Yellow River Fourteen Walks--The Yellow River Basin in the 1980s: The Yellow River Basin in the 1980s

Author: Yang Xianrang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: Yellow River Fourteen Walks is a comprehensive illustrated collection of folk art (visual arts) along the entire Yellow River, guided by the cultural exploration notes of the artist. Its significant contribution lies in the author's pioneering work and achievements in leading 14 expeditions to explore the folk art of the Yellow River region during the 1980s, a feat unprecedented in history. Yellow River Fourteen Walks is a comprehensive illustrated collection of folk art (visual arts) along the entire Yellow River, guided by the cultural exploration notes of the artist. Its significant contribution lies in the author's pioneering work and achievements in leading 14 expeditions to explore the folk art of the Yellow River region during the 1980s, a feat unprecedented in history. As time passes and society evolves, merely a few decades later, the vast amount of outstanding folk art forms that have been passed down for thousands of years along the Yellow River have vanished, with most renowned elderly artists now deceased and their art lost. What we see in the book today is the final echo of a large number of the outstanding traditional folk arts of the Chinese nation. Authors Yang Xianrang and Yang Yang are professors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University of Arts and Design. They believe that the Yellow River region can be considered a major area and cultural circle representative of the cultural and artistic heritage of the Chinese nation. All folk art activities that arise here are inevitably closely linked in both content and origin to disciplines such as archaeology, philosophy, ancient history, folklore, ethnology, and art history. Exploring the folk art of the Yellow River region may likely provide a key to understanding and unlocking the folk art of other regions in China. The textual portion of this book is compiled from the author's original field notes spanning hundreds of thousands of words. The book's framework is based on summaries of the 14 expeditions and over 100 stunning close-ups of traditional folk art. Nearly a thousand reversal slides permanently document the cultural treasures of the Chinese nation, forming the most comprehensive book to date on traditional culture in the Yellow River region. Huang Yongyu, in reviewing this book, wrote: Yellow River Fourteen Walks is a journey that, like the journeys of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin for traditional architecture, Luo Zhenyu for oracle bone script, and Ye Gongchuo for the Longmen Grottoes, has laid out a new vein in cultural studies. Its social and cultural value is immeasurable.