Introduction

Figure paintings and culture integration in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are regarded as three complementary knowledge systems and cultural sources of Chinese traditional culture. From the Pre-Qin Period to the Han Dynasty, they have developed from mutual exclusion into absorption, and then into the overall integration while moving towards unity via continuous historical interactions. Later, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Three Teachings integrated their philosophies in material forms when keeping respective traditions alive. The integration was best manifested by the popularity of figure paintings, statues, sculptures, and literary images. As interrelated visual cultures, the artworks serve as an overview of the important historical features of social culture, aesthetic taste, as well as the secularized and normalized spiritual life in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Rooted deep in history like “cultural genes”, they have influenced China and even the whole Oriental culture in a universal and profound way.

Chinese people believe that “The sea receives all rivers; Utmost wit listens to all sides”. As we can see, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism’s maintenance of relative independence and the state of confluence is also made possible by their pursuit of openness, inclusiveness, and harmonious coexistence. Meanwhile, the internal transcendence embodied in the integration and development of the Three Teachings endows Chinese culture with a character of seeking self-innovation and being in tune with the times, which has become the cultural code for it to grow and prosper for thousands of years. It is hoped that this exhibition can provide people with an opportunity to look back on the cultural origin of the Chinese nation and explore the contemporary value of outstanding traditional culture, thus separating the wheat from the chaff and making the past serve the present. With this in mind, we can build a social consensus on and inject spiritual momentum for developing Chinese culture and practicing socialist core values.