Up the River of Time

The Chinese Painting Tradition of 'Qingming Shanghe'
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-674-30261-7
Verlag: Harvard University Press

Buch, Englisch, 436 Seiten, Format (B × H): 216 mm x 279 mm

Reihe: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series

Qingming shanghe (Up the River during Qingming), dubbed China’s Mona Lisa, is a painting whose primordial version is attributed to Zhang Zeduan, a painter who lived during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). It is so revered that to this day there exist more than one hundred handscroll paintings with this title, including the original and later versions produced during the late Ming through the High Qing. Up the River of Time is the first study in any language to treat the entire cultural constellation of Qingming shanghe as a painting tradition. Cheng-hua Wang investigates how the original Northern Song version—deemed a classic in art-historical research—and its later iterations shaped the norms of painting, triggered cultural associations, fostered the genre of cityscapes, and redefined the meanings of “reproduction” and “forgery.” By studying the thematic links between the painting’s various versions and tracing their development over several centuries, Wang leads us to revisit China’s painting history. Such a focus that pivots toward broad considerations of thematic and cultural significance prompts a reassessment of what defines artistic value. Over time, Qingming shanghe catalyzed a new artistic culture in China.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wang, Cheng-Hua

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunststile Asiatische Kunst
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunsttechniken & Prinzipien
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstformen, Kunsthandwerk Malerei: Gemälde

Über Autor(innen)

Wang, Cheng-Hua
Cheng-hua Wang is an Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University.