Abstract
This Chapter discusses Zhang Yimou’s series of live, light-and-sound spectacles which have been performed to large audiences across China. It explores their stylistic features and socio-cultural significance. Performed by the side of “mountains and/or waters”, these shows conform to Chinese landscape art theory and can thus provide a wide-ranging introduction to traditional Chinese aesthetics. In particular, the chapter considers the director’s attempt to integrate the classic artistic concept of yijing (meaning “poetic state”) with modern technology in order to tell Chinese stories in a way that can appeal to both domestic and international audiences.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baranovitch, N. (2001). Between alterity and identity: New voices of minority people in China. Modern China, 27(3), 359–401.
Benn, J. A. (2015). Tea in China: A religious and cultural history. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Brown, M. (Ed.). (1996). Negotiating ethnicities in China and Taiwan. Berkley: University of California.
Cahill, J. (1996). The lyric journey: Poetic painting in China and Japan. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press.
Chan, T. W. K. (2002). Dedication and identification in Wang Bo’s compositions on the gallery of Prince Teng. Monumenta Serica, 50, 215–255.
Chan, F. (2007). In search of a comparative poetics: Cultural translatability in transnational Chinese cinemas, unpublished PhD thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham. Retrieved August 17, 2016, from http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10386/1/Chan_PhD2007.pdf.
Clark, P. (1987). Ethnic minorities in Chinese films: Cinema and the exotic. East–West Film Journal, 1(2), 15–31.
Dyer, R. (2002). Only entertainment. London: Routledge.
Frankel, H. H. (1957). Poetry and painting: Chinese and Western views of their convertibility. Comparative Literature, 9(4), 289–307.
Giesen, R. (2015). Chinese animation: A history and filmography, 1922–2012. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.
Gladney, D. C. (1994). Representing nationality in China: Refiguring majority/minority identities. The Journal of Asian Studies, 53(1), 92–123.
Han, K. H. (1978). The Chinese concept of program music. Asian Music, 10(1), 17–38.
Hay, J. (1972). Along the river during winter’s first snow: A tenth-century handscroll and early Chinese narrative. The Burlington Magazine, 114(830), 294–303.
Hillman, B. (2010). Paradise under construction: Minorities, myths and modernity in Northwest Yunnan. Asian Ethnicity, 4(2), 175–188.
Huang, S. 黄式宪 and Li, E. 李尔葳. (2000). “Using ‘small’ to confront ‘big’ and sustaining a piece of pure land: An Interview with Zhang Yimou” [[以小博大: 坚守一方净土——张艺谋访谈录]. Film Art [电影艺术], 1, 36–43.
Jameson, F. (1998). Notes on globalization as a philosophical issue. In Fredric Jameson & Masao Miyoshi (Eds.), The cultures of globalization (pp. 54–77). Durham: Duke University Press.
Kracauer, S. (1995). The Mass Ornament: Weimar essays. Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press.
Li, E. 李尔葳. (1998). What Zhang Yimou has said [张艺谋说]. Shengyang: Chunfeng wenyi chubanshe.
Li, E. 李尔葳. (2003). The filmic world of Zhang Yimou [张艺谋的电影世界]. Taibei: Qingbao wenhua.
Li, Z. 李哲厚. (1983). A preliminary inquiry into yijing [意境浅谈]. In Y. Kefu (Ed.), Selected essays on poetic remarks in the human world: Research materials on Wang Guowei [《人间词话》及评论汇编:王国维研究资料], 姚柯夫, (pp. 167–178). Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe.
Lin, N. (1985). A study of the theories of Chinese cinema in their relationship to classical aesthetics. Modern Chinese Literature, 1(2), 185–200.
Loh, W. F. (1984). From romantic love to class struggle: Reflections on the film Liu Sanjie. In B. S. McDougall (Ed.), Popular Chinese literature and performing arts in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1979 (pp. 165–176). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Miao, Y. (1980). The Chinese lyric, (trans. M. John). In C. S. Soong (Ed.), Song without music: Chinese Tz’u poetry (25–44). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Nelson, S. E. (2001). Revisiting the eastern fence: Tao Qian’s chrysanthemums. The Art Bulletin, 83(3), 437–460.
Ni, Z. (1994). Classic Chinese painting and cinematographic signification. In L. C. Ehrlich & D. Desser (Eds.), Cinematic landscape: Observations on the visual arts and cinema of China and Japan (pp. 63–80). Austin: University of Texas Press.
Pannam, C. (2009). Music from a jade flute: The ci poems of Li Qingzhao. Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers.
Rayns, T. (1991). Breakthroughs and setbacks: The origin of the Chinese cinema. In Chris Berry (Ed.), Perspectives on Chinese cinema (pp. 104–110). London: BFI.
Richter, L. K. (1983). Political implications of Chinese tourism policy. Annals of Tourism Research, 10, 395–413.
Rickett, A. A. (1977). Wang Huo-wei’s Jen-Chien Tzu-Hua: A study in Chinese literary criticism. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Rowley, G. (1947). Principles of Chinese painting. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Soong, S. C. (Ed.). (1980). Song without music: Chinese Tz’u poetry. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Wang, G. 王国维. (1997). Collected works of Wang Guowei, Vol. 1 [王国维文集, 第一卷]. Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe.
Wang, K. (2002). Wang Guowei: Philosophy of aesthetic criticism. In C.Chung-Ying & B.Nicholas (Eds.) Contemporary Chinese philosophy (pp. 37–56). Oxford, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Wang, L. 王玲. (1997). Tea culture in China [中国茶文化]. Beijing: Zhongguo shudian.
Wong, W. L. (1980). ‘The river at dusk is saddening me’: Cheng Ch’ou Yü and Tz’u poetry. In S. C. Soong (Ed.) Song without music: Chinese Tz’u poetry (pp. 265–279). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Xu, G. G. (2006). Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese cinema. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher.
Yang, X., & Yang, G. (1984). Poetry and prose of the Tang and Song. Beijing: Panda Book.
Ye, L. 叶朗. (1998). “On yijing” [说意境], Literature and Art Study [文艺研究], 1, 16–21.
Zhang, B. 张本楠. (1992). A study of Wang Guowei’s aesthetic thought [王国维美学思想研究]. Taibei: Wenjin chubanshe.
Zhang, M. 张明. (2004). Dialogues with Zhang Yimou [与张艺谋对话]. Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe.
Zhang, Y. 张艺谋, & Xiao, F. 肖风. (1994). Cinematography notes on One and Eight [影片《一个和八个》摄影阐述]. In On Y. Zhang [论张艺谋] (Ed.), China Film Art Editorial Board (中国电影艺术编辑室) (pp. 92–99). Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe.
Zhu, G. 朱光潜. (1983). On implicit and explicit state of poetry [诗的隐与显]. In K. Yao 姚柯夫 (Ed.), Selected essays on poetic remarks in the human world: Research materials on Wang Guowei [《人间词话》及评论汇编:王国维研究资料)] (pp. 85–92). Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe.
Zhu, Y. (2015). When the global meet the local in tourism—Cultural performances in Lijiang as case studies. In H. Xiao & M. Li (Eds.), China tourism: Cross-cultural studies (pp. 78–95). London: Routledge.
Zong, B. 宗白华. (2009). Aesthetics and Yijing [美学与意境]. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhou, X. (2017). Staging China: The Art of Yijing . In: Globalization and Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4328-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4328-4_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4327-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4328-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)