The Art of China

In 240 pages and more than 100 full-color images, this volume traces China through its tales and stories, plays and poetry, paintings and objects - from ancient divinations incised on bovine scapula to modern 'people's literature' spawned from revolution, from Tang dynasty silk scrolls depicting sublime mountain valleys to government-commissioned propaganda posters. China incorporates text and images that are chronologically ordered in each of its eight thematic chapters: Birth & Life, Nature & Environment, Love & Family, Mind & Memory, Food & Drink,War & Politics, Religion & Spirituality, Death & Afterlife. Among the literary selections included are the famous Book of Songs, the epic Dream of Red Towers, the complex dramatic masterpiece The Romance of the Western Chamber, and works from Confucius, Laozi, Du Fu, and Su Shi. More than 100 works of art from the ancient to the contemporary by artists including Gu Kaizhi,Wang Hui, Qiu Ying, and Xu Bing accompany the text.The images presented in the book are from major Asian art collections from all over the world. The unique pairings of art and literature in The Art of China will enrapture as they reveal - this anthology will inevitably grip all who enter it, be they sophisticated appreciators or eager novices of China.