Contemporary Chinese Art and Crafts Spectacle (Part 2)

Author: Fan Qi Gonggong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book is a reference work on traditional Chinese handicrafts and arts. It includes 679 entries across 73 categories, totaling over 800,000 words. An overview is provided before each category, summarizing the historical origins, craftsmanship techniques, product types, style characteristics, and raw materials from five aspects. The descriptions of specific handicrafts, however, analyze and compare their inheritance across different periods, the artistic features and styles of representative works, and the evolution and innovation of craftsmanship techniques, enabling readers to understand the origins, development, and transformations of various Chinese handicrafts. Chinese handicrafts have a long history, are profound and diverse in variety, which has made the writing of this book challenging. The following details the relevant circumstances: 1. The boundaries between different types of Chinese handicrafts are not always clear, and classification methods vary, including by material, size, technique, or purpose. Some categories in this book still require further discussion. 2. The book generally uses legal metrological units, but due to the industry conventions of traditional Chinese handicrafts, some non-legal units like "chi" and "liang" are retained in certain places. 3. The book primarily uses the Common Era (CE) system for dates, but approximate time periods like "late Qing Dynasty" and "early Republic of China" are retained in accordance with customary usage. 4. Due to limited information, some entries for handicrafts are lengthy, while others, due to brevity, may appear insufficient in content. 5. China's administrative divisions change frequently, and factory names, among other things, undergo even more frequent changes. Despite extensive verification efforts, some omissions may still exist. Chinese handicrafts are abundant and vast, but only the more renowned ones have been selected for this book. Therefore, although the title is A Grand View of Contemporary Chinese Handicrafts, it still falls short of fully capturing the "grand view."