• I did not know the incense storing temple,
• I walked a few miles into the clouded peaks.
• No man on the path between the ancient trees,
• A bell rang somewhere deep among the hills.
• A spring sounded choked, running down steep rocks,
• The green pines chilled the sunlight's coloured rays.
• Come dusk, at the bend of a deserted pool,
• Through meditation I controlled passion's dragon.

Stopping at Incense Storing Temple, Wang Wei (699-759)
posted by lemuring on Dec 17, 2012 - 13 comments

Mike McHenry has posted several photo pages of the Chinese firecracker and firework labels he's been collecting since 1968.
posted by gman on Jul 5, 2012 - 28 comments

[Michelangelo Antonioni's Chung Kuo] as a documentary film was one which was draped with fascination for both filmmakers as well as an audience, rather than championing anti-whatever sentiments from either side of the world. Not having seen many movies, either features, shorts or documentaries made during the Cultural Revolution era or about that era in question (propaganda included), I think this Antonioni film has more than made its mark as a definitive documentary that anyone curious about the life of the time, would find it a gem to sit through.
posted by Trurl on Jul 11, 2011 - 3 comments

A glistening chunk of pork! [more inside]
posted by mrducts on Nov 17, 2009 - 30 comments

Zhang Peng’s elaborate photographs have been called both "beautiful" and "disgusting". You can see some of them here and here.
posted by chiraena on Mar 22, 2009 - 39 comments

The Great Chinese Art Revolution is a documentary exploring how Chinese art has become a sought-after commodity on the international market. Suppressed and co-opted by Mao, art in China was, for a long time, a subversive expression of discontent, starting with the Star(s) Group in 1979 and continuing with the "cynical realism" of the exiled artists of the 90s. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Jan 6, 2009 - 5 comments

The Portraits of 42 American Presidents from Washington to Bush on a half inch strand of Black human hair is merely one of the World Art Miracles you'll find at worldartmiracle.com, the homepage of one Jin Y.H., micro artist. The site is also noticeable for some delicious Engrish phrases, such as "The length does not arrive the half-inch" and "The microscope descends to take the work."
posted by jonson on Nov 14, 2006 - 20 comments

The Wonderfully Absurd Temple. [Via MoFi]
posted by homunculus on Dec 5, 2004 - 2 comments

China Avant-Garde is a wonderful site for exploring Chinese post Cultural Revolution art, with excellent accompanying texts. Browse the featured artists and see an Exhibition from a Private Collection. Also, Inside Out: New Chinese Art is a beautiful site focusing on this recent "explosion of diverse work that is simultaneously exhilarating and bewildering", and you will find more great examples at Chinese Contemporary (click on the artist's name for information and all thumbnails for that artist), plus marvelous Chinese avant-garde posters at Rene Wanner's poster pages and Who's Who in Chinese Posters, and at the Hochschule der Kuenste, Berlin (view works here).
posted by taz on Jan 19, 2004 - 2 comments

Masterpieces of 20th-Century Chinese Painting, and more at Civilization.
posted by hama7 on Nov 13, 2003 - 6 comments

Chinese Pop Posters. More :- Guangzhou's racing track, patrolling despair, Cuba, under New York, Bombay bazaar, and Chinese rural architecture. All from the excellent Atlas magazine - more here.
posted by plep on Jul 21, 2003 - 10 comments

Tales from the Land of Dragons. 100 years of Chinese paintings. From the overview :- 'In China, painting is one of the "Three Perfections," linked with calligraphy and poetry as the most refined of artistic endeavors. This exhibition ... focuses on the years in which the great traditions of Chinese painting were established, during the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties ... '
posted by plep on Nov 3, 2002 - 10 comments