Ai Weiwei is known to be a rebellious conceptual artist. He certainly has oppositional political views and refuses to conform to Chinese government pressures. He is against government and corporate structures that undermine the freedom and integrity of cultural life.
His artwork, ‘Forever’ – 2003, is a circular construction in which an object that is very common and apart of the everyday life in china, the bicycle, has been used as a building material, a large number of them being joined together in a visually interesting way. At first you would believe this artwork to be a fun and playful installation, however Ai Weiwei believed that “By transforming an 'iconic object of Chinese life into a cog in a giant geometric structure, pointedly abstracting
Ai WeiWei studied at the Beijing Film Academy. He was also part of the first generation to study abroad as part of China's Reform and Opening Up Policy. He came to New York in 1983 and photographed protests so he could be apart of democracy. In 1993, his dad was sick so he returned to China. Once there, Ai Weiwei went to antique stores so he could see and feel the past. Once back in China, he decided that he was going to protest because he knew what freedom and democracy was like and never wants to go back. This inspired him to beginning protesting and hoping he can help make China a better place.
In late 2002 the Oscar nominated Chinese Wuxia film ‘Hero’ directed by Yimou Zhang hit cinemas all over China before spreading internationally over the next few years. Yimou Zhang presented this tale that presents the legendary reign of the Qin Emperor and a nameless hero played by Jet Li tasked to assassinate the emperor. Zhang is known for creating films that present the rich Chinese history. This film is no exception. The film presents the culture of China during the Qin Dynasty through many different components. The costume, setting and music present the time period perfectly. Yimou also uses colour as symbolism in the film to present major plot points. As well as symbolising a part of a scene, for instance pink for love during the sex scene and red later on as death. As shown throughout the film, two of the characters Broken Sword and Flying Snow are both dressed in red hanfu robes which are a rich component in the progression of
Have you ever faced a life changing experience that not only affected you, but also the society around you? Life changing experiences are turning points where someone's life changes “direction.” Some people who have been in major life changing experiences are, Melba Beals who wrote Warriors don’t cry, Jackie Robinson who wrote, I Never Had it Made and Feng Ru starring in the article “Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maskel. Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson and Feng Ru all faced life changing experiences that not only impacted their lives, but also their countries.
Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor, was a proactive and ambitious emperor who implemented a central bureaucratic system that oversaw the evolution and unification of China at the cost of public sentiment. The Qin Dynasty is considered among the most influential dynasties as it laid the foundation for the massive cultural and economic development of China that took place during the Han Dynasty, but it also failed to achieve many of its pro-commoner ideological goals. In fact, socioeconomic disparity was not alleviated and despite the notion of enriching the lives of the common people, it was under Qin rule in which public resentment of the authoritarian government peaked as there were countless peasant revolts against the iron-handed bureaucratic rule of China. Because a paranoid emperor alone wielded political clout and influence, the tumultuous few years of Qin reign was rife with paranoia and suspicion among the masses. Although the Qin Dynasty is seldom thought as possessing the same glaring discrepancy between ideology and state that the Communist regime in post-World War II China had despite the similarities, the failure of the flawless egalitarian state models in socioeconomic and political aspects during the Qin Dynasty mirrored the developments in early Communist China.
Tao Te Ching Helps Us to Rethink the World, the Governance and the Meaning of Power
Among Zhang Yimou’s characters, we see many people who are subject to constraints on their free will and actions because they are either part of the Communist party or deemed to be
Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor, was an ambitious emperor who implemented a central bureaucratic system that oversaw the evolution and unification of China at the cost of public sentiment. The Qin Dynasty is considered to be among the most influential dynasties as it laid the foundation for the massive cultural and economic development of China that took place during the Han Dynasty, but it also failed to achieve many of its pro-commoner ideological goals. In fact, socioeconomic disparity was not alleviated and despite the notion of enriching the lives of the common people, it was under Qin rule in which public resentment of the authoritarian government peaked as there were countless peasant revolts against the iron-handed bureaucratic rule of the Qin. Because a paranoid emperor alone wielded political clout and influence, the tumultuous few years of Qin reign was rife with paranoia and suspicion among the masses. Although the Qin Dynasty is seldom thought to possess the same glaring discrepancy between ideology and state that the Communist regime in post-World War II China had, the failure of the flawless egalitarian state models in socioeconomic and political aspects during the Qin Dynasty mirrored the developments in early Communist China.
People disagree often when it comes to politics. We are all entitled to our own opinions. Some of us choose to voice our opinions, while others keep their opinions to themselves. The relationship between Zhu Yanda (Zhu) and Gao in “The Man from a Peddler’s family,” shows a very typical disagreement on politics.
“The mind changes, the word changes, time doesn't stay still, history is a verb, it is ongoing, there is no past tense, future tense, history is constant” Hung Liu told interviewer Rachelle Riechart (Riechart). Hung Liu is a Chinese woman who was born in Changchun, China in 1948. She was born during the age which we call the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which heavily impacted her life. She lived in China for 36 years and then left for the United States. She now resides in Oakland, CA, where she teaches art at Mills College (“A World of Art”). A lot of her artwork is based on photographs and memories she has from China and photographs she’s taken in the United
Mel Chin is a local Contemporary artist from Houston, Texas. He was born in 1951 and was the of his family to be born in the U.S. Mel Chin studied at Peabody College in Nashville, TN, graduating in 1975. Even at a young age Mel Chin had an interest in art. His parents owned a grocery store where Chin would make portraits out of ground meat. Even his high school English teacher Shirley Wiley could see the artistic potential within Chin. “Supplied with a special electricity from the Primal Source, M.Chin hums quietly along without the usual electrical short-circuit, for he is calm, pleasant, gentle, and exploited by us all, including me”, said Chin’s English teacher Shirley Wiley. He drew cartoons for the school paper and put a touch of his artistic skill on school projects. Chin has been active the contemporary art world from the late 1970’s to the present. Mel Chin has received numerous awards and grants for his works since early in this career. One of his earlier achievements was the Visual Arts Commission for the Houston Festival in 1982. Chin works with various mediums ranging from earthworks to sculptors and more. The ideas for Chin’s work usually come from social, political, and environmental issues. Mel Chin can be described as an artist that is difficult to categorize.
Klayman show a interesting relationship between Ai and his son in the film, “AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY” describe Ai’s creation and show his political critical work, In Ai’s work, we can think about the background of the work. One of the political criticizing of creative subject is schools collapsed because of "tofu dreg construction" which cause thousands students deaths.
Sayre the author says, “The Buddha is the most extensive collection of large-scale sculptures in the world and can be found an hour north of New York City in the lower Hudson Valley at Storm King Art Center (“A World of Art”). Zhang seems to like the traditional aspects of chinses culture, because he re-used an ash material form other artists, to create his own sculpture. The techniques he used to create the sculpture is casting, assemblage, and construction. Without using these three additive techniques of sculpting, the artwork wouldn’t have been fragile, and not overwhelming in size. The subject of the “three Legged-Buddha” is another conflict with the governmental rules and regulations, and it has drawn a lot of attention due to its strong message that it conveys. When I initially examined the art piece for the first time, it looked like a huge dismantled, three legged human figure. I thought it was a symbol for keeping your body in better shape over your mind. The most amazing part of the sculpture is how extremely large it is compared to the electrocution sculpture. After reading and interpreting the sculpture it struck me that it was made for ceremonial gathering, where incense placed and burned from inside of the sculpture, and pours out of the head. I think that the artist was trying to involve the visitors in his sculpture. Since Zhang Huan
Wang remains level-headed and alert in all scenes but other characters subscribe to ideals too strongly and pay the price, all stemming from the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. Liu highlights the dangers of subscribing and holding on to an idea too tightly, resulting in a lapse of judgment and definitive consequences.
Through comparing different translations of the same texts one can get an idea of the meanings for the Chinese words used by Chuang Tzu in his work. In comparison to the English language the difference in the translations of the text gives the impression that the Chinese words used are much broader terms and must be simplified before we can describe them in English. This paper will assess the second section of the Chuang Tzu, specifically Discussion on making all things equal translated by Burton Watson.[1]
This essay will compare two artists from different countries, one is a Russian artist called Wassily Kandinsky and the other one is Guan Zhong Wu, he comes from China which is my own country. The two artists lived in different cultural backgrounds during the same period, so they had significant similarities and differences. First, this essay will compare the similar artistic spirit between the two artists. Second, this essay will examine the different drawing tools that the two artists used for their paintings. Third, this essay will discussion the two artists using the similar “point and line to plane” (Kandinsky 1979:1) to paint different style pictures. Finally, this essay will analyses the influences of European and oriental culture on