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On Qingming shanghe Studies
Nie
Chongzheng
Research Fellow
Palace Museum, Beijing
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Translator's note: Since it is still being debated whether "qingming"
refers to the Spring Festival, or a noun meaning peace and order, for
the sake of a less ambiguous translation, I shall keep the title in
pinyin, rather than using the better known English title, Spring
Festival by the River. Some recent scholarly inquiries on the Qingming
shanghe scroll, with overviews of Western, Chinese, and Japanese scholarship,
are published in the Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 26 (1996) and
27 (1997). IL
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If a single novel could become the focus of an entire scholarly subject,
as Dream
of the Red Chamber has been, then the equivalent phenomenon
in painting is summarized in the book entitled "Qingming
shanghe tu" and Qingming shanghe Studies. The author, Zhou
Baozhu, chronicles primary and secondary documents relating to
the Qingming shanghe scroll, separating them into different topics:
(1) the
Eastern capital Kaifeng; (2) "Qingming
shanghe"; (3) Zhang
Zeduan and the Dongjing (Kaifeng) painting academy; (4 & 5) analysis
of the content of the painting (parts 1 and 2); (6)
the controversy over the authenticity of the Qingming shanghe
scroll; (7) the
portrayal of the city, its location, and scenery in the painting;
and (8) questions
relating to Qingming shanghe Studies. The author also
gives an overview of a wide range of related documentary evidence, summarizes
previous scholarship, and further analyzes the painting.
Studies of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber involve an additional
important component -- the investigation of its author Cao
Xueqin's background. Many scholars choose this topic for their
publications, giving birth to "Cao
Studies," or the so-called "Extra-Red
Line." As for the Qingming shanghe scroll artist Zhang
Zeduan (active early 12th c.), could he also become topic of
a branch of specialized study? I think that if there are no new discoveries,
such a trend could not sustain itself solely on the colophon written
at the end of the painting by Zhang
Zhe.* 
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*Zhang Zhe was the Curator of Painting at the Jin court. His colophon
on the Qingming shanghe scroll, identifying the painter as Zhang
Zeduan, is dated 1186.
See Wang Qi's
review of this book.
 Click
here to purchase
this book.
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