0:00:09 > 0:00:12The Great Wall of China.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15The largest man-made structure ever built.
0:00:18 > 0:00:245,500 miles long, it's one of the Wonders of the World.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26But it is a paradox too.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Not only a symbol of Chinese Imperial might,
0:00:29 > 0:00:34but of the constant threat posed by powerful invaders.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38You don't build a wall like this if you feel safe and secure.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42The period of strife
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and change that led to the wall's construction coincided with
0:00:45 > 0:00:50what's now remembered in China as the Golden Age of Chinese art.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56From the Song to the Ming Dynasties, from roughly 1000 to 1600 AD.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00For the preceding 3,000 years,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Chinese art had been overwhelmingly the art of the tomb and the temple.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Bronze idols. Terracotta soldiers.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10But now its subject was THIS world
0:01:10 > 0:01:12and those who live in it.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17From an emperor so in love with art he forgot to rule his country,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21to artisan sculptors carving ghoulish images from the rocks.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27And refined scholars who fled the Imperial Court to find
0:01:27 > 0:01:30themselves in nature.
0:01:30 > 0:01:31Oh, it's so delicate!
0:01:36 > 0:01:41This is the story of how troubled times can produce great art.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Exquisite porcelain to feed the guilty pleasures of an emperor,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51breathtaking architecture to call down the blessings of heaven.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Each work of art another clue to understanding how this
0:01:57 > 0:02:02extraordinary society came to terms with its own contradictions.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23This story of Chinese art begins here, in the mountains.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35The different dynasties of Chinese history can be
0:02:35 > 0:02:37compared to a mountain range, and for me,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40the highest peak of all, the Song dynasty.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02The first great expressions of Song art were born amidst
0:03:02 > 0:03:07the clouds and the mountain pines, monumental landscape paintings.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11What a view!
0:03:11 > 0:03:14You feel like you're standing on the top of the world.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19The tops of the mountains are like islands, floating in a sea of mist.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21It's the kind of scene that would
0:03:21 > 0:03:24inspire a great Chinese landscape painter.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Why did the landscape preoccupy the Chinese mind
0:03:28 > 0:03:31for so many thousands of years?
0:03:31 > 0:03:35I think it's because, if you look at the unique nature of China's
0:03:35 > 0:03:40belief systems, each of them places nature at its very centre.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43The Taoist.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45The one who follows "The Way".
0:03:48 > 0:03:53He comes to nature because he wants to retune his soul.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56For him, the natural world is a macrocosm of the human being,
0:03:56 > 0:04:02the trees are nature's flesh, the rocks are nature's bones,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07the rivers are nature's blood, the mist nature's energy.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09On the other hand there is the Buddhist.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12He comes to nature in order to disengage
0:04:12 > 0:04:16himself from worldly desires.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21The hunger for power, the greed for money, lust...
0:04:21 > 0:04:25He comes to isolate himself, to purify himself.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28And then there's the Confucian.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Well, the Confucian comes to enjoy the spectacle of the majesty of nature,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37but he finds in its rhythms, in its patterns,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42in its order, in its repetitions, he finds there a model for
0:04:42 > 0:04:47human morality and human systems of government.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52So, at the centre of each of these three belief systems, philosophies,
0:04:52 > 0:04:53call them what you will,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55at the centre of them lies the natural world.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04One of the earliest Chinese masters of landscape painting was Fan Kuan.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08His Travellers By Streams And Mountains, a paper scroll
0:05:08 > 0:05:14painted in ink some two metres high, was created in around 1000 AD.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Tiny human figures are dwarfed by the magnificence of the mountain.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24A daunting wall of cliffs.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Streams of water cascade to meet a torrent.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33This is nature as power, nature as irresistible force.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Fan Kuan was a Taoist.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38A man who followed "The Way",
0:05:38 > 0:05:44wore course clothes and lived in the very mountains he painted.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Early spring of 1072 is the masterpiece of Guo Xi.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54A painter of swirling mist, who emphasised change, not permanence.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59He saw mountain scenery as a shape shifting image of the universe,
0:05:59 > 0:06:04and even wrote a treatise describing its ever-changing nature.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Every boulder and tree born and reborn in the endless play of light.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12His vision of a world in flux, may have
0:06:12 > 0:06:17been shaped by Buddhist ideas about time and reincarnation.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25There is one other great masterpiece from the 11th century.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Not a vertical scroll but a hand scroll,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31which weaves all these different elements together
0:06:31 > 0:06:36into a story about Chinese civilisation itself.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40This is Landscape With Pavilions, by Yuan Guang Wi.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44It was painted in around 1030.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49It's an awe-inspiring panorama, a majestic vision of nature.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Cloud-capped mountains, but full also of wonderful little
0:06:52 > 0:06:57details - filigree trees, fishing boats, it's full of weather.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03There's mist, there's rain, there's a little figure down there...
0:07:03 > 0:07:04holding his umbrella,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and you can feel the wind blowing against that umbrella.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09The figures are tiny.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16You've got these slightly bedraggled figures on donkeys,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18dwarfed by the mountains.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Nature is immense.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27But it's more than just a depiction of the natural scene. I think
0:07:27 > 0:07:30this is a good example of how the Chinese painter approaches
0:07:30 > 0:07:36landscape and often has a form of symbolism in his mind.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38The great mountain peak is...
0:07:40 > 0:07:44..as it were, the Emperor, surrounded by the lesser peaks who
0:07:44 > 0:07:49are the 100 princes who pay him court.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53So, the landscape expresses the structure
0:07:53 > 0:07:58of human civilisation, and if you see this whole scroll
0:07:58 > 0:08:02as a journey, it takes you from formlessness towards form,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04towards structure.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12Even when contemplating what seems like the wilderness of untamed
0:08:12 > 0:08:17nature, the Chinese artist can actually be making
0:08:17 > 0:08:21a comment on the true ordering of society.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29But how do you order a society in the throes of great change?
0:08:29 > 0:08:33This is the night market in the Chinese city of Kaifeng.
0:08:37 > 0:08:411,000 years ago, this little-known city, 400 miles
0:08:41 > 0:08:45south of Beijing, was the capital of China and the Song dynasty.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53Hugely cosmopolitan, as well as a thriving commercial hub,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Kaifeng, at the time, was THE most important centre of
0:08:57 > 0:08:58trade in the entire Orient.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Now, as Europe was stumbling out of the Dark Ages into
0:09:05 > 0:09:08the Middles Ages, here in China they were experiencing a great
0:09:08 > 0:09:10age of enlightenment.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14New discoveries, new inventions. Gunpowder,
0:09:14 > 0:09:20the magnetic compass, printed money, and money was important
0:09:20 > 0:09:25because, here in China, while Europe was still locked in feudalism,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30they developed the first free-market, truly entrepreneurial economy.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33China was vibrant, but above all, China was rich.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40But the man who took control of this city and China in 1100, the
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Song dynasty's most famous emperor,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47was less interested in commerce than art.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52The 11th son of the former Song emperor, Huizong never
0:09:52 > 0:09:54expected to succeed his father.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Raised as an Aesthete, not a ruler,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Emperor Huizong was an idealist, who put art before all else.
0:10:07 > 0:10:13900 years later, in modern-day Kaifeng, they still celebrate Emperor Huizong's rule.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Aptly enough, though a modern theme park which recreates
0:10:16 > 0:10:18a painting commissioned during his reign.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27It was created by this man, Zhang Zeduan.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Early in the 12th century,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34he was charged with painting the Emperor's capital.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Which he did in intricate detail.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40His work is now China's most famous painting.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It's called The Qingming Scroll, so fragile and precious that the
0:10:46 > 0:10:50authorities only let you examine a high-quality replica.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55And here it is.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56So, I'm going
0:10:56 > 0:11:02to imagine that I am the Song dynasty emperor, Huizong,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06who can never go out into the city that he rules because he's too
0:11:06 > 0:11:09illustrious and elevated for that.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12The only way he can experience it is by looking at this painting.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18The hand scroll's subject is the capital Kaifeng.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22It's a cinematic representation of Song society
0:11:22 > 0:11:25as it was nine centuries ago.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Essentially, it's a fantastically intricate line drawing.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34What the artist is interested in is in detail.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40And here we've got these rice traders, sitting on their bags of
0:11:40 > 0:11:42rice, which are going to be loaded
0:11:42 > 0:11:46onto these boats by these slightly misshapen labourers.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53And in the background, paper money is changing hands,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56a great new innovation in China of the period.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Hogarth would have loved this painting.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01It's full of comic touches. Look at this!
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Here's a boat that's lost its tow rope, and all the sailors are
0:12:05 > 0:12:10gesticulating rather frantically at the people on the bridge for help.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Some do try and help, some are laughing, some are just gawping,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18disaster may be about to happen, who knows?
0:12:18 > 0:12:20And I love the scene on the bridge itself.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23There's a character on a sedan chair,
0:12:23 > 0:12:29and he's coming up against a rider, and they both won't give way.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31It's like a Bentley and a Mini meeting in the middle
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and there's road rage. "You give way!"
0:12:38 > 0:12:40But for all its bustling prosperity,
0:12:40 > 0:12:4312th-century Kaifeng was the capital of a vulnerable empire.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Nomads to the north coveted their wealth,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and Huizong underestimated their threat.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54A man of letters, he put his faith in words
0:12:54 > 0:12:58and ideas rather than weapons and neglected his army.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01He believed a nation, like a work of art, could last forever,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04if founded on principles of reason and beauty.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Kaifeng, or Bianliang as it was then,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13nurtured a flowering of philosophy,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17poetry and writing, but it was also central to the political
0:13:17 > 0:13:23administration, as this rather quaint piece of street sculpture marks.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Confucian scholars, the army of bureaucrats who ran China,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30came from all corners to this city to purchase their copies of
0:13:30 > 0:13:35the Confucian classics and to sit their exams for the civil service.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Confucian ideas about state craft spread all the more rapidly
0:13:43 > 0:13:45among the educated classes,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47the literati, as they were known,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49thanks to a new invention.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Moveable type, developed in China
0:13:52 > 0:13:53some 400 years before
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Caxton's printing press rolled in the west.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06Few of Huizong's political pronouncements have survived.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08But you can get a flavour of his rather dreamy
0:14:08 > 0:14:10attitude from a celebrated painting.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19Now, this beautiful little scroll painting, done on silk,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23intended to be read from right to left...
0:14:23 > 0:14:28was probably painted by Emperor Huizong himself.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33He was a skilled artist.
0:14:33 > 0:14:39And it takes us backstage, so to speak, into Huizong's palace.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46The ladies of the court are preparing silk.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51They're pounding silk, they're sewing silk, they're ironing silk.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54I like her energy.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58She's rolling up her sleeves, getting ready for some hard work.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00These ladies are sewing.
0:15:05 > 0:15:13This crouching woman with her fan is fanning the embers of a fire
0:15:13 > 0:15:19so that that iron, it looks rather makeshift, piled itself with
0:15:19 > 0:15:25glowing red embers, can be heated up to do its work.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30They don't have ironing boards, they hold the silk taut.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32A wonderful sense of energy in the picture.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37This lady is leaning back to hold the piece of silk taut
0:15:37 > 0:15:39as it's ironed.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47I like the detail of this little girl horsing around.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51The figures are represented almost like cartoon characters.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53He's got no interest in the background,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57no interest in the detail. What he's interested in is the activity.
0:15:57 > 0:16:05And the activity is loaded with ritual significance.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08First of all, silk. The painting's actually done on silk.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Silk was one of the was one of the great sources of Chinese prosperity.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The production of silk was hugely important to the wealth
0:16:14 > 0:16:19of the state, and as part of palace ritual the ladies of the court,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22the first day of spring every year,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26they would atually participate in the processes of silk production,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29silk refinement, the creation of clothing,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31all the way through to the end product itself.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35But at the same time, it's a very important statement for Huizong
0:16:35 > 0:16:41himself, of order being observed at court.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Having all the women of the Imperial Court brought together in this
0:16:45 > 0:16:49way, preparing the emperor's new clothes.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53In another way, what they're actually working at is
0:16:53 > 0:16:56the fabric of government.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02The picture is a demonstration that everything within the palace
0:17:02 > 0:17:07is functioning properly. Everything is in order.
0:17:07 > 0:17:14And though Huizong isn't in it, it is by implication all about him
0:17:14 > 0:17:15and his power.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Huizong used his power above all to collect pictures
0:17:23 > 0:17:26and commission exquisite artefacts,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30still believing that a perfectly-refined life on his part
0:17:30 > 0:17:34would induce the gods to protect him and safeguard his rule.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41The greatest monument of Huizong's devotion to art
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and the life of the mind is not in China,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49but here in Taiwan where the National Palace Museum contains the
0:17:49 > 0:17:53greatest concentration of imperial Chinese art anywhere in the world.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Nearly all of the museum's holdings from the Song period
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and before were once in Huizong's own collection.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Under his reign, ceramics were to become regarded as art
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and taken to new heights.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26Simplicity, purity, austerity, spirituality.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30These are the essential characteristics
0:18:30 > 0:18:33of Song dynasty civilisation.
0:18:33 > 0:18:39And they are expressed to perfection by Song dynasty porcelain.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Look at that beautiful white Ding ware.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44This blackware with the glaze
0:18:44 > 0:18:48that seems almost to be bursting into flames before your eyes.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53And here, most beautiful, most highly-prized of all - Ru ware.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58There are only 73 of these pieces in the entire world,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and five of them are behind that glass case.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Huizong's preference was for simple forms.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21Appreciated for every nuance of colour. Every ripple of glaze.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29In the daytime, this museum is packed with people seven deep
0:19:29 > 0:19:32trying to get a glimpse at these. They are...
0:19:32 > 0:19:36They are the Mona Lisas of the world of Chinese ceramics.
0:19:36 > 0:19:37Why are they so highly prized?
0:19:37 > 0:19:42Because of the fineness of this glaze.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Its craquelure has been compared to that fine cracking
0:19:45 > 0:19:48that you see in ice, also to fish scales.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52There's a lovely story about how this ware originated.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56It is said in Chinese legend that Emperor Huizong himself had a dream
0:19:56 > 0:20:01and in that dream he saw the colour of the sky after the rain had
0:20:01 > 0:20:04stopped, in a clearing.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06And he described the dream to his craftsmen and said,
0:20:06 > 0:20:13"Which of you can create me a ceramic the colour of my dream?"
0:20:13 > 0:20:14There it is.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27During the later years of his reign,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Huizong became obsessively preoccupied
0:20:30 > 0:20:31with fortune and the gods.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38He sent envoys across his empire to record lucky signs or symbols
0:20:38 > 0:20:43of divine favour - rainbows, unusually-shaped clouds,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46auspicious animal behaviour.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58In 1117, Huizong requisitioned rice boats meant to feed his people
0:20:58 > 0:21:03and had these strangely-shaped rocks transported all the way from a lake
0:21:03 > 0:21:08in southern China to the Imperial Garden at his palace in Kaifeng.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22In Chinese culture, rocks have the power to bring good luck.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Huizong not only collected the strangely-shaped rocks,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28but he painted them too.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Professor Chow is an authority on Emperor Huizong
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and his troubled rule.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Do you think painting for him
0:21:40 > 0:21:42is part of the mental discipline of being a ruler?
0:21:42 > 0:21:46I don't think he knew how to rule a country.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47He was a great painter.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52He was brought to that position to do things that he had no idea.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56I don't know if he was able even to manage his household
0:21:56 > 0:21:58when he was the prince.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02He was not brought up as an emperor or prepared to be an emperor.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05He never imagined he would become emperor.
0:22:05 > 0:22:11Instead he was brought up as a rich man, as a man with great taste,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15knowing how to enjoy his life, how to do art, how to kill his time.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Instead of managing the country, he was expecting
0:22:20 > 0:22:23something to come down from heaven to help him.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27And when a flock of cranes,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30traditionally seen as messengers of the gods,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34landed on the Imperial Palace, Huizong tried to perpetuate
0:22:34 > 0:22:37the moment by painting it.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Not so much a work of art as an act of denial.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44A doomed attempt to keep the forces of history at bay.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54But those forces were already beginning to turn on him.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58For some years, Huizong had been using silk to pay off mercenary
0:22:58 > 0:23:00tribesmen from the north.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04An attempt to protect his vulnerable northern borders from invasion.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08It was a ploy that was doomed to fail.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19By 1126, it was all over for the emperor whose passion for art
0:23:19 > 0:23:22and antiquities had blinded him to the dangers towards which
0:23:22 > 0:23:24his country had slipped.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30Kaifeng was burned to the ground by his allies turned enemies
0:23:30 > 0:23:33from the north. Huizong was taken prisoner
0:23:33 > 0:23:36and would die in captivity nine years later.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48The remnants of the Song dynasty were pushed south
0:23:48 > 0:23:52and China fell into a period of division and violence,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56worsened by the deepening threat of nomads from the north.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04The popular art created around this time shows just how uneasy
0:24:04 > 0:24:07the Chinese felt during this period of turmoil.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18The cave complex at Dazu, 1,000 miles south-west of Beijing,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22contains one of the most spectacular assemblies of Buddhist sculpture
0:24:22 > 0:24:24anywhere in the world.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Much of it created towards the end of the Song dynasty.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36They vividly embody and enact the nightmares of a generation.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41The Dazu cave carvings reach their climax in this enormous
0:24:41 > 0:24:44depiction of the terrors of hell.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49These are the punishments that await those who have not shown good karma,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52good behaviour in their lives.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57They will be reborn into these tormented existences.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09What it shows us are the various versions of Buddhist hell.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14This is the hell of freezing cold and boiling hot.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17You freeze and then you're thrown into this cauldron
0:25:17 > 0:25:20for the demon to stir you. Look at the flames that lick up.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Stirred with glee by a demon with an animal's head.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32This is the hell of being sawn in half.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35HE MAKE SAWING SOUNDS
0:25:36 > 0:25:41His feet are bound to a frame, he's suspended upside down.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Look at how much fun, look at the relish with which he's sawing
0:25:46 > 0:25:51this poor unfortunate upside-down sinner.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56All of these hells are designed to speak very vividly to the
0:25:56 > 0:25:59ordinary people of the Song dynasty.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Their own tools, their carpentry tools, their agricultural tools,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06are the actual weapons that are being used to torture them.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16The style of these sculptures isn't remotely sophisticated,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21refined, elegant. It's graphic, violent, almost cartoon-like.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23This is popular art.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27What hope is there of escape?
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Well, the one ray of hope is to be found in the upper level
0:26:30 > 0:26:32of carvings.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Above you have these ten rather forbidding kings
0:26:34 > 0:26:38who stand for dharma, for the Buddhist law.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41They stand in judgment over humanity.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45The only ray of hope is provided by the Bodhisattva in the middle.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49It's her mission to bring light into this darkness.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53I have to say the overall effect is of a very little bit of light
0:26:53 > 0:26:55and an awful lot of darkness.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04Over the next 150 years, the threat from the north persisted,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07but this time it was the Mongol hoards.
0:27:07 > 0:27:08First under Genghis Khan,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12who advanced on the Song forces now entrenched in southern China.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19The art of the Song courts would reflect these troubled times.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Chen Rong's Nine Dragons created in 1244.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39One of the great masterpieces of all Chinese art.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41It's like a bolt from the blue.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44This image of mythical beasts,
0:27:44 > 0:27:50scaly creatures with their staring eyes, fighting the abyss,
0:27:50 > 0:27:57doing battle with whirlpool, tsunami, flood and deluge.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02What's the picture about? Nine dragons. Nine, an auspicious number.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07The dragon, great symbol of power, potency, fertility.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10It's what the emperor wears on his robes.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13It's what he decorates his palace with.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16It's a symbol of Chinese might.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19I think this great scroll, ten metres long,
0:28:19 > 0:28:24is a kind of extended prayer for help in troubled times.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Think what's happening in 13th century China.
0:28:28 > 0:28:34Genghis Khan is on the move. The Mongol Empire has been founded.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Theirs is a world full of threat.
0:28:39 > 0:28:40Who's going to win?
0:28:42 > 0:28:43The dragon?
0:28:45 > 0:28:46Or the whirlpool?
0:28:49 > 0:28:51The artist doesn't know.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02It was, of course, the whirlpool.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06In 1279, the Song were finally defeated by the Mongols,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09absorbed into what was briefly the world's largest empire
0:29:09 > 0:29:13stretching all the way from the Pacific Coast to Eastern Europe.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19In that same year, Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23proclaimed himself leader of a new Mongol dynasty
0:29:23 > 0:29:26and gave China the capital it still has today.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Beijing, Peking as it used to be known.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34It's world-famous, but how many people know
0:29:34 > 0:29:36that it was actually built by the Mongols?
0:29:36 > 0:29:40They didn't want their new city in the north of China close
0:29:40 > 0:29:42to their ancient homelands,
0:29:42 > 0:29:48to seem like an invader town, they wanted it to look Chinese, so they
0:29:48 > 0:29:52actually modelled it on a template laid out in the Confucian classics.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55They built a city in grid formation.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56They made some changes.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00They did away with the old barriers and gates within a Chinese city,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02separating one area from another.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04After all, they were nomads,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08they liked the free movement of people, the free movement of goods.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11If you were a fly on the wall 700 years ago,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13you might have thought that it was business as usual
0:30:13 > 0:30:16in Mongol China but you'd have been wrong.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27The Mongols regarded the indigenous Chinese people as untrustworthy
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and most of the literati, the scholars who traditionally
0:30:31 > 0:30:34ran the country, were banned from government jobs.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40This meant that artists and men of letters were marginalised.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45Painters and calligraphers came from the literati class.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53But what would emerge from this adversity was a spectacular
0:30:53 > 0:30:56surge of artistic creation.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05This is Autumn Boating On A Maple River,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09painted by Sheng Mao in 1361.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17The Mongol, or Yuan dynasty as it's known,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21marked a new dawn for the literati painters,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25the Chinese scholar artists who had now become ostracised.
0:31:28 > 0:31:29Under the Yuan dynasty,
0:31:29 > 0:31:36the intellectual elite of China felt disenfranchised and isolated.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39They collectively turned away from the centres of power
0:31:39 > 0:31:44in a kind of frenzy of disgust and retreated to nature.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46They literally upped sticks, left the cities
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and moved to the rivers and the landscapes.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52They lived among farmers and fishermen.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57And at their centre was a charismatic recluse called Ni Zan.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00In many ways he was contradictory.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02Obsessively fastidious, he washed his hands all the time
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and doused himself in so much perfume that apparently you
0:32:05 > 0:32:09could smell him in a place five minutes after he'd left it.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13And yet he spent 20 years of his life living on a simple
0:32:13 > 0:32:17houseboat, devoting himself to painting, calligraphy and poetry.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22He saw all three as aspects of the same one activity.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25And together with his friends, he invented what was an entirely
0:32:25 > 0:32:30new form of Chinese landscape painting - the art of misery.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42I've come to the Shanghai Museum to see one of the greatest
0:32:42 > 0:32:46examples of this new kind of art, an art of self-expression.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52It's one of Ni Zan's scroll paintings entitled Six Gentlemen.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58And it's so precious, it's hardly ever displayed.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02So, I have to make my way to a secure area in the basement to see it.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06My instructions are...
0:33:07 > 0:33:09..to wait here.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Good timing. Yes, we are ready. You're ready? Fantastic.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Hello, I've got an appointment with Ni Zan.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Gosh, I feel like I'm entering Fort Knox.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28The Fort Knox of literati painting.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30So, is this the Ni Zan?
0:33:32 > 0:33:34(Wow.)
0:33:34 > 0:33:36I can't wait.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43We in the West are used to the idea of going to an art gallery
0:33:43 > 0:33:47and we can just see its greatest treasures like that.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50There they are on the wall, the Rubens, the Van Gogh,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53whatever it might be. Chinese art is not like that.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Chinese scrolls are so delicate, so fragile that many of these
0:33:56 > 0:34:01works of art are only exhibited once every ten, once every 20 years.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04So, it really is a privilege to be able to see one of the great
0:34:04 > 0:34:08masterpieces by the principal painter of the literati movement.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15ANDREW GASPS
0:34:17 > 0:34:21'The painting's title Six Gentlemen is a loaded metaphor for what was
0:34:21 > 0:34:23'going on in China at the time.'
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Oh, goodness.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Oh, it's so delicate.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46At first sight, it looks like nothing much.
0:34:46 > 0:34:52Six Gentlemen, six pine trees on a mound,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56an expanse of dead space,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58bit of water
0:34:58 > 0:35:00and a distant line of hills.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04It's a very minimal depiction of nature.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09There's a huge contrast between this relatively modest, intimate,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12very important, intimate scroll,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14this depiction of an almost nothing
0:35:14 > 0:35:20like an out-of-the-side-of-the-eye glance at a piece of landscape,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23a piece of dead space, a piece of hill,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28and those great, huge monumental depictions of landscape.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Here, the artist is using landscape very much as an expression
0:35:32 > 0:35:36of his own emotional core.
0:35:36 > 0:35:37And there is...
0:35:39 > 0:35:44..a wonderful sense of these trees almost...
0:35:44 > 0:35:48They represent, they are fragile, they are slender,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50they are in a difficult place.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53They have planted themselves on stony ground
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and yet they stand and yet they persist.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00This tree almost seems to have a human foot.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Can you see that?
0:36:03 > 0:36:05It's anthropomorphised.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10He painted the same image again and again and again and again and again.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13This was the image in his mind's eye.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15It stood for his own determination to persist.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20Ni Zan was also a great, great calligrapher
0:36:20 > 0:36:24and this piece of calligraphy is as important,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26certainly in the eyes of any Chinese connoisseur
0:36:26 > 0:36:30looking at the painting, it's as important as the image itself.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33It speaks of the origin of the painting.
0:36:33 > 0:36:39It tells us that Ni Zan was invited by his host to paint this
0:36:39 > 0:36:43picture and he didn't want to do it because he was tired.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47It was late, his host greeted him with a lamp.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50With a lamp, very important detail.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52So, it's night-time when he gets to the house,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56when he paints this picture and yet this picture is in the daytime.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00It's Ni Zan's way of emphasising that these are images that
0:37:00 > 0:37:01come from the mind.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04They're not images that come from the outside world.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20The tragic image of the outcast literati artist, as characterised
0:37:20 > 0:37:25by Ni Zan's six pine trees, has had an enduring appeal in China.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31TRADITIONAL SINGING
0:37:31 > 0:37:33In the remote countryside,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36the six gentlemen still congregate to this very day,
0:37:36 > 0:37:38even though their names have changed,
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and some of them nowadays are women.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50The tradition of the elegant gathering, in which musicians,
0:37:50 > 0:37:55poets, calligraphers and painters come together to share inspiration
0:37:55 > 0:37:57is still very much alive.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08This is a collective performance where the artists not only
0:38:08 > 0:38:11work individually but ultimately come together.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24In Chinese culture,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28writing and painting are two expressions of the same impulse.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32And there's no better way to understand that
0:38:32 > 0:38:35than in one of these elegant gatherings.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40The painter performs his art using the brush
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and the calligrapher performs her art using the brush
0:38:44 > 0:38:47and in a sense, they're both attempting to do the same thing.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56See, now the painter has begun to work on the same sheet
0:38:56 > 0:38:57as the calligrapher.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00He's using the same brush and the same ink.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09That's very much the spirit of the elegant gathering as well,
0:39:09 > 0:39:14that goes back to the Yuan period when the artists got together,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17the literati got together to keep each other company,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20to show group solidarity and that was
0:39:20 > 0:39:23when this idea began that they would actually write on each
0:39:23 > 0:39:25other's paintings, paint on each other's calligraphy.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30Each work of art was itself a kind of statement of literati
0:39:30 > 0:39:33solidarity, art was a form of self-defence.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46Not all artists fled from the court of the new Yuan dynasty.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50A generation before Ni Zan, one of the most celebrated of the
0:39:50 > 0:39:55literati painters had created this work, specifically for the Mongols.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00This is Grooms And Horses of 1292 by Zhao Mengfu.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05The image of the horse calculated to please China's nomadic
0:40:05 > 0:40:08rulers from the steppes.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12The faithful attendant, a self-portrait of Zhao Mengfu.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20Seen by some as a collaborator, a traitor even,
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Zhao Mengfu later regretted his decision to serve the Mongols.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29He retreated to the mountains where his art would radically change.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Now, together with Ni Zan, Zhao Mengfu is perhaps the most
0:40:35 > 0:40:39celebrated of the literati painter-calligraphers of the
0:40:39 > 0:40:44Yuan period and this is perhaps his most radical masterpiece.
0:40:44 > 0:40:52It's called Orchids And Rocks and it's astonishingly pared down.
0:40:52 > 0:40:53It's...
0:40:54 > 0:40:59..absolutely expressive of this Yuan notion of scholarly misery.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04This is the reject's vision, the worm's-eye view of the world.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07It's come down to...
0:41:07 > 0:41:13a single square metre of turf.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14What's he looking at?
0:41:14 > 0:41:18A scribbled piece of rock, two dead twigs,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21brambly twigs with thorns sticking out of them
0:41:21 > 0:41:28that look almost like scars stitched into the surface of the picture.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32Some twitching insects, a few fronds of grass,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35that is what the world has shrunk to.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41That's what it's shrunk to for these rejects from society.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48It's a tremendous image.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53It's so raw. It's such a modern-looking image.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58If I didn't know what it was and I simply looked at it unseen
0:41:58 > 0:42:01and blind, I would guess 1920.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03But no, no, no.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07This is the 13th century.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Zhao Mengfu's paintings are highly prized, but examples
0:42:14 > 0:42:18of his calligraphy are venerated like holy relics in modern China.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24This is seen as the handwriting of the Chinese soul.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy is
0:42:29 > 0:42:34so precious that I'm only allowed a few minutes with it open
0:42:34 > 0:42:37and I have to wear a surgical mask which makes me feel even
0:42:37 > 0:42:44more like a doctor standing over a patient on the operating table.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48It's a beautiful piece of work and, essentially,
0:42:48 > 0:42:52it's a short poem, a gift to one of his closest friends,
0:42:52 > 0:42:56and its subject is water, different kinds of water.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Here, we've got the characters for cloud, fog,
0:43:00 > 0:43:05moisture and what's wonderful about Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy is
0:43:05 > 0:43:09just how beautifully expressive it is.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11This cursive line that seems almost to
0:43:11 > 0:43:14flow across the page like water,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17the liquidity of the word moisture where he's almost allowed
0:43:17 > 0:43:19the ink to get out of his control,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23but then caught it into the gesture that shapes the mark
0:43:23 > 0:43:25and as he moves across the page,
0:43:25 > 0:43:29it becomes ever more flowing as the water flows more rapidly,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33the script flows more quickly and it ends with this beautiful,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37almost dribble of a signature, Zhao Mengfu.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Zhao and his fellow exiles identified with water,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45ancient Taoist symbol of resilience.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Cut it with a knife, it heals.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51Disturb it, it always finds its own level.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57It's one of the masterpieces of Chinese calligraphy.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59And my time is up.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Thank you for showing me the Zhao Mengfu.
0:44:02 > 0:44:03Xie xie.
0:44:06 > 0:44:07Goodbye, sir.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16A growing resentment towards their Mongol oppressors
0:44:16 > 0:44:19led to Han Chinese revolts in the mid-14th century.
0:44:21 > 0:44:27And by 1368, the indigenous Chinese had finally reclaimed their country.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29A new Ming dynasty was born.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33With the Mongols gone,
0:44:33 > 0:44:38the Chinese rapidly regained their old entrepreneurial zest.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The merchant class prospered, exporting goods -
0:44:41 > 0:44:44particularly pottery - across Asia,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46the Middle East and even into Europe.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53The city of Jingdezhen had,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56for centuries, been the ceramics capital of China.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59But it was the manufacture of porcelain here during
0:44:59 > 0:45:04the new Ming dynasty which was to give China its first global brand.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11The world couldn't get enough of this fine Ming porcelain,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15created by Jingdezhen's ceramicists and painters.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17But then neither could the Emperor.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21The city's defining moment came
0:45:21 > 0:45:24when the Imperial Court requested the best porcelain
0:45:24 > 0:45:29for the ruler of the Ming dynasty himself, to be made here.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39An imperial kiln was constructed in the city in 1367.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43And from its ruins,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47archaeologists have retrieved some truly remarkable finds.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Over the past 20 years, a team of technicians has been working
0:46:01 > 0:46:05with shards of porcelain recovered from the imperial kiln.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09They've been piecing them together like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14Not only have they managed to reconstruct
0:46:14 > 0:46:17a number of wonderful porcelain pots and bowls,
0:46:17 > 0:46:22they've also been able to rewrite a small piece of history from the Ming past.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27We're looking for Professor Jang.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31'On a wet Jingdezhen morning, I met Professor Jang
0:46:31 > 0:46:34'from the Ceramic Archaeological Research Institute.'
0:46:34 > 0:46:35How lovely to be here.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39'What surprised the archaeologists is that
0:46:39 > 0:46:42'some of the perfect Ming porcelain had been deliberately smashed.'
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Extraordinary! Now, tell me something about these pieces.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49For example, this one.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Why was it destroyed?
0:46:51 > 0:46:53TRANSLATION:
0:47:14 > 0:47:16So the archaeological evidence tells us
0:47:16 > 0:47:19a great deal about his belief that what he owned had to be
0:47:19 > 0:47:23exclusive to him, because this is actually a perfect piece.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26There's nothing wrong with the firing, there's nothing wrong
0:47:26 > 0:47:28with the painting, there's nothing wrong with the design.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31It's simply that the Emperor wanted there to be only two
0:47:31 > 0:47:35in the world and both of them were to be his.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38What they didn't want - the one thing they really didn't want -
0:47:38 > 0:47:42was for the Emperor to go to someone else's house and see this bowl.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46I think my favourite object... This is my favourite thing.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50I'm very intrigued by this. This is an intact object.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52It hasn't been smashed.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57It's this perfectly decorated, wonderful survivor.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03It's absolutely exquisite. It's got birds, it's got an auspicious crane.
0:48:05 > 0:48:06What's it for?
0:48:27 > 0:48:30This is... This is... Oh, that's it.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33There's his name on the bottom.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40"Created for the Emperor."
0:48:40 > 0:48:42And it's...
0:48:42 > 0:48:45this wonderful relic of an entirely bygone age.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48If we put the lid back on it, it's as if we're
0:48:48 > 0:48:54putting the lid back on the world of the Ming dynasty itself.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16The Ming emperor
0:49:16 > 0:49:19presided over an age of contradictions.
0:49:19 > 0:49:2280 years before Columbus and Magellan, Chinese ships
0:49:22 > 0:49:25laden with porcelain sailed all the way to Africa.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Yet later during the Ming,
0:49:33 > 0:49:38trade with corrupt foreigners was discouraged by the Imperial Court -
0:49:38 > 0:49:42a Confucian slap on the wrist which the merchants mostly ignored.
0:49:44 > 0:49:45Thanks to the merchant class,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49theatre and other popular arts flourished during the Ming -
0:49:49 > 0:49:53everything from graphic novels to boldly designed playing cards.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58But at court, where the scars of Mongol invasion had been reopened
0:49:58 > 0:50:04by new wars with the old enemy, a siege mentality prevailed.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09Chinese art had to be elegant, old-fashioned, safe.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Now, the trick in these museums of scroll paintings is that
0:50:12 > 0:50:17you have to stand quite close to the glass and then the light comes on.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19Why are we here?
0:50:19 > 0:50:24We're here because I'm interested in the painting of the Ming dynasty
0:50:24 > 0:50:28and the way in which it reflects this rather frozen,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33bureaucratic attitude to life that the Ming emperors hard.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37If the ladies of the court had their bound feet,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41the painters of the court had their hands bound
0:50:41 > 0:50:44because in the Ming dynasty,
0:50:44 > 0:50:48you had to be a member of the Imperial Academy to work as a professional painter
0:50:48 > 0:50:50and in order to get into the Imperial Academy,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54you had to copy the styles of the artists of the past.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57So look at this. This is by Dai Jin,
0:50:57 > 0:51:01but it's called Landscape After The Style Of Yan Wengui.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04He's painted it as a pastiche
0:51:04 > 0:51:08of the great Song dynasty landscape painter.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13Here we've got a very beautiful depiction of bamboo in wind.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Bamboo, that ancient Chinese symbol of the upstanding,
0:51:17 > 0:51:22bending to the wind - strong follower of the Emperor.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27Here it's placed in a void very much in the style of the Yuan landscapes.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31And here, this is by Yao Shu, sitting alone in the woods,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35its subject is melancholy, misery,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39it's Ni Zan all over again.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45The trouble is, that Ming art was frozen in its respect for the past.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50It venerated the Chinese-ness of Chinese culture to such
0:51:50 > 0:51:55an extent that it produced an art of ossification, almost completely
0:51:55 > 0:52:00but not entirely because it also left space
0:52:00 > 0:52:04for an art of dissidence.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09Artists who failed the imperial exams struck out on their own
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and they created this -
0:52:12 > 0:52:15oh, you've got to turn it on again.
0:52:15 > 0:52:16- this wonderful flowering...
0:52:16 > 0:52:21Flowering is the right word because the subject is itself
0:52:21 > 0:52:23flowers, but look at this.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Isn't that fantastic?
0:52:25 > 0:52:29This free anti-academic, almost abstract, expressionist,
0:52:29 > 0:52:33explosion of vegetation.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Painted by Xu Wei,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40even his calligraphy is riotous.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47Blooms such as these could never have flourished in the airless
0:52:47 > 0:52:49world of the Imperial Court.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Just as Western painting was entering the Renaissance, Chinese
0:52:56 > 0:52:59imperial painting was in decline.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02The rulers of the Ming dynasty expressed their values most
0:53:02 > 0:53:07forcefully, not in painting, but in architecture.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10In the heart of Beijing is the emperor's palace,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12the Forbidden City.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15It perfectly embodies the Ming dynasty's conservative
0:53:15 > 0:53:18brand of Confucianism,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22enthroning the emperor, father of his people, in a daunting
0:53:22 > 0:53:23citadel of stone.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29So, imagine you are a 15th century European visitor to China
0:53:29 > 0:53:34and this is your first look at the Forbidden City.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37You've never seen anything like it before.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41These five bridges lead you towards
0:53:41 > 0:53:45the Gate Of Supreme Harmony.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Everything here is symbolic.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53The five bridges stand for the five Confucian virtues - filial piety,
0:53:53 > 0:53:58respect, compassion, kindness, etc.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And they cross this canal which has been artfully designed
0:54:02 > 0:54:06to mirror the shape of a Confucian official's belt.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11That side is the Hall Of Military Excellence.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16That side is the Hall Of Cultural Excellence.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18War, learning.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Yang, yin.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33All of the buildings are configured to reflect celestial harmony.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36The five bridges, as well as symbolising the Confucian
0:54:36 > 0:54:39virtues, stand for the Milky Way.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41We've now crossed the Milky Way
0:54:41 > 0:54:44and we have entered, or are entering, Heaven.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52According to Chinese astrology, the emperor is the son of Heaven.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54The Forbidden City is his palace
0:54:54 > 0:54:56and, therefore, the centre of the universe.
0:55:00 > 0:55:06This is the gate that leads us towards the emperor.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09The roofs are yellow.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Yellow is the colour of the emperor.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16No-one else in Beijing is allowed to have a yellow roof,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20and the roof is guarded by these mythical creatures.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Look at them - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven
0:55:22 > 0:55:27at each level who exist both to draw down celestial power
0:55:27 > 0:55:29and to ward off evil.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34Every last detail is charged with symbolic significance.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38Look at these cloud-wreathed pillars.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43Look at these images of coiling dragons.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47The roof painted, every last inch painted.
0:55:51 > 0:55:56So, this is the gate. It is only the Gate Of Supreme Harmony.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Step across its threshold and there
0:55:59 > 0:56:02is the Hall Of Supreme Harmony.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09The Hall Of Supreme Harmony, the emperor's throne room,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12is THE destination for the modern tourist.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18But for me, there's an attic sale feel about the modern display -
0:56:18 > 0:56:22just some old furniture and other bric-a-brac in a darkened room.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28SPEAKS CHINESE
0:56:28 > 0:56:31But that too tells a kind of truth about this
0:56:31 > 0:56:35place as the epicentre of the Ming dynasty.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39A dynasty that expended much effort on pretending to be more
0:56:39 > 0:56:41all-powerful than it actually was.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46The Forbidden City is magnificent,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50but its architecture is the architecture of wish fulfilment,
0:56:50 > 0:56:54designed to protect an emperor who ultimately could not be
0:56:54 > 0:56:58protected, and to keep at bay powers that could not be resisted.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06Which brings us back full circle to the Great Wall.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16The wall too was completed under the Ming dynasty,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20and is itself very much a reflection of the anxieties of the time.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24It's come to stand, I think, in the public imagination as a great
0:57:24 > 0:57:28symbol of China's imperial sense of its own impregnability,
0:57:28 > 0:57:33but, in fact, it's actually the largest confession
0:57:33 > 0:57:36of weakness ever built.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41It was breached on hundreds of occasions and, eventually,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45China fell again to another invader from the north, the Manchu,
0:57:45 > 0:57:49who formed the last of the nation's great dynasties, the Qing.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54And so the pattern of Chinese history,
0:57:54 > 0:57:59so vividly reflected in its art, repeated itself once more.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04Sometimes inward looking, sometimes responding to the shock of invasion.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09But the greatest threat of all still lay far beyond the borders
0:58:09 > 0:58:14marked out by the wall in what we now simply call the West.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21And what happened when China met the West?
0:58:21 > 0:58:23Well, that's another story.