York, USA)
    (http://www.china-avantgarde.com/).
    Language: English.
    Resource type: Corporate info.
    Self description: "China Avant-Garde is an art advisory service specializing in the acquisition of important works of contemporary Chinese Art, providing personal consultation services to museums, galleries, and collectors, worldwide."
    Site contents: About; Books; Artists (incl. biographies and a short introductory essay by Karen Smith: "China's Avant-Garde"); Inquire; Services.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Added/revised on 29 Sep 1999 (HL)


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    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Calligraphy

  45. Very useful
    Chine, l'Empire du trait (China, empire of the brush stroke) (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France)
    (http://expositions.bnf.fr/chine/).
    Language: French, minor parts in English.
    Description: This website is the online part of the 2004 exhibition at the French National Library on Chinese calligraphy. It comprises texts and illustrations from the printed catalog with a number of additional material, i.e. video sequences on the Dunhuang manuscripts and a multipart interview with Fan Zheng. The excellent objects of the Oriental Manuscripts department, where also the Pelliot collection belongs to, form the core of the impressive show. Quite unfortunately, the English pages only cover the very short captions of the "en images" part (access: http://expositions.bnf.fr/chine/expo_us); all other information is French only. As navigating the complex site may lead to some confusion, the sitemap - hidden at the lower left corner of some pages - can be very helpful.
    Contents: (1) en images (l'exposition; gros plans: écriture et calligraphie / Wang Xizhi, prince des calligraphes / les trois enseignements et l'art du trait / les manuscrits de Dunhuang / le soixantième anniversaire de l'empereur Kangxi / Yuanming Yuan, le jardin du palais d'éte; Rencontre avec Fan Zeng); (2) arrêt sur (la calligraphie: empire du trait / règles calligraphiques / l'acte de copie / offrandes bouddhiques / jeux calligraphiques / Wang Xizhi; d'un même pinceau: peinture / esquisses / orner, expliquer... / peintures rouleaux; l'art du trait: des convergences / confucianisme / taoïsme / bouddhisme; l'empire en images: éloge de l'encre / développement de l'édition / art et politique / albums précieux / représentation du paysage / rapports texte image); (3) repères (l'écriture chinoise: la légende / archéologie / système / les styles / les règles / la calligraphie / codes / classement; impressions de Chine: techniques / formes du livre / de l'image au texte / livres illustrés / presses / polychromies; le papier; trois enseignements: trois traditions / le taoïsme / le confucianisme / le bouddhisme); (4) gros plans (écriture et calligraphie; Wang Xizhi, prince des calligraphes; les trois enseignements et l'art du trait; les manuscrits de Dunhuang; le soixantième anniversaire de l'empereur Kangxi; Yuanming Yuan, le jardin du lpalais d'été); (5) rencentre (entretien avec Fan Zeng, poète, calligraphe, peintre); (6) le pavillon des lettrés (anthologie: la calligraphie / la pensée chinoise / la peinture / le jardin / le palais d'été; citations: propos sur la peinture / propos de calligraphes; ressources: bibliographie sélective / bibliographie générale / en salle de lecture / sites web / chronologie; iconographie: les manuscrits de Dunhuang / les grottes de Dunhuang / la mission Pelliot / les seize arhats / vues du mont Hu / du labourage et du tissage / le palais d'été / l'anniversaire de Kangxi / hommage à l'empereur / toute l'iconographie); (7) autour de l'exposition (informations; crédits).
    Note: Quicktime player is required for the video material.
    Added 3 Apr 2006 (MA)

  46. Useful
    Appreciation of The Art of Chinese Calligraphy (Pei Minglong, China the Beautiful, USA)
    (http://www.chinapage.com/calligraphy.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: Includes an introduction with some examples of different styles and a second page called "Calligraphy of the Masters" with examples of the more important calligraphers and links to further resources.
    Added/revised on 20.10.1998 (HL)

  47. Useful
    Chinese Calligraphy (InTechTra Inc., USA)
    (http://www.asiawind.com/pub/art/callig/index.htm).
    Language: English.
    Description: Basic information on and examples of Chinese calligraphy. Site contents: Epilogue; Calligraphy styles and development; Gallery; Reference on calligraphy; Other websites with calligraphy.


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    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Music

    Culture & Art - Music:   Up | China | Tibet

    China

  48. Very useful
    CHIME - European Foundation For Chinese Music Research (CHIME, Leiden, The Netherlands)
    (http://home.planet.nl/~chime/).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "CHIME is a foundation for the promotion of Chinese music research, based in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded early in 1990 by European music scholars from four different countries. CHIME serves as an active world-wide network of researchers of Chinese music."
    Description: The biggest attraction of this website are (1) the bibliography and (2) the link list. While the latter is a partly annotated collection of a broad variety of links to websites related to Chinese music (May 2004), the bibliography (started 2000) is even more ambitious: "In its final form, it is scheduled to include all major writings (books, theses, articles) on Chinese music and related subjects which have appeared in major Western languages (mainly in English, French, and German) from the 1980s onwards until the present." In addition, the site offers the TOC of all issues of the CHIME journal, and gives some information on the library, projects, etc.
    Site contents: (1) Welcome to CHIME; (2) General information; (3) Journal; (4) Monographs; (5) Meetings; (6) Library; (7) Projects; (8) News; (9) Bibliography; (10) Music venues China; (11) Concerts; (12) Links.
    Added 02 Mar 2005 (MA)

  49. Useful
    The C.C. Liu Collection on Modern Chinese Music in Hong Kong (Article by Barbara Mittler, Univ. of Heidelberg, Germany)
    (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/library/ccliu.htm).
    Language: English.
    Description: "Dr. C. C. Liu [...] is also Fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hongkong, where he has recently founded a "Chinese Music Workshop," designed to enable scholars from China and from abroad to make use of his extensive library of scores and materials all concerned with modern Chinese music. The first part of this essay is meant to introduce Dr. Liu and his collection to scholars of Chinese music. In its second part I will also try to outline some of the ideas Dr. Liu has formed during his years of collecting and research in the field of Chinese music." The article is based on an interview with C.C. Liu in 1991 and seems to have been written in 1992 or 1993.
    Added 29 Jan 1998 (HL), last revised 02 Mar 2005 (HL)

  50. Essential!
    Chinese Traditional Music (Christopher Evans)
    (http://www.cechinatrans.demon.co.uk/home.html).
    Language: English; Chinese characters in GBK.
    Description: Christopher Evans has been student at the famous Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai, PRC, where he recieved the Certificate of Further Studies in the Chinese Seven-stringed Zither (Guqin). His Web site is an excellent introduction into Chinese music.
    Site contents: A. Chinese Traditional Music: (1) The Status of Music in China; (2) Pitches, Scales and Modes; (3) Rhythm; (4) Melody and Harmony; (5) Chinese Musical Instruments. B. The Guqin and its Music: (1) The Instrument; (2) Lacquer; (3) Tunings and Modes; (4) Tuning Pattern Names and Open String Tunings; (5) Technique; (6) Notation; (7) Da Pu (n/a yet); (8) Repertoire; (9) The Guqin Tradition; (10) Symbolism; (11) Aesthetics; (12) Does the Guqin have a future? (n/a yet). C. Guqin Appendices: (1) Symbolism; (2) People; (3) Repertoire; (4) The Guqin on Record; (5) Chinese Music References; (6) Glossary; (7) The Positions of the Notes. D. Links for the Guqin and Chinese Traditional Music.
    Added 27 Sep 1998 (HL), last revised 30 May 2003 (HL)

  51. Chinese Music Page
    (http://www.arts.utas.edu.au/tongtao/chinese_music.html).
    This is an archive from which you can download samples of Chinese music belonging to the categories "traditional", "north-western wind", "folk music", "Taiwanese ceremonial music", "Chinese ceremonial music", "music from the pre-liberation era: the fourties and before", "music from the post-liberation era: Mao!", "the Cultural Revolution", "post Gang of Four era", "historical speeches: Mao, Zhou En-lai etc.", "modern popular music", "current hits", "the Dream of Red Mansions", "Taiwanese and Hong Kong music", "foreign influences".
    Added 26 Apr 1996 (HL), last revised 06 Dec 2002 (JH)

  52. Chinese Music Archive
    (http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/asia/china/chinese-music/).
    Chinese songs in Sun .au format.

  53. New Music Web (前衛音樂網)
    (http://www.sinologic.com/newmusic/).
    Language: Chinese (Big5).
    Description: By Dajuin Yao 姚大鈞. "The only Chinese Web site dedicated to the dissemination of information on experimantal/avant-garde/Chinese music. With lots of in-depth criticism and world-wide links."
    Added 02 Jan 1997 (HL)

  54. Chinese Music
    (http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/china/cmusic.html).
    Provided by Art of China, this site contains samples of traditional and modern Chinese music. Included are some Chinese comedy pieces (姜昆 相聲精選).

  55. Beijing Opera Page
    (http://web.syr.edu:80/~xwang02/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: A good and extensive introduction to the Peking Opera.

  56. Essential!
    Abing, His Life and His Music (Jonathan Stock, University of Sheffield, UK)
    (http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/mus/staff/js/AbPref.html).
    Language: English.
    Supplied note: "An analysis of the life and music of the folk musician Abing (Hua Yanjun), c. 1890-1950. An enigmatic figure, Abing has since his death been reinterpreted in several distinct ways by musicians and cultural authorities in China. An analysis of Abing thus becomes an analysis of the transformations of traditional music in twentieth-century China."
    Site contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Abing's Life; (3) Abing's Instruments; (4) Abing's Music for Erhu; (5) Abing's Music for Pipa; (6) Abing's Music After his Death; (7) Further Reading, Listening and Selected Chinese Music Links; (8) About the Author.
    Resource suggested by Jonathan Stock, University of Sheffield, UK.
    Added 09 Jun 1999 (HL)

  57. Essential!
    Chinese Traditional Music (Christopher Evans)
    (http://www.cechinatrans.demon.co.uk/home.html).
    Language: English; Chinese characters in GBK.
    Description: Christopher Evans has been student at the famous Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai, PRC, where he recieved the Certificate of Further Studies in the Chinese Seven-stringed Zither (Guqin). His Web site is an excellent introduction into Chinese music.
    Site contents: A. Chinese Traditional Music: (1) The Status of Music in China; (2) Pitches, Scales and Modes; (3) Rhythm; (4) Melody and Harmony; (5) Chinese Musical Instruments. B. The Guqin and its Music: (1) The Instrument; (2) Lacquer; (3) Tunings and Modes; (4) Tuning Pattern Names and Open String Tunings; (5) Technique; (6) Notation; (7) Da Pu (n/a yet); (8) Repertoire; (9) The Guqin Tradition; (10) Symbolism; (11) Aesthetics; (12) Does the Guqin have a future? (n/a yet). C. Guqin Appendices: (1) Symbolism; (2) People; (3) Repertoire; (4) The Guqin on Record; (5) Chinese Music References; (6) Glossary; (7) The Positions of the Notes. D. Links for the Guqin and Chinese Traditional Music.
    Added 27 Sep 1998 (HL), last revised 30 May 2003 (HL)

  58. Essential!
    John Thompson on the Guqin Silk String Zither (John Thompson, New York City, USA)
    (http://www.silkqin.com/).
    Language: English.
    Cited description: "[...] the guqin throughout its long history has been the musical instrument most praised by China's literati. They categorized it as one of their "four arts", collected it as an art object, praised its beautiful music, and built around it a complex ideology. No other instrument was so often depicted in paintings, or so regularly mentioned in poetry. Because of the literati's fondness for writing things down, it also has the world's oldest detailed written instrumental music tradition, providing sufficient information to allow both historically informed performance (requiring use of silk strings) of early music, and practical exploration of the relationship between Chinese music theory and music practice."
    Description: Excellent and comprehensive information on various aspects of the seven stringed Chinese zither (guqin 古琴) by John Thompson, who has been playing and doing research on this instrument since 1974. From 1980 to 1998 he was Artistic Consultant for the Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong.
    Site contents: (1) My Work; (2) Handbooks (descriptions of various old qinpu 琴譜 (notebooks) such as the Shenqi mipu 神奇 秘譜, the Zheyin shizi qinpu 浙音釋字琴譜, and others); (3) Qin as Object (Qin construction; Buying a qin; Qins in public and private collections; Silk strings, ...); (4) Qin in Art; (5) Poetry/Song; (6) Hear Qin; (7) Play Qin; (8) Analysis (including a detailed discussion on the reconstruction/realization of guqin tabulature ("dapu" 打譜); (9) History (being in fact a short bibliography); (10) Ideology; (11) Miscellanea; (12) More Info (includes an extensive annotated bibliography); (13) Personal.
    Information supplied by Dorothee Schaab-Hanke, Hamburg, Germany
    Added 08 Aug 1998 (HL), last revised 01 May 2003 (HL)

  59. Very useful
    Qiulai - Guqin yinyue wang 秋賴 - 古琴音樂網 (Qiulai - Guqin Music) (Cheng Gongliang 成公亮, Nanjing Music Conservatory, China)
    (http://www.cglgq.com/).
    Language: Chinese.
    Description: This page by the well-known guqin player Cheng Gongliang contains his experiences with this instrument, his articles on dapu 打譜 (reconstruction/realization of guqin tabulature) etc.
    Site contents: (1) 關於古琴 (About Guqin); (2) 關於成公亮 (About Cheng Gongliang); (3) 古琴文章 (Articles on Guqin); (4) 古箏文章 (Articles on Guzheng); (5) 報刊電台報導 (News- and TV-Reports); (6) 散文 (Essays); (7) CD出版物 (Publications on CD); 琴譜下載 (Guqin tabulatures for download).
    Added 26 Nov 2000 (HL)

  60. Useful
    Jeroen on Chinese Rock (Jeroen Groenewegen, Leiden University, The Netherlands)
    (http://www.keepmakingsense.com/).
    Language: English, with some Chinese (GIF); site encoded in GB.
    Site contents: (1) Tongue: Making Sense of Underground Rock, Beijing 1997-2004 (masters thesis, Leiden University, 2005); (2) Annotated Links: Chinese Rock (Chinese Rock Research; Institutions and Organizatins in the Field divided in music education, record labels, bars and other; Magazines; Fan Sites; BBS); (3) Annotated Links: Chinese Music Critics; (4) I am in China and want to see a rock show (Institutions and Organizations in the Field divided in music education, record labels, bars and other).
    Resource suggested by Jeroen Groenewegen, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
    Added 10 Jul 2005 (HL)

  61. Official Bad Boys or True Rebels?
    (http://tsquare.tv/film/badboys.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: An article on Chinese rock by Geremie Barm? The article originally appeared in: Human Rights Tribune, Volume III, Number 4, Winter 1992, pp. 17-20.
    Added 1997 (HL), last revised 17 Oct 2001 (HL)

  62. Very useful
    Traditional Songs and Stories of the Hua Miao of South West China (Steve Rake and Keith Parsons, University of Southampton, UK)
    (http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~str/miao/songs/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Supplied note: "[The site] has been put togther by Dr Steve Rake of the University of Southampton, using traditional songs and stories of the Miao people of South West China collected and translated by the Rev. Keith Parsons. (Keith is the son of Bible Christian Missionaries Harry and Annie Parson who were colleagues of Sam Pollard in Yunnan Province in the early years of the last century). There are also sections on the symbols and sounds of the Miao script and Miao history and social life."
    Description: The songs within this archive are presented in the form 1. Introduction, 2. Translation, 3. Transcription, and 4. Notes. No sound examples are available. The accompanying searchable English-Miao Miao-English dictionary seems to be very useful (download of a Miao font is necessary).
    Site contents: (1) Using this archive (Setting up your browser, The song documents); (2) Introduction to the Songs (The people called 'A-hmao' and their writings, The origin of the documents, Handling the documents); (3) The Symbols and Sounds of the Miao Script; (4) Writing Miao text and the Ahmao font (Ahmao font Miao template Pin-yin); Index of Songs (Beginnings, Miao 'history', Miao social life, Narratives); (5) Index of Songs (Beginnings; Miao "history"; Miao social life; Narratives); (6) The Hua Miao - English On-line Glossary.
    Note: Contains some files in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat Reader needed).
    Resource suggested via Asian Studies WWW Monitor (12 Feb 2001) by Rosemary Seton (SOAS, UK), forwarded by Frances Wood, British Library, UK.
    Added 15 Feb 2001 (HL)

    Culture & Art - Music:   Up | China | Tibet

    Tibet

  63. Very useful
    Guide to Tibetan Art, Theatre & Music
    (http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/anu/tib-art.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: This guide is part of the Tibetan Studies WWW VL (http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-TibetanStudies.html). Site contents: Images of Tibetan Art; Images of Tibetan Architecture; Tibetan Music; Tibetan Textiles, Tents & Carpets; Tibetan Theatre; Images of Tibetan Religious Art in the West; Images of Tibetan Religious Symbols; Tibetan Art Shops and Galleries.


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Furniture

  64. Very useful
    Classical Chinese Furniture
    (http://www.chinese-furniture.com/).
    Language: English.
    Description: "[...] Curtis Evarts, a leading authority in the field, offers resourceful information and consultation services for Chinese furniture enthusiasts, scholars and collectors within this site." Site contents: Chinese Furniture (Decoration & Style, Materials, Dating, Joinery & Construction, Categories, History) Piece of the Month; Resources (Conservation, Museum Collections, Dealers, Bibliography, Consulting, Links). The bibliography section is extensive!


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Jade

  65. Essential!
    From Heaven and Earth: Chinese Jade in Context (The Huntington Archive, Ohio State University, USA)
    (http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/jade/hp/hp.html).
    Language: English.
    Resource type: Documents/Study.
    Self description: "Online exhibition features photos from the exhibition held at the Columbus Museum of Art [Columbus, OH, USA]. [...] Contains 177 images with didactic text - including photos taken under UV light - and essays. Subject matter includes: Jade - Ritual Objects (ceremonial, burial, authoritative), Animal Pendants, Plaques and Fantastic Creatures, Decorative Objects, Personal/Functional items; Clay - Burial, Vessels, Figurines, Molds; Bronze - Ritual Vessals, Burial, Weapons; Painting."
    Description: An exceptional site combining images and very detailed introductions on the social and historical background as well as into the craft of making jade itself. Suggestions for further reading in each section make this resource valuable for both scholars and other interested parties. Says T. Matthew Ciolek (editor of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library): "As on previous occasions, The Huntington Archive web site sets the presentation and annotation (incl. metadata) standards for the rest of the online world."
    Resource suggested via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (06 Oct 1999) by Janice M. Glowski (glowski.1@osu.edu).
    Added/revised on 15 Oct 1999 (HL)


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Martial Arts

  66. Martial Arts Hyperbanner
    (http://martial-arts.hyperbanner.net/).
    "The Martial arts Hyperbanner system was created to collect information about Martial Arts resources on the net, and mainly, to allow owners of Martial Arts sites to advertise their sites worldwide FREE of any charge."

  67. 3 stars
    Journal of Asian Martial Arts
    (http://www.goviamedia.com/journal/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: This quarterly "publishes three types of materials: (1) scholarly articles based on primary research in recognized scholarly disciplines, e.g., cultural anthropology, comparative religions, psychology, film theory, and criticism, etc.; (2) more informal, but nevertheless substantial interviews (with scholars, master practitioners, etc.) and reports on particular genres, techniques, etc.; and (3) reviews of books and audiovisual materials on the martial arts."
    Site contents: (1) Journal Description; (2) Current & Back Issues; (3) Articles by Area; (4) Writer & Photographer Guidelines; (5) Printable Order Form; (6) Store.
    Added/revised on 26 Nov 1999 (HL)

  68. Useful
    Chinese Archery Archive (Stephen Selby, Asian Traditional Archery Research Network, Hong Kong)
    (http://www.atarn.org/chinese/cn_arc_indx.htm).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "The Asian Traditional Archery Research Network provides for mutual friendly exchange and support among the different archery traditions of Asia, and to widen appreciation worldwide of the different archery traditions of Asia. The archery traditions of Asia (for example those of Mongolia, China, Korea, Tibet and Japan) have at one time or another enjoyed cross-fertilization and exchange of techniques (albeit sometimes on the battlefield.) Now some of these great traditions have disappeared, while others flourish, but in isolation. The archery traditions of Asia are rich in folklore, history, artistic expression, philosophy, technique, science and technology. Some, however, are in danger. In some Asian regions, the influence of western materialistic culture threatens to cause a loss of interest among potential new exponents. Sometimes, it is the craft of the bow and arrow makers which is under threat because of the dying-out of skills or the disappearance of sources of traditional materials."
    Description: This page is a sub-site of ATARN, the Asian Traditional Archery Research Network, covering much more than only China. There is also a very active forum. The entries differ very much from each other, there are reprinted articles, translations, excerpts from personal communication, richly illustrated texts on mechanisms (like the crossbow or the archer's rings). Although the last update was 24 January, 2002, the highly specialized content of the site is very interesting, not only to archery freaks.
    Site contents: (1) Qi Ji Guang's Archery Method (Ming); (2) Wu Bei Yao Lue (Ming); (3) Zheng Nan She Fa (Ming/Qing); (4) Guan Shi Xin Zhuan (Qing); (5) She Lue (Qing); (6) Cross-sections of an Old Chinese Bow; (7) Letter from Peking; (8) Beijing Wanbao; (9) Perfecting the Mind and Body; (10) Makiwara Madness; (11) Whistling arrows; (12) The History of Ju Yuan Hao; (13) The Crossbows of South-West China; (14) Repeating Crossbows; (15) Interview with Wu Yonghua; (16) Chengdu Bowyer; (17) Thingies Up-close and personal; (18) Interesting Bow; (19) Quivers and holsters; (20) Shandong Crossbow Mechanism; (21) Horseback archery; (22) Early Archers' Rings.
    Added 23 Mar 2004 (MA)


    Culture & Art:   General | Architecture | Bookbinding | Photography | Drawing & Illustration | Painting | Calligraphy | Music | Furniture | Jade | Martial Arts | Scholarly Journals
    Related:   Journals | Bibliographies

    Others

  69. Written sources on Yao religion - A research project (Institute for East Asian Studies, University of Munich, Germany)
    (http://www.fak12.uni-muenchen.de/sin/projekte/yaoe.htm).
    Language: English.
    Self description: "The Munich Yao project, initiated in Oct 1995, is based on a collection of more than 1000 Yao manuscripts, acquired by the Department for Rare Manuscripts of the Munich Bavarian State Library during the last few years. The manuscripts date from the beginning of the 18th to the eighties of the 20th century and originate from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the southern provinces of China. The project aims at computer supported cataloguing, classifying, and analysing of the manuscripts with special regard to date, regional origin, and persons mentioned. The resulting catalogue will be published as part of the 'Index to Oriental Manuscripts in Germany' (Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland). An exhibition of the most remarkable manuscripts in the Bavarian State Library from Nov 4th to Dec 22nd 1999 will conclude the project."
    Description: See also the press report on the exhibition at the Munich Bavarian State Library (http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/english/yao_e.htm).
    Site contents: Institute; Address; Research Team; Scope of the Project; Exhibition; Publications; Lectures.
    Note: Frames capable browser needed!
    Resource suggested via the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (06 Nov 1999) by Lucia Obi (yao@lrz.uni-muenchen.de).
    Added 8 Nov 1999 (HL), last revised 6 Dec 2002 (JH).

  70. The Mythic Chinese Unicorn Zhi (Royal Ontario Museum, Canada)
    (http://www.rom.on.ca/pub/unicorn/index.html).
    Language: English.
    Description: "This work is intended to finally prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the mythic Chinese unicorn was not the qilin, but a one-horned female goat-like beast called the zhi." (Cited from the Asian Studies WWW Monitor Feb. 1997)
    Information supplied by Isabella Guthrie-McNaughton
    Added/revised on 08.08.1998 (HL)

URL of this page: http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/igcult.htm
URL of main page: http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/index.html