Three Medieval Chinese Paintings about Girls Leaving for Foreign Lands and Their Historical Background
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2023-22-4-88-101
Abstract
The article deals with three Chinese paintings, created in the 13th century. All three scrolls depict different personages living at different times, however the general plot remains the same: an enforced departure of a girl to a foreign land.
Zhang Yu’s painting “Wenji returns to Han” tells of an Eastern Han poetess Cai Yan (Cai Wenji), who was a Xiongnu captive for 12 years, redeemed at the beginning of the 3rd century AD by a famous Chinese warlord, poet and politician Cao Cao. Gong Suran’s scroll “Ming-fei leaves the fort” illustrates a legendary story of Wang Zhaojun, one of the “four great beauties of ancient China” and a concubine of the Western Han Emperor Yuan-di, who married a Xiongnu chieftain in the last third of the 1st century BC to save her country from nomad invasion. The third painting looks the most realistic, however the reason for the creation of “Nomads” by Hu Huan is unknown. The author argues that all three paintings, in various artistic form, reflect the same historical event which happened in 1214. This was the enforced marriage of a Jin Empire princess Qi to the Mongolian chieftain Genghis Khan as a condition set by him to raise the siege of the Jin capital. Paintings by Zhang Yu and Gong Suran treat this event allegorically and Hu Huan’s “Nomads” – realistically.
About the Author
A. V. Varenov
Novosibirsk State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Andrey V. Varenov, Candidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor
Scopus Author ID 57189442974
RSCI Author ID 556744
Novosibirsk
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For citations:
Varenov A.V. Three Medieval Chinese Paintings about Girls Leaving for Foreign Lands and Their Historical Background. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2023;22(4):88-101. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2023-22-4-88-101
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