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I think of Chinese art as a single
great scroll of calligraphy,
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written by many hands,
telling the story
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of a 4,000-year-old civilisation's
fears and hopes.
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00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,480
At first,
there was art for the dead,
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00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,800
created to appease the wrath
of the gods,
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to take control of the afterlife
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00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,520
or offer consolation through prayer.
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00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:32,920
Then there
was the art of the living -
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00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:34,360
the art of scholars,
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who immersed themselves in nature,
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00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,040
of emperors with an insatiable
thirst for exquisite objects,
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00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,000
or for breathtaking architecture,
gateway to the divine.
13
00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:53,080
And finally, an art born out
of China's contact with the West -
14
00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:57,040
brilliant hybrids,
but also portents of disaster,
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00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,080
a humbling end to 2,000 years
of imperial power.
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00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:08,120
The art that emerged from the ruins
was one of revolution and rebirth,
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00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,640
but accompanied too
by shattering destruction.
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And now, China has risen again,
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00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:17,640
and a new generation of artists
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are striving to give it
a shape and a meaning.
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We've taken away so much, so fast,
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that we don't even remember
what we had before.
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Have they been crushed
by the oppression of the past?
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Or have they found a way
to breathe new life
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00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,200
into China's ancient traditions?
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00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,120
Modern China -
it can be a bewildering place.
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00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,560
Gleaming high-rise buildings
next to wooden shacks.
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00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,760
McDonald's
next to street concessions
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00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,600
selling bowls of steaming noodles.
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An uneasy blend of East and West.
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What can be more uneasy than
a communist capitalist state?
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00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,560
But if you want
to understand the history
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00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,760
of China's relationship
with the West,
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you have to turn the clock back
some 400 years
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00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,160
to the arrival of China's
last great imperial dynasty -
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00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:31,480
the Qing.
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00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:37,800
The Qing were foreigners,
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00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,080
breaching the Great Wall
from their homeland of Manchuria,
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00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,040
northeast of China.
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00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,200
They formed the last
of China's great dynasties,
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00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,000
but never completely forgot
their outsider origins.
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00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,000
Unlike their predecessors,
the Ming,
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whose great symbol
was the Great Wall of China,
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who were enclosed, inward-looking,
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00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,240
the Qing looked outwards.
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00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,160
They opened Chinese culture up
to the outside world
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00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,680
and, above all, to the West.
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00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,640
Qing cultural policy
was two-pronged -
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00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:18,640
you might say two-faced.
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00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,920
To woo their new subjects,
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00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:23,800
they commissioned
traditional Chinese art,
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00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,880
expanding the Forbidden City
and adding to its collections.
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00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,760
But at the same time,
they introduced art so foreign,
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it seemed positively alien.
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00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,280
When we're talking about
the influence of the West on China,
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this really is "X marks the spot."
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00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,000
It all began here,
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because this was the very first
Western-European settlement
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00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,840
in the heart of China's capital city
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00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,400
and this marks the centre of it -
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00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,920
it's a Catholic cathedral.
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00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,200
The Jesuits were allowed
to settle here
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00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,840
and to preach the Word of God
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00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,480
by the Qing emperors.
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00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,320
But it was a deal -
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00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,640
what the emperors wanted in return
was Western science,
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00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:17,600
Western technology,
Western inventions
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00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,640
and, perhaps above all,
Western art.
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00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,800
And one traveller from Europe
gave them that more than any other.
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00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,560
His name was Giuseppe Castiglione
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00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:33,000
and he, almost single-handedly,
changed the face of Chinese art.
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00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,200
Castiglione was by no means
the only Westerner
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00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,920
to come to China
from the Catholic south of Europe,
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00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,200
but he was by far
the most influential.
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00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,000
Before he arrived under the Ming,
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Chinese court art had continued
in a traditional style.
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00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,880
Exquisite, but unadventurous.
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00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,600
Castiglione,
with his Western innovations,
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00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,480
shook up this frozen world.
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00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,000
His earliest known work
is a scroll of 1723
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called Accumulating Fortunes.
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00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:23,920
On a background of imperial gold,
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Castiglione has modelled
his bouquet in light and shade,
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00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,720
has used bright,
living colours for the blooms,
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00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,520
and painted the vase
in perspective -
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00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,600
techniques familiar in Europe
since the Renaissance,
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but unknown in China.
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00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,160
The symbolism of the flowers
was ancient.
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00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,440
Corn and lotus blossom
for fertility and good fortune.
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00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,880
Peonies, national symbol of China.
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00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:57,520
But this Western realism
was startlingly new.
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00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,200
Accumulating Fortunes
beguiled the emperor
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00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:04,760
and under his patronage,
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00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:06,120
Castiglione thrived.
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00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:13,760
Castiglione is hardly
a household name in the West,
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00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,680
but in China, as Lang Shining,
he is venerated as a master
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00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,080
and his paintings
are national treasures.
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00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,600
The measures taken to protect
this work of art may seem extreme,
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00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,480
but this 1728 scroll,
100 Horses In A Landscape,
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is considered his masterpiece.
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After you.
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The painting's got security guards.
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00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,600
I've never seen a painting
with security guards before.
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00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,120
So I have to put on a mask? Yes.
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OK.
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00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,320
Like this? Yes. Great.
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00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:57,880
Oh, great, thank you.
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THEY LAUGH
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How am I supposed to work?
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00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:05,240
A bigger one?
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00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:06,400
Oh, thank you.
112
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,960
So, I've got... It wasn't...
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00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:10,640
I know I've got a big mouth, but..
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00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,000
Wow!
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00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,160
I should explain the symbolism.
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The symbolism of the painting
is that the horse
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stands for talent, a man of talent
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and the landscape stands for China
under the Qing.
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00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,560
So what the painting expresses
as a whole
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00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,640
is the notion that China under
the Qing dynasty is full of talent,
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00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:42,280
full of celebrated, clever,
gifted individuals.
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00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,880
This one is especially interesting
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because he is so skinny. Yeah.
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Skinny horse means something,
that they are very...
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00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:52,880
SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
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00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:58,000
How to say...? They will not obey
to the authority.
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He is just looking at other horses,
and...
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00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,400
"I don't want to join you",
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00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,960
but in the last part, he joined them.
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00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,240
That's fantastic - which symbolises
the notion that, under the Qing,
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00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,080
even the rebellious talented
will come into the imperial fold.
132
00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,680
So it's a great celebration
of the emperor's power.
133
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,920
Yes, exactly. Fantastic.
134
00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,720
The horsemen represent
the officials of the Qing court,
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00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,480
tenderly caring
for their happy beasts -
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00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:31,960
the Qing's loyal subjects.
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00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,160
This is brilliant propaganda.
138
00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,240
The painting is over 25 feet long
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and its scale drives home
the strong, clear message.
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00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:47,160
It's wonderful, isn't it?
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00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,880
Because you can see Castiglione
has looked at Chinese painting.
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00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,680
He's looked at the imperial
collection, I imagine. Yes.
143
00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:58,520
Here, this remind me of Guo Xi,
and here, he's got the mists
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00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,960
that represent the chi, the energy,
of the landscape. Yes.
145
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:08,720
My understanding is
that he could have put more shadow,
146
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,760
but that the Chinese found shadows
in painting rather disconcerting,
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00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,120
so he included shadow to allow
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00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,720
a sufficient Western amount
of modelling... Yeah.
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00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,520
..but then kept it to a minimum,
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00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,280
not to confuse the Chinese
sense of taste.
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00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,200
But it's absolutely beautiful.
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00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,640
Castiglione served three
different Qing emperors,
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the last of whom came to the throne
in 1735 -
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the charismatic Qianlong.
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00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,800
Castiglione painted his portrait
on horseback,
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harking back to the great
equestrian portraits
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of European Baroque painting.
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00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:56,040
Never before had a Chinese ruler
looked down his nose at his people
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00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,400
quite so convincingly.
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00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:06,480
Qianlong would reign until the end
of the 18th century.
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00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,880
Under him, China enjoyed peace,
stability
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00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,360
and agricultural abundance.
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The population grew rapidly.
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00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,440
China had never had it so good
and to congratulate himself,
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Qianlong commissioned one of
the most elaborate scroll paintings
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00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,200
in the history of Chinese art.
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00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:34,640
Completed 1759,
it's called Prosperous Suzhou.
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00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,240
This is what the richest town in
China looked like
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00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,760
when Samuel Johnson was out
and about in London.
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00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:50,240
The painting includes 12,000 figures
and 260 shops -
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00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,960
this is the land
of consumer durables,
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00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:55,800
the land of prosperity.
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00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:57,920
There are tobacco shops, wine shops,
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00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,440
cotton shops, silk shops,
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00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,760
garden supply shops -
you-name-it shops.
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00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:08,760
Qianlong was very, very proud
of how wealthy his China was.
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00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:13,320
He's competing with
the famous Song emperor Huizong,
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00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,480
who'd commissioned
the Qingming scroll,
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00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:17,280
China's most famous painting -
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00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,800
a depiction of wealthy, prosperous
Kaifeng back in the Middle Ages.
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00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,160
He's employed an entire team
of artists,
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00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:32,480
whom it took three years to create
this 30-metre scroll.
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00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,600
It's a truly extraordinary object.
184
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,400
What it has to say is, basically,
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00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:42,840
"We are as rich
as we have ever been."
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Not so much the Qing dynasty
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as the "Ka-ching!" dynasty.
188
00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,200
Qianlong saw himself
as the rightful heir to China
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and its most precious traditions.
190
00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:00,720
The transformation of the Qing
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00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,600
from foreign invaders
into Chinese rulers
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00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:04,840
was complete.
193
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,680
Qianlong's vast wealth
also enabled him
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00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:14,400
to pursue a new love of all things
Western on a grand scale.
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00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,480
He embraced plans for
a European-style quarter
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00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,400
within the Qing's vast
Summer Palace estate
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00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,040
on the outskirts of Beijing.
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00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:27,560
Drawn up by the increasingly
influential Castiglione,
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00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:32,000
ten new European-style palaces
would occupy a new garden
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00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,280
within the 800 acres
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00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:38,280
previously dominated
by Chinese wooden architecture.
202
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,080
Little remains, but the drawings
reveal stone pavilions
203
00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,240
of a dazzling, Frenchified,
Rococo elegance.
204
00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,200
The effect must have been
surprising -
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00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,640
like seeing Marie Antoinette
in China.
206
00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,600
The one surviving remnant of
the great Summer Palace
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00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,160
is the maze and, in many ways,
it's a perfect symbol
208
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,400
of the Qing's love
209
00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:25,200
of complexity, intricacy,
foreign styles, foreign games.
210
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,480
As Emperor Qianlong's
reign continued,
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00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,960
his passion for art
became an obsession
212
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,800
and the country began falling behind
in science and technology.
213
00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,280
Emperor Qianlong loved art -
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00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:47,040
in fact, he collected and
commissioned so much of it
215
00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,800
that it is said if you laid
his collection end to end,
216
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,920
it would take ten years
just simply to walk past it.
217
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,440
It wasn't enough for Qianlong
to love art and collect it.
218
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,320
He wanted the world to know forever
just how much he loved it.
219
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:15,960
He didn't merely,
as emperors in the past had done,
220
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:18,640
put his own seal
on his favourite pieces -
221
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,320
he put his seal
plus a word of commendation.
222
00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:24,720
"Sublime." "Marvellous."
223
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:26,720
"I really like this one."
224
00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:36,960
For me, the ultimate example of his
obsessive collectamania is this -
225
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:38,920
the box for the man
who has to collect
226
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:40,960
absolutely everything in the world.
227
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,040
Well, that's my name for it.
228
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:47,880
The museum label calls it "curio box
with the motif of dragons."
229
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,640
Open it up,
and you find a miniaturised version
230
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,560
of Qianlong's favourite things
from his collection.
231
00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,840
It's like a doll's house
version of his universe.
232
00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:03,480
Onyx.
233
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,680
Porcelain.
234
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,400
Knotted strings carved from stone.
235
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:11,880
Curious religious sculptures.
236
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,120
A bronze chicken.
237
00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,360
You name it, it's all here.
238
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,600
Qianlong even collected himself -
239
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,080
well, he collected volumes
of his own poetry,
240
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,520
each with a frontispiece portrait,
241
00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:31,080
slowly ageing,
rather like Dorian Grey,
242
00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,480
from image to image.
243
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:48,280
If I had to choose a single object
to epitomise Qing taste,
244
00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:49,920
it would be this one.
245
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:54,960
A Qing vase, commissioned
by Emperor Qianlong himself,
246
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,000
from the imperial kilns.
247
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,120
You have got lattice-work,
248
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:04,160
embellished disks
attached to the sides,
249
00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,480
you've got these fronds,
multicoloured,
250
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:08,640
climbing up the spout.
251
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,920
Such a contrast with Chinese
porcelain from earlier dynasties.
252
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:19,480
Think back to the aching simplicity
of Song dynasty Ru ware.
253
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:29,640
This is the Chinese ceramic
equivalent of French Rococo -
254
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:36,120
both are the styles of frivolity,
decadence, overconsumption.
255
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,000
It is the style
that perfectly represents
256
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,320
the pride that comes before a fall.
257
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,360
Qianlong is honoured
in buzzing virtual reality
258
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,680
here at the National Palace Museum
in Taipei.
259
00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,720
There's even a cartoon hologram
you can queue up
260
00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:58,880
to have your photograph taken with.
261
00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,320
There's something apt
about enthroning him
262
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,560
in this flickering fantasy land.
263
00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,920
He was a man in thrall to
the fantasy of his own omnipotence.
264
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,400
"Mine is a celestial dynasty",
265
00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,080
he wrote to King George III
of England,
266
00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,320
"my palace, the centre around which
the globe revolves."
267
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,040
In truth, Qianlong took his eye
off the globe -
268
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,320
a great collector of Western art,
269
00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,760
he didn't realise
it was Western science
270
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,320
that was changing the world.
271
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,480
So while Europe
had the Industrial Revolution,
272
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,160
new technology, new weapons,
273
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,840
the newest thing in Qianlong's China
274
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,480
was a collection of
fragile novelties.
275
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,680
When he waved his last goodbye
in 1799,
276
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,080
he left China ill-equipped
for the new century.
277
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:11,800
A particular thorn in China's side
278
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,720
would be the people of a tiny,
far-away maritime nation.
279
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,840
Englishmen in unfamiliar
woollen clothing
280
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,880
had began arriving in numbers
in the mid-18th century.
281
00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,560
Chinese tea
was what they were after.
282
00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,520
It had become an English addiction
283
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:32,560
and they'd stop at nothing
to get it.
284
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:36,000
The Qing authorities set limits
on the trade,
285
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,240
insisting tea could only be bought
for silver.
286
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,120
But the English paid with opium
287
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,280
they could pick up for next
to nothing in India.
288
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,360
Millions of Chinese
became drug addicts,
289
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:54,080
brain baffled by the foreign devils
caricatured in cartoons like this.
290
00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,840
The end result?
China seized British hauls of opium
291
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,160
and the British retaliated,
starting a war which,
292
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,440
thanks to the technological
limitations of the Chinese,
293
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,400
was heavily stacked in favour
294
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,760
of His Royal Majesty
the King of England's drug dealers.
295
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,680
In 1842,
after three years of battles,
296
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,440
Britain was victorious.
297
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:23,520
Now...
298
00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,920
..under the Treaty of Nanjing,
299
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,640
the British were granted -
or, rather, took -
300
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,080
a small fortune in silver
from the Chinese,
301
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:38,400
as reparation for their war losses,
302
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,800
they took a small place called
Hong Kong in perpetuity,
303
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:48,080
and the right to trade from and
create settlements in five ports,
304
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,560
the most important of which
was Shanghai.
305
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,520
This was a huge humiliation
for the Qing.
306
00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:02,000
Imagine - a foreign power not only
owning property on Chinese soil,
307
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,560
but usurping Chinese trading rights.
308
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,200
And I think the style in which
the British chose to build
309
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,560
their consulate here in Shanghai,
310
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:16,520
with its rampantly colonial style,
the finely trimmed lawn,
311
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,000
I wonder if they weren't
trying to rub it in a bit?
312
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:23,640
A fine spot to drink
a rather complacent cup of tea.
313
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:28,280
Over the next two decades,
314
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,600
the Qing began to lose
the confidence of their people.
315
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,280
There was popular unrest,
uprisings, rebellions,
316
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,520
tens of millions of Chinese
lives lost.
317
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,600
In 1860, during a second Opium War,
318
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,280
the British struck a hammer blow
319
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,520
from which the dynasty
would never recover.
320
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:58,040
It was a cold and knowing act
of iconoclasm -
321
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,520
an all-out attack
on the Summer Palace.
322
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,240
They looted its treasures,
they levelled its stone building
323
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:15,240
and they torched the rest.
324
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,280
Within a month, they had destroyed
325
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,760
the greatest jewel
of the entire Qing empire.
326
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,240
The French 19th-century writer
Victor Hugo simply remarked,
327
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,040
"We think we are civilised
328
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,280
"and we think the Chinese
are barbarians.
329
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,920
"Look around - this is what
civilisation did to barbarism."
330
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,640
A century earlier, Emperor Qianlong
331
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,520
had imagined Europe was something
you could dally with -
332
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,760
a source book of styles
for an emperor
333
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,480
to decorate his playground.
334
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,280
Now, the playground was smashed.
335
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,920
No-one in China was taking the West
lightly any more.
336
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,000
In the thriving port of Shanghai,
337
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,800
Britain's international settlements
had now been joined
338
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,920
by French and American concessions.
339
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,520
Foreign influence was having
a transforming effect
340
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,200
on the city's art and artists.
341
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,360
Shanghai's a city that grew up
in the 19th and 20th centuries.
342
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,000
That's why it feels a little bit
343
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,560
like a hybrid between Liverpool
and New York.
344
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,760
But thanks to the settlements,
from the 1860s onwards,
345
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,560
this was really an urban experience
like no other.
346
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,640
Not only did you have Westerners
and Chinese living cheek by jowl,
347
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,560
but the indigenous Chinese
of Shanghai
348
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,280
developed their own versions
of Western architecture.
349
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,360
Town houses, apartment blocks -
350
00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,840
they were living
in new types of spaces.
351
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,840
And suddenly, they lost their
enthusiasm for the old forms
352
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,120
of Chinese art,
the scroll and the screen.
353
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,640
What they wanted was pictures
in frames to hang on their wall
354
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,480
and lots of bright colours -
355
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,560
a subtle change in taste,
but a profound one.
356
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,320
At first sight,
this Shanghai School art
357
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,600
can look a bit too pretty -
358
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,960
wallpaper for
the new Chinese collectors
359
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,000
of the international settlements
360
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,040
to decorate
their Western-style homes.
361
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:43,920
But it's understandable
that they wanted to look
362
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,320
at colourful blooms, cuddly animals.
363
00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:52,120
Many of these new Chinese collectors
were traumatised refugees,
364
00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:54,400
fleeing the violence and bloodshed
365
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,880
that had racked China throughout
the 19th century -
366
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,600
Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion.
367
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,080
But the presence of foreign powers
on Chinese soil
368
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,480
was a continuing cause
of confusion and anger,
369
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,840
epitomised in a masterly
self-portrait
370
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,440
that the Shanghai School artist
Ren Xiong created in the 1850s.
371
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,680
The image of an angry young man
in knife-edged clothing
372
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,640
echoes the romantic self-portraits
373
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,600
that European artists were painting
at just this time.
374
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:33,560
But it's hardly a homage -
375
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,000
the scroll bears
a pained inscription,
376
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,640
lamenting China's territorial losses
377
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,760
and the indignation of being
subjugated to foreign powers.
378
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:53,000
China's century of disasters
came to a climax in 1894
379
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,840
with the loss of the first
Sino-Japanese War,
380
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,520
fought over control of Korea.
381
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,960
This was the most
humiliating defeat of all.
382
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,360
China had fallen so far behind,
it wasn't just losing to the West,
383
00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:10,560
but to its own, far smaller
neighbour, Japan,
384
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,720
which HAD embraced
Western technology.
385
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,480
At the higher levels
of Chinese society,
386
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,280
there was a deep sense
of shame and betrayal.
387
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,080
Their rulers had let them down.
It was time for change.
388
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,680
1911 was the year of
the Great Revolution.
389
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,800
The last Emperor, Puyi,
still just a little boy
390
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,880
who could barely reach his throne,
was forced to abdicate.
391
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:47,840
More than 2,000 years of dynastic
history had been brought to an end.
392
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,760
Chinese society would be
fundamentally altered.
393
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:02,200
So too would Chinese art. The old
skills were no longer encouraged.
394
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,640
Western-style industrial design
began to displace
395
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:07,400
brush and ink painting.
396
00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,040
And the Forbidden City,
for so many centuries
397
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,760
the principal source of commissions,
was closed for business.
398
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,000
After 1911, the new
Republic of China would endure
399
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,320
decades of political instability.
400
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,320
The Nationalist leaders struggled
to keep the country unified,
401
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,560
as regional warlords exploited
the power vacuum.
402
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:40,720
And how did China's artists respond
to these turbulent times?
403
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,520
The more adventurous travelled west
in search of fresh ideas.
404
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,760
In 1919, a young painter
called Xu Beihong
405
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:51,720
went all the way to France
406
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,680
and enrolled in
the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
407
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,000
When he returned to China
eight years later,
408
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,080
he adapted 19th-century French ideas
409
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:07,000
to create a new kind of epic,
politically engaged Chinese art.
410
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,960
One, two, three.
411
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:15,160
The most celebrated of his early
paintings lies buried deep
412
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,000
within the vaults
of Beijing's Capital Museum.
413
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,080
I think my Chinese is improving.
414
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,160
That was Chinese for,
"Whatever you do, don't drop it."
415
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,720
Influenced by French painters'
meditations
416
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,000
on their own tumultuous times,
417
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,640
like Delacroix's
Liberty Storming The Barricades,
418
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,760
the young painter's new work
made him
419
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,360
the most acclaimed
and influential artist
420
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,760
within a country
still wracked by uncertainty.
421
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:48,400
Ha-ha!
422
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:58,640
So, this is the very first example
of a fully fledged,
423
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,640
Western European-style
narrative history painting
424
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,160
ever created in China,
and it's 1928-30.
425
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,600
Xu Beihong, in his own mind,
is cutting edge.
426
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,720
He's been trained in Paris.
427
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,720
He's been trained at the Beaux Arts.
428
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,760
He's studied anatomy, he's studied
Delacroix, Gericault, Courbet.
429
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:19,120
He's studied Veronese,
430
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:21,680
the great tradition
of the Italian Renaissance.
431
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:26,400
In truth, Western modern painting
has moved on from this style.
432
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,320
We've had Cubism, Futurism,
Surrealism is just being born
433
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,800
at the point when this picture
is being painted.
434
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,280
But for him and for his audience,
this is startlingly new.
435
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:41,160
Now, what has he done?
436
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,960
He's taken a moment
from Chinese history when Tian Heng,
437
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,120
he's the hero of the painting,
438
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:53,600
he realises that he cannot possibly
defeat the Emperor of the time.
439
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,960
Rather than accept surrender,
accept defeat,
440
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,400
he is going to kill himself.
441
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,160
This is the moment
when he announces
442
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,720
to his 500 followers
that he will leave.
443
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,640
He doesn't tell them he's going
to kill himself, but they know.
444
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,960
That's why you've got this
pervasive sense of melancholy.
445
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,240
These figures reaching out.
446
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,400
And right at the centre
of the painting,
447
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,320
as if to sign it
with his own identity,
448
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,760
he's placed a self-portrait.
449
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,000
In fact, several of the characters
in the picture
450
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,000
represent people he knew.
These are his friends.
451
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,720
This rather dignified,
solemn figure,
452
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,160
that's actually
the security guard at his school.
453
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,520
This is his daughter.
454
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,440
At this moment in time,
hostilities between China
455
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:59,440
and its great enemy, Japan,
were deepening.
456
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,960
What he's done is he's painted
a collective portrait of China
457
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,440
facing this solemn, sad,
difficult moment.
458
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,560
A new kind of art...
459
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,680
for a new sense
of national emergency.
460
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,760
In this climate, Xu Beihong's art
struck a chord for the Chinese.
461
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:30,240
But he wasn't the only artist
importing alternative Western ideas.
462
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,000
Lin Fenmiang also went to France
during the early 1920s,
463
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,560
falling under the spell
of a very different
464
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,160
and rather more modern tradition
of painting.
465
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,720
The table top Cubism
of Braque and Picasso.
466
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,240
Cezanne's still-lives also
enthralled him.
467
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,800
And you can see their influence
everywhere
468
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,480
in Lin Fenmiang's homages
to his heroes.
469
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:09,720
He also painted Chinese versions
of the Odalisques of Matisse.
470
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:14,880
For all its modernisation,
471
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,320
China wasn't ready for Western-style
avant-garde art.
472
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,360
Fengmian's work was seen
as weird, outlandish.
473
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,680
And it was deeply unpopular.
474
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,000
Chinese politics was
so frenzied during these years
475
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,480
that the Chinese artists
were virtually,
476
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,320
and then literally, compelled
to take political sides.
477
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:44,960
A new political force had emerged
478
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,880
and was vying for power
with the Nationalists.
479
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,560
The Chinese Communist Party
had found its inspiration
480
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,560
in the Russian Revolution.
481
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:58,120
During the 1930s, the Communists
began to challenge the government.
482
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,000
That internal strife was then
overshadowed by disaster -
483
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,480
a second major war with
imperialist, expansionist Japan.
484
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,920
July 7, 1937, this bridge,
485
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:16,160
once admired by Marco Polo
for its 500 carved lions,
486
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,720
this bridge separates
Japanese garrison over there,
487
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,520
a Chinese town over there.
488
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:27,400
Silly little dispute over a missing
soldier, but then it escalates.
489
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,800
Shots are fired. It escalates again.
490
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,880
It turns into full-blown war.
491
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,160
20 million Chinese dead.
492
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,840
95 million refugees.
493
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,640
The country is rocked
to its foundations.
494
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:52,360
In 1941, the death, displacement
and atrocious suffering
495
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,360
caused by the second
Sino-Japanese War
496
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,080
roused Xu Beihong to create one of
his most enduringly famous images.
497
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:04,280
A work still much reproduced
throughout China today.
498
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,680
I met the artist's son who kindly
agreed to show it to me.
499
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,320
Merci pour...
500
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,920
Like his father,
Xu Qingping studied in France.
501
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,600
So we had one language in common.
502
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,640
TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH:
503
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:57,400
No 100 horses here, just one.
504
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,480
And it's surely significant
that, adapting his medium
505
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,040
to his patriotic Chinese message,
506
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:07,360
Xu Beihong went back to
the traditional Chinese scroll.
507
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:22,440
It's a beautiful image.
508
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:23,600
Merci, merci.
509
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,600
The Sino-Japanese conflict
fused into the global melee
510
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:30,200
of the Second World War.
511
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,440
And Japan's eventual surrender
in 1945 left China free
512
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:38,040
to resume its bloody
internal power struggle.
513
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:41,520
Four years later, in 1949,
514
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,360
the Communist Party finally
took control.
515
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:46,640
After four decades of chaos,
516
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,320
the Chinese breathed
a collective sigh of relief.
517
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:54,160
There were high hopes for their
new leader, Mao Zedong.
518
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,320
The saviour began
his radical reforms immediately.
519
00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:06,280
Although Mao claimed to despise
the imperial past,
520
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,120
he used art and architecture
521
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,400
to proclaim
the legitimacy of his rule
522
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,000
with every bit as much determination
523
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,000
as the Emperors
of China's dynastic history.
524
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,000
So this is Tiananmen Square
525
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,520
and it still perfectly reflects
Chairman Mao's idea
526
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,160
of how the new Communist state
and its powers should be expressed
527
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,880
in the form of architecture
and sculpture.
528
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:36,400
"Tiananmen" means "heavenly peace
gate". And there is the gate.
529
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:41,360
It marks the border between
this space and the Forbidden City,
530
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,560
the old arena of imperial power.
531
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,120
In fact, this used to be
part of the Forbidden City,
532
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:48,560
but Mao took it over
and made it his own.
533
00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:53,680
At one side you've got
the Hall of the People.
534
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,520
And here...
535
00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:00,360
with its great blazon
of Communist power at the top,
536
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,240
what used to be the People's
Museum of the Revolution,
537
00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:05,240
it's now the National Museum
of China.
538
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:11,400
This is the architecture
of 1950s Communist Russia.
539
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:18,040
With its rectilinear, seemingly
endlessly repeating columns,
540
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,640
its daunting scale.
541
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,400
The individual is nothing,
542
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,320
the communal is everything.
543
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,840
It's impressive.
544
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:31,880
But more than a little forbidding.
545
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,280
Mao's new state buildings
had to be huge
546
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,840
to accommodate the teeming masses
of the Chinese people.
547
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,960
But having built
this enormous stone box,
548
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,520
his next problem was
what to put in it.
549
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:03,200
Now, they call this the Hall of
Chinese Classical Modern Painting.
550
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,920
But I think
what it really represents
551
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,440
is Mao's almost frenetic attempt
552
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:14,920
to fill the void
of all that imperial history
553
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,040
he'd done away with at a stroke
554
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:21,200
and to commission new paintings
of his era, his time,
555
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,360
his party, his China.
556
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,920
There he is, Mao with his comrades,
557
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:30,600
gathered around a table
discussing the works of Karl Marx.
558
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,480
Very serious expressions
on their faces.
559
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,920
There he is, the young scholar,
with a vision,
560
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:40,400
standing on top of a mountain.
561
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:46,640
Here, planning the great victory
against the Nationalist Party,
562
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:50,600
the victory that will seal
Communist success.
563
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:52,560
See how he's represented,
564
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:56,080
in a simple room, in plain clothes,
in drab light.
565
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:02,160
This is the victory of absolutely
the opposite of ostentation,
566
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:03,920
it's the triumph of the simple.
567
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,080
This wall reaches its conclusion
with...
568
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,120
..a moment of perfect unity.
569
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:19,200
This is the moment
when the pincer movement,
570
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,600
the two forces of the Red Army, met,
571
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,800
the moment when they felt sure
572
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:29,400
they would get victory over
the enemy, the Nationalist Party.
573
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:33,720
And everybody, every single person
without exception,
574
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:37,800
has got a beaming smile
on their face.
575
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,880
Collective unity, Communism,
happiness.
576
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,800
Sadly, the reality would not
turn out to be like that.
577
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,120
Mao saw himself as
the great moderniser,
578
00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,600
a man whose mission it was
to drag China
579
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:03,040
from the feudal, imperial past
into the modern world.
580
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:05,920
He did some good.
581
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,880
Emancipating women from the harshly
patriarchal Confucianism
582
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,200
that had restrained their ambitions
for millennia.
583
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,680
And allowing peasants
to own their homeland.
584
00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:19,520
But he also did an awful lot of bad.
585
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:26,640
The great leap forward was meant
to accelerate industrial progress.
586
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:31,240
Farmers were encouraged to produce
steel in so-called back yard
furnaces
587
00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,520
instead of tending their crops.
588
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:35,120
With catastrophic results.
589
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,720
Food production plummeted.
590
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:43,560
Between 1958 and 1961,
591
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:47,680
around 30 million Chinese people
starved to death.
592
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,920
And as the country lurched into
chaos, what did the great leader do?
593
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:08,240
He did what so many
20th-century leaders have done.
594
00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:11,880
He cranked up
his propaganda machine.
595
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:18,960
Some 2.2 billion images of Mao were
created during the Communist era.
596
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,040
That's why...
597
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,560
the stalls of today's street markets
598
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,800
are full of Chairman Mao propaganda.
599
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,720
These must be among
the least rare collectable objects
600
00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:32,400
in the entire world.
601
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,720
In 1966, to galvanise
his waning support,
602
00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:44,960
Mao called on his young Red Guard
to join him in a new mission,
603
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,800
a cultural revolution.
604
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:52,360
Old scrolls, old paintings,
old porcelain,
605
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,960
anything from the imperial past
or the decadent West,
606
00:41:55,960 --> 00:42:00,400
all were condemned, their owners
liable to be tortured...
607
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,240
or worse.
608
00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:04,360
Countless millions of works of art
609
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,880
and literature
were smashed or burnt.
610
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:15,920
Nine out of ten artists
were put on trial.
611
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:19,560
Many were jailed, or
"re-educated" in the countryside.
612
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,480
Lin Fengmian was a case in point.
613
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,720
He was subjected to forced labour
and torture, despite destroying most
614
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:32,280
of the evidence of his wrongdoing,
namely his own paintings.
615
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:39,080
What we see here is almost all what
they have about him from that era.
616
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:44,160
Wow, c'est tout? C'est tout.
Terrible, huh? That is terrible.
617
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:45,520
Terrible, terrible.
618
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,160
You cannot imagine Picasso
destroying his own painting.
619
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:50,600
Or Matisse, you know, even.
It's quite amazing.
620
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:52,560
It's something
very specific about...
621
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,680
..what happened for Chinese
artists in the 20th century.
622
00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:01,720
It's truly awful that
when he was actually in, you know,
623
00:43:01,720 --> 00:43:06,400
the work camp, all they gave him
was a brush to sweep.
624
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,040
And when he was sweeping...
625
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:12,320
sweeping the leaves, or whatever
he was doing with his brush
626
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,160
to clean, he would paint pictures
in his imagination,
627
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,600
cos it was the only way he could
paint pictures. It's terrible.
628
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:23,800
But the problem we have is
destruction of the biggest part of
629
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,760
the artwork, the problem for China,
which is a problem for art historians
630
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,600
because we have to guess what
they have done before, for example.
631
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,440
Well, I'm used to that
with ancient Chinese art.
632
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:39,000
You know, there are only 73 pieces
of Ru ware left.
633
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:44,000
Archaeological, archaeology.
Archaeology of the recent past.
634
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:46,640
It reminds me
of a phrase of Andre Malraux.
635
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:48,640
"Le musee imaginaire."
636
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:51,880
A sort of terrible Chinese version
of the imaginary museum
637
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:53,960
where you have to
remake the pictures
638
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:55,680
that you've painted in the past.
639
00:43:55,680 --> 00:44:01,440
I just still can't get my mind
around the horror of that situation.
640
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:11,440
When Mao died in 1976,
the government scapegoated other
641
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,200
senior figures for the worst
of his policies,
642
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,000
preserving Mao's reputation
643
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,000
and ensuring the survival
of the Communist Party.
644
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:28,920
In 1978, the new leader,
Deng Xiaoping,
645
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:33,680
made a symbolic journey to America,
even donning a Stetson.
646
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,720
The Wild West photo opportunity
meant that China was
647
00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:38,440
open to the West once again.
648
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,360
The impact on art
and artists was immense.
649
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,760
And it can still be felt today,
for better and for worse,
650
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:56,280
here at the 798 Art Zone
in Beijing.
651
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,960
This contemporary art playground
was dreamed up in the late 1990s,
652
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:08,160
in a complex of obsolete factories,
653
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:13,040
once the epicentre of Mao's
industrialisation programme.
654
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,560
Artists set up their studios.
655
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:17,360
Galleries opened for business.
656
00:45:19,240 --> 00:45:21,120
The place is still lively
657
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:22,960
but rather commercialised.
658
00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:30,760
Much of the art on display
is eclectic,
659
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,480
often positively manic.
660
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:38,560
But while it delivers a frisson,
there's rarely a real shock.
661
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,480
But away from the 798 Art Zone's
sea of white noise,
662
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:48,520
there are a number of artists
creating work that speaks
663
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:51,600
eloquently about the predicaments
of modern China.
664
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:59,080
One of them is Xu Bing,
whose 1988 installation,
665
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:00,720
A Book From The Sky,
666
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:05,240
was created from block printed
scrolls of calligraphy.
667
00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:08,320
Ancient technique, modern twist.
668
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,240
Xu Bing's writing was gibberish,
669
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:15,760
a bitter parody of Communist
propaganda.
670
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,320
A lament for the decades
when all of China had to live
671
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:23,480
inside a world of nonsense,
672
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:26,920
the loopy proclamations
of Chairman Mao.
673
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:33,680
Xu Bing's work made such
an impact,
674
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,240
it even spawned
a range of nonsense clothing.
675
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,320
But it was criticised by the
Communist Party for expressing
676
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:44,240
unacceptable sentiments.
677
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:49,320
Shortly afterwards
came the crackdown of 1989,
678
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:53,120
the brutal suppression of protests
in Tiananmen Square.
679
00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:58,200
Since then, there's been little
room for doubt about
680
00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:00,800
the true nature
of the modern Chinese state.
681
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:04,240
It remains what it's been
for thousands of years -
682
00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:06,400
a highly centralised machine
683
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,520
for controlling untold
millions of people.
684
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:17,120
The soldiers marching in Tiananmen
Square today are just the modern
685
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:21,200
flesh and blood versions of the
first emperor's terracotta soldiers.
686
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:31,720
Artists can still get in trouble
if they overstep the mark.
687
00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:36,280
Ai Weiwei, and all that. But most
are left to get on with their work.
688
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:42,560
Xu Bing's still working
in a hybrid of oriental
689
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,560
and western styles, looking back
to the art of China's past,
690
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:49,440
even as he addresses
the issues of the present.
691
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:56,200
His new work is the Tobacco
Project, a sardonic reflection on
692
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,680
global capitalism and
China's new cult of money.
693
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:13,760
Bing.
694
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,280
Hey. Hey.
695
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:19,480
I've never seen
so many cigarettes in one place.
696
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,400
What does it symbolise to you,
or what does it say to you?
697
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:15,080
You seem to be implying that there's
something not entirely healthy
698
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:18,000
about all this, that it might be
bad for our health.
699
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:19,160
THEY LAUGH
700
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:20,360
Yeah, yeah!
701
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,880
The Tobacco Project strikes me
as a very traditional Chinese
702
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:29,960
work of art, in sentiment
if not appearance.
703
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:35,720
After all, what could be more
Chinese than worrying about
materialism?
704
00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:38,640
Chinese thinkers
have been worrying about that
705
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:40,240
for more than 2,000 years.
706
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,320
And the tiger economy
is hardly new.
707
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:50,040
Capitalism's not a Western import,
but a Chinese invention.
708
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,320
Visit the financial
heart of Shanghai,
709
00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:59,000
gaze up at its towering monuments
to getting and spending,
710
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:00,800
and what do you see?
711
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:02,840
A bold new skyline, yes.
712
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:07,760
But expressing an ancient
Chinese impulse to make money.
713
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:10,160
Modern Shanghai
is just another version
714
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,120
of Emperor Huizong's
city of Kaifeng
715
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,840
immortalised in the Qingming Scroll
716
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:19,720
where paper money changed hands
back in the 11th century.
717
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:25,120
It's just another version
of Emperor Qianlong's
718
00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,960
prosperous Suzhou,
with its 260 shops.
719
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:37,040
Perhaps someone should paint
a scroll of modern Shanghai.
720
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,080
There is, of course,
a flip side to all this wealth,
721
00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:50,400
this economic miracle,
this new modern China.
722
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:55,160
Yu Hong was born during
the Cultural Revolution and trained
723
00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:59,200
in Western-style oil painting
at Beijing's Academy of Fine Arts.
724
00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:04,200
Reacting against the hollow
cheer of the Communist propaganda
725
00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:07,920
paintings she grew up with, her new
works focus on those who've been
726
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:11,240
psychically disturbed
by China's gold rush.
727
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:17,000
A lot of your work seems
to be about...
728
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,240
the state of anxiety,
particularly among young people.
729
00:51:20,240 --> 00:51:22,200
What do you think will
happen in China?
730
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,080
What do you think the future holds?
731
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:28,000
You can see in the newspapers,
it is a change every day.
732
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:31,160
Many people move
from the countryside to the city.
733
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:36,680
Apartments are very expensive.
The living costs are very expensive.
734
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:41,720
And the people everyday want
to earn money. It's a pressure.
735
00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:44,960
So I have painted this series.
736
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:49,080
So, it's about the pressures
faced by young people? Yes.
737
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:50,680
About the problem of depression
738
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,840
or melancholy in contemporary China?
Yes, yes.
739
00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:57,600
This is my close friend.
She's a writer.
740
00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:01,160
She had tried suicide two times.
741
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:03,920
Oh, dear.
And she had burned her face. Oh, no.
742
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,840
That's why she wears the glasses.
Dear, dear.
743
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:12,360
When I interviewed her, she said
that when she feels depressed,
744
00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:15,560
she always has a feeling
she was in a hole.
745
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:18,720
Nobody knows that she was there,
nobody can help her.
746
00:52:18,720 --> 00:52:21,600
So I want to paint the...
747
00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:24,240
the deep pond
as something like a hole.
748
00:52:24,240 --> 00:52:25,720
She is in the middle.
749
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:33,960
Who's this here?
He is one of my students.
750
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,400
He's a performance artist.
751
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,480
And he makes performance art
with drawers?
752
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:44,920
The drawers are something like
box of memory.
753
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:46,840
Box of memory? Yes.
754
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:51,000
So, it's another kind of feeling.
Maybe he wants to protect himself.
755
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:55,480
Maybe he wants to separate
from the other part of the world.
756
00:52:55,480 --> 00:53:00,840
He wants to hide... Yes. ..in this
sort of cabinet of memory? Mh-hm.
757
00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,280
Yu Hong's works hark back
to Xu Beihong's
758
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,880
Beaux Arts history paintings
of the 1920s
759
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:14,480
but the melancholy she describes
has still older roots.
760
00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:17,800
China's spent much of the last
300 years lurching from
761
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,160
one disaster to another,
762
00:53:20,160 --> 00:53:23,520
from military crisis,
to crisis of identity.
763
00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:29,080
Yet, perhaps because China's
past IS so full of loss,
764
00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:33,440
and its future so uncertain,
many artists seem passionate
765
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,560
to preserve their Chinese
sense of identity.
766
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:47,800
Bingyi is one of many who keep up
the venerable elegant gathering
767
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,760
where artists join
to practise calligraphy,
768
00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:52,440
and brush and ink painting.
769
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:58,120
For her, it's spiritual
nourishment, reviving old skills
770
00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:00,800
'and subtleties of perception,
771
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,400
'just as the literati painters
did in the 12th century
772
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:07,760
'when they fled the Mongols
to create an art of disaffection.'
773
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:14,440
Bingyi and her friends
see themselves as custodians
774
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:16,520
of their culture,
775
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:19,720
an idea foreign to most
contemporary artists in the West.
776
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:31,240
In the deconsecrated Taoist Temple
that's her Beijing studio,
777
00:54:31,240 --> 00:54:35,160
Bingyi's created a no-man's land
between past and present.
778
00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:41,760
Her latest piece is a traditional
scroll smoked by abstract forms that
779
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:45,880
evoke destruction and the beauty
that can emerge from it.
780
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:51,160
So, it's called
the Shape Of The Wind. Yes.
781
00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:55,200
So, I'm meant to follow it with my
eye. I am the wind.
782
00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:56,760
How did you create it?
783
00:54:56,760 --> 00:54:59,640
It looks to me like you threw it
or you poured it.
784
00:54:59,640 --> 00:55:03,360
It's got quite an action painting
feel about it. Absolutely.
785
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:07,520
First of all,
you burn paper to paint this.
786
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:12,200
So it's an image made on a scroll
of paper created from another
787
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:16,440
burnt scroll of paper?
That's right. Ah! So, it's ashes?
788
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,760
Yes, it's ashes. So, what do you do?
You mix the ashes with water?
789
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:22,600
And ink. And ink! Yes, and ink.
790
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:25,960
So, there is a traditional
calligraphy scroll Chinese element,
791
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:29,640
so to speak, lurking within it? Yes.
Originally,
792
00:55:29,640 --> 00:55:33,920
this piece was going to be shown
in the National Cathedral in Berlin.
793
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:37,200
That cathedral went through
a fire during the war.
794
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:42,200
So we decided to use fire
as a thematic choice.
795
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:46,560
Much of the creation of the world,
especially of the recent centuries,
796
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:50,720
was done through destruction,
or through catastrophe.
797
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:54,920
And this is precisely about that.
A little bit like China.
798
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:58,200
It's just China.
It's just China.
799
00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:03,800
It's the allegorical expression
of what we know, or what I know
800
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:07,920
of a certain time, perhaps
the perpetual time of this country.
801
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:10,240
It's interesting you say
that because I've been
802
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:13,520
reflecting on Chinese history
while I've been here.
803
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:14,720
And, on the one hand,
804
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:18,440
you have people who are constantly
emphasising the unbroken continuity
805
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:21,640
of Chinese civilisation,
and I was thinking, "Hang on!"
806
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:23,520
The history of China is full of
807
00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:26,280
vast, cataclysmic moments
of destruction.
808
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:27,720
It's one of the reasons why
809
00:56:27,720 --> 00:56:30,160
there are so few historical
buildings left.
810
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:34,240
It's very hard to find a capsule
of the past that is intact in China
811
00:56:34,240 --> 00:56:37,880
because it's been repeatedly
swept away. That's true.
812
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:41,040
We've taken away so much, so fast...
813
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:46,080
..that we don't even remember
what we had before.
814
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:51,520
Nonetheless, we can't just
lament the loss of that.
815
00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:56,560
We have to come to terms with that
by realising such powers
816
00:56:56,560 --> 00:56:59,120
bear all kinds of results.
817
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:03,880
It turned us
into the possibility we are today.
818
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:11,240
China is an example
of such radicalism at work.
819
00:57:11,240 --> 00:57:15,240
It's bubbly, it's expressive,
it's alive.
820
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:20,240
If there's one moral to be drawn
821
00:57:20,240 --> 00:57:23,440
from the last 4,000 years
of Chinese history,
822
00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:26,240
it's that no matter how appalling
the catastrophes
823
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:30,320
that befall the Chinese people,
they always find a way to recover.
824
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:38,960
A long time ago,
the sage Laozi wrote,
825
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:42,520
"Water is fluid,
soft and yielding.
826
00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:47,840
"But water will wear away rock
which is rigid and cannot yield.
827
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:50,200
"What is soft is strong."
828
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:01,240
Despite these cycles of destruction
and obliteration,
829
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:04,920
the creativity of China's
artists has never been stemmed
830
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:07,320
and still continues to flow,
831
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:10,200
adding to the great scroll
of Chinese art.
832
00:58:15,520 --> 00:58:19,560
But how could it be otherwise in
a society so enchanted by images
833
00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:22,720
that even its language is
a form of picture making?
69817
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