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| 1.Rainbow Bridge
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Rainbow Bridge was a wooden structure crossing the Bien River. There
were many shops and vendors running businesses during the busy hours
while carriages, horses and pedestrians intertwined on the bridge. In
this academic version from the Ch'ing Dynasty, this arch bridge was
made by stones. Shoppers were dealing with salesmen zealously, just
like you might see in a shopping mall in our own time.
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| 2. Portaging
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A single-masted boat about to pass under the bridge was not able to
hoist its sail, to move this heavily loaded boat, sailors barged their
poles hard, and some dozens of men on the bank helped pull the boat
with ropes. To prevent the boat from crashing into the bridge and
sinking, some people worked around the bridge piers taking poles and
soft bumpers ready to prevent accidents.
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| 3. Golden Orchid Tavern
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A tavern by the Bien River bears inscriptions on its plaque with the
words "Golden Orchid Tavern: feasts for all flavors in China". The
four oblique cylinders with tassels hung over the plaque were composed
of wooden frames and colored papers. Such decoration was commonly seen
in front of restaurants in old times. Even after the establishment of
the republic, noodle stores in Beijing still maintained these sorts of
decorations.
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| 4. Phoenix Pavilion
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"Phoenix Pavilion" is one of the most well-known traditional Chinese
plays, it is a revision of an episode from the "The Romance of Three
Kingdoms". It tells the tangled relationship between beauty Diozhang
and politicians Lubu and Dongtzou. When Dongtzou was about to usurp
the throne, Situwangyun set him against Lubu by promising marrying
Diozhang, who was engaged to Lubu, to Dongtzou as concubine. The
lovers torn apart met each other one day at the Phoenix Pavilion and
were caught by Dongtzou who was on his way to the court. With great
rage, Dongtzou stabbed Lubu with a halberd. The jealousy between the
two men was never resolved, and finally, Situwangyun successfully
persuaded Lubu to get rid of Dongtzou.
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| 5. Grain Shipping on Bien River
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Bien River, also called Bien Canal or Tung-Chi Canal, was built in 605
B.C. (The first year of the Da-Yeh Reign in the Sui Dynasty). It
connected Yellow River and Huai River, playing a crucial role in water
transportation in China. Establishing its capital in Dongjing(now
Kai-Fong), the regime of the Song Dynasty relied on this canal to
distribute food to the public and provisions to soldiers, to pay
officials assigned all over the country as well as to gather goods for
the consumption of the Royal family and its courtiers throughout their
domain. The endless flows of cargos and passenger ships on Bien River
indicated the prosperity of water shipping at that time that supported
one of the most flourishing eras in Chinese history.
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| 6. Willow Shooting
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Willow Shooting, or Willow Cutting, was an archery competition common
in northern Chinese culture. It was a ritual, a military affair, a
game and a custom. Willow shooting was especially popular in the Liao
and Jin Reigns and usually was held during the Dragon Boat Festival
and Ching-Ming Festival. Archers who can hit willow branches and cut
them are the winners. In the Ming Dynasty, a new way of competition
was developed. A pigeon locked in a calabash was hung on a willow
tree, when it was hit by arrow, the calabash would break up and the
pigeon would fly away. Whoever's pigeon flew highest would be the
winner. Until the Kuan-Hsu Reign of the Ch'ing Dynasty, this game was
still a popular activity in the military.
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| 7. Rope Walking
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Rope walking is a skill requiring a fine sense of balance in the
performer. Such performance could be traced back to the Han Dynasty
and had been maintained into recent centuries. It was popular in the
Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties. In this painting, the female rope walker
with bound feet takes a long stick to balance herself. Looking at her
move forward cautiously, the watchers are tense as well as excited.
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| 8. Bag-Puppet Show
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The single-man bag-puppet show was popular in the Ming and Ch'ing
Dynasties. It was called Guo-Li-Tze or Kui-Lei-Tze in He-Bei Province,
the Curtained Show in Fu-Chien and Je-Xiang Provinces, and
Shoulder-Yoke Theater in An-Hui Province. The performer usually
carried his stage equipment with a shoulder yoke and tapped a gong to
solicit an audience. In the curtained stage, the performer was in
charge of the puppet as well the music. It was the origin of the
puppet shows we still see today.
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| 9. Wedding Ceremony
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One of the most important events in a traditional wedding was the
bride escorting parade that was accompanied with loud music. In this
painting, the wedding is a mixture of Han and Manchu cultures. In
Manchurian weddings, bull-horn lanterns and drums led the parade;
fans, mirrors and umbrellas were rarely seen in Manchurian weddings
but were popular in Han weddings. No music was played during the
parades in Manchurian weddings. The bull-horn lantern was a white,
translucent bull-horn lantern raised by a red bamboo stick. A
ceremonial deacon would lead the parade. Bowls and chopsticks were the
most important dowry of the bride. Chopsticks are pronounced "Kuai",
meaning fast, to wish the newly wedded couple to have children as fast
as possible. The dowry was carried by a wooden carrier.
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| 10. Paper Kite
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A paper kite, or wind kite, is framed with thin bamboo sticks and
covered with flimsy paper. Guided by a strand of string, it will be
blown up into the sky by the wind. This popular game can be dated back
to the turning of the Spring-Autumn Era and the Warring Period, when
Moutze and Luben produced them to spy on the movements of enemy. To
the East Han Dynasty, the invention of paper transformed such devices
from military use to toys. In the T'ang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty,
many leisure activities were developed during various festivals, kite
playing has become a ritual of the Ching-Ming Festival-A spring day in
which people visit and clean up their ancestors' graves. Kids were the
main players if there were competitions. "Letting disasters go with
wind kites" was a custom by then, people wrote down bad things on
kites and cut them off when they flew high in the sky.
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| 11. Monkey Variety Showp>
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Monkey Show, or Monkey Play, was presented by a monkey master who
traveled with a gear box and a monkey wearing red shirt. He would tap
a gong to solicit his audience for the show. When gathering enough
viewers, the monkey would open the box and dress itself, push a
plough, climb a stick or somersault. The monkey was a comedian under
the instruction of its master. In the Ch'ing Dynasty, monkey show
would be joined by sheep and dogs.
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| 12. Swing
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It was said that the swing was developed by imperial odalisques for
the celebration of Han-Wu Emperor's birthday. The swing is called
Chiu-Qian in Chinese, the reverse of Qian-Chiu, meaning the longevity
of the emperor. Swings were used by barbarian tribes such as the
Shan-Ron in northern China as a military training technique, when
Shan-Ron was defeated by Duke Huan of Qi, it was introduced to central
China. In the T'ang Dynasty, swings were known as Psychic Plays. For a
time swings were for body strengthening, later they became games of
maidens or an activity during Ching-Ming Festival.
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| 13. Wooden Bridge
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This wooden structure bridging two bustling streets was middle scale
among ancient constructions. Bridge piers were fastidiously stacked by
bricks to support the gentle slopes of the bridge. It narrowed at the
middle and opened up at two ends to relieve the heavy load of
pedestrians. Rails lined at the two sides were decorated simply, many
people stood by them to chat or to enjoy the view. An ointment vendor
with an umbrella suggests the vivid image of people's lives in old
China.
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| 14. Wrestling
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Wrestling, similar to sumo, was a military activity in the first
place. In the Song Dynasty, it became popular among the general public
and was often seen in street shows. In the Ch'ing Dynasty, a Wrestling
Camp was established by the imperial court to manage the officially
hired wrestlers known as the "Bu-Ku". In civil world, amateur
wrestlers competed in the "Wrestling Nests" that scattered throughout
Beijing.
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| 15. Grass Stem Fights
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Grass Stem Fight was a custom for the Dragon Boat Festival since the
T'ang Dynasty, both in imperial court or among the general public. It
was more popular in the Song, Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties. It was
especially common in spring while plants flourished. Fighters used
hooked grass stems to cross those of their opponents and pulled like a
tug-of-war, the losers were those whose stems got pulled off. For
ladies and literati, the game was to produce couplets with the names
of the grasses they used for the fight. Those whose grass poetry had
no matches were the winners.
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| 16. Mule Palanquin
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A mule palanquin was a cart carried by two mules. Two long sticks as
shafts connecting to the saddles of the mules supported a bamboo
cabinet or a carriage for passengers. Covered with blankets to fend
off the hardship of weather, a mule palanquin was convenient for
rough, winding mountain paths, muddy roads or shallow water. Such
transportation was supplied and accompanied by "Foot
Businessmen"(Chiao-Hu). Mules are docile with great stamina, they play
an important role in northwestern China. In Shan-Xi Province, mule
palanquins are still used for wedding parades.
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| 17. Mansion of the Imperial Conferred Scholar
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A four-columned archway with four flagpoles was erected in front of
the mansion. The archway and the plaque hung on it were bestowed by
the emperor, signifying the greatest honor of a scholar. The mansion
consisted of houses and gardens that were arranged in five layers. In
the most inner layer, a two-story pavilion was for the master of the
mansion to enjoy the distant view. To the left of the houses was a
tranquil yard, to the right was a large garden centered with a pond
and surrounded with pavilions, verandas, water features and miniature
mountains.
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