China's Top Arts 中國頂級藝術

Top Masterpieces: 8. Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" 8. 頂級名畫: 宋代張擇端《清明上河圖》

*Click on the painting to enlarge 點擊畫面放大

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"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is a hand scroll by the Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan and was copied many times in the following centuries. It shows the daily life and landscape of the people in Bianliang (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The work is generally considered to celebrate the festive atmosphere and secular hustle and bustle of Tomb Sweeping Day. It adopts a scattered perspective composition to show the lifestyle of people at all levels of society, from rich to poor, as well as rural and urban economic activities in consecutive scenes. , and provides a glimpse into period clothing and architecture. The painting is considered the most famous of all Chinese paintings.

"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is famous for its precise depiction of various scenery forms. Later generations of artists produced hundreds of reproductions, duplicates and even forgeries, each following the overall composition and themes of the original work but varying in detail and technique. The original Song dynasty work was preserved by private collectors for centuries until it was eventually returned to public ownership. The painting was a particular favorite of Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who took it with him when he was forced to leave the Forbidden City in 1924. The painting was recovered in 1945 and preserved in the Palace Museum. The Song Dynasty original and later versions have been considered national treasures and are only exhibited for brief periods every few years.

The original "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is 25.5 centimeters high and 5.25 meters long[5]. There are 814 figures, 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 buildings, 20 vehicles, 8 sedans and 170 trees in the painting.

The scroll uses a combination of generous brushstrokes and fine carving techniques. It is rigorous in structure, complex but not chaotic, and long but not redundant. It is roughly divided into left and right parts, mainly divided into rural areas and densely populated cities, and the meandering rivers throughout the painting. To the right is the rural area of ​​the city, with farmland and unhurried rural residents including farmers, shepherds and pig keepers in a peaceful and pleasant rural landscape. Starting from a country path, it gradually widens and connects to the road in the town. The left half of the picture depicts daily life in the city, specifically depicting the prosperous market economy operations of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as docks, merchants, government, etc., as well as various aspects of life in all walks of life. , including cart vendors, acrobats, theater troupes, beggars, monks, fortune tellers, doctors, inns, private schools, mills, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, Confucian scholars, etc. The attention to detail has a great influence on later generations' research on the social structure of the Song Dynasty. The Bianhe River that runs through the entire volume was the north-south transportation hub at that time and was of great importance to Bianjing. In the era when land transportation was underdeveloped, the city's material supply relied entirely on the Bianhe River. Ships shuttled around and coolies carrying goods can be seen everywhere in the painting, highlighting the irreplaceable status of the Bianhe River in the Song Dynasty.

After passing the fire watchtower on the left end of the screen, there are various businesses, including the sale of wine, grain, second-hand goods, cooking utensils, bows and arrows, lanterns, musical instruments, gold and silver jewelry, dyed cloth, paintings, medicines, needlework and handicrafts. There are also many restaurants, restaurants, grain markets, second-hand shops, kitchenware shops, weapons shops, lantern shops, musical instrument shops, banks, cloth shops, galleries, pharmacies, restaurants, and all kinds of vendors stretch along a long bridge. , known as Hongqiao or Shangtu Bridge.

The main focus of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is the crowd on the bridge. A sailboat on the right side of Hongqiao was about to hit the bridge because it had no time to retract its mast. Therefore, you can see the crowd on the bridge watching and the sailors on the ship busy. In addition to shops and restaurants, the paintings also depict a variety of inns, temples, private residences, and official buildings of varying styles and grandeur, from cottages to mansions with spacious front and back yards. People and goods were transported by various means: wheeled carriages, draft animals (especially large numbers of donkeys and mules), palanquins, and carriages. The river was crowded with fishing boats and passenger ferries, and people along the river banks were pulling larger boats.

These details are supported by Song dynasty documents, especially Tokyo Menghualu, which describes many of the same features of life in the capital city of Bianliang.