Religion is a spiritual belief system of a group of people; but religious art shows the material wealth of all humankind. Zhao Puchu, a respected Buddhist activist, commented that without Christian art, there would be no European culture or Western civilization. Everyone is familiar with the outstanding Western religious works of art such as Notre Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica and Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. In China however there are no systematic works of religious art owing to the long period that Chinese history covers, its intricate development and the abundance of individual sects. In this regard, The Religious Art in China series is a bold attempt.
The series’s chief editor Zhao Kuangwei taught at the Buddhist Academy of China and was later appointed director of the Research Center of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. He has a deep understanding of the five major religions, and deals extensively with leaders of various religions and sects, as well as prominent figures of culture and art.
The first volume published was Chinese Taoist Arts, authored by Wang Yi’e, deputy editor-in-chief of China Taoism. As a local religion, Taoism is a combination of Chinese primitive religions, folk religions and nature worship. Its aesthetic is also influenced by numerous ethnic groups in Southwest China. Therefore, the development of Taoist art is almost synchronous with that of traditional Chinese art. The book gives a comprehensive introduction to the art, and publishes for the first time images of several Taoist treasures.
China is the second home to Buddhism, and secular life here has been greatly influenced by the religion. In China there are 10 main Buddhist sects. The evolution of Buddhism was very complicated. Zhang Zong, author of The Buddhist Art of China, is a research fellow of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He elaborates on Chinese Buddhist art in the context of the spread of the religion and three major language families of Buddhism – Chinese, Tibetan and Pali, a language now extinct but widely studied because it is the language of many early Buddhist scriptures in existence. The book collates a number of precious relics that are exhibited in foreign museums.
Since Nestorianism was introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty, Christianity and Catholicism have been practiced in China for over 1,400 years. However, there are few publications on the art of the two religions and the research is lacking. Su Xile is the author of Christian Art in China, and Liu Ping, author of The Art of the Catholic Church in China. Both writers spent a lot of time collecting materials and taking pictures to show the religions’ influence on Chinese arts. In these volumes, they bring together many previously unpublished materials such as artifacts from the Nestorian Shizi Temple (Cross Temple) in Beijing, built in the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), and a small bronze cross unearthed in the Ordos Grassland of Inner Mongolia.
Islam is widely practiced in China, but mostly by ethnic minority groups. These 10 groups have different customs and habits, and many different sub-types of Islam are practiced. In Islamic Art in China, Professor Yang Guiping of Minzu University of China not only presents the beauty of Islamic art in China, but also the different costumes, architectures and tombs of these ethnic groups, like the mosques modeled after the typical Chinese courtyard dwellings.
The English edition of this Chinese religious art series was published in January 2013. It is believed that the series will help Chinese and foreign readers to better understand religious art in China and its growth, and promote wider cultural communication and development.
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