History and Background of Arts and Crafts

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the integration of the slave system and the gradual establishment and development of the feudal system, handicraftsmen got rid of the slavery of the slavery of the slave system, their enthusiasm for production obtained greater development. At this period many handicraft articles with exquisite workmanship, beautiful shape and unique creativeness appeared in the field of arts and crafts, such as metallurgy, ceramics, dyeing and weaving and lacquer ware.

During the Warring States Period, iron-smelting industry came into being on the basis of copper metallurgy and China took the lead in the world to enter upon the Iron Age in an all-around way. There were a great many pottery-making workshops run by the government or by self-employed artisans, all giving first place to gray pottery. Due to the prevalence of elaborate funeral, painted pottery was rapidly developed. As lacquer ware was anticorrosive, moisture-proof, light in weight and good-looking in appearance, its technology also began to develop. The lacquer ware produced in the Kingdom of Chu was the most developed. Due to the development of iron smelting, the improvement of pottery-making and the appearance of lacquer ware, bronze ware stepped into a later stage and was gradually replaced by lacquer ware. The dying and weaving technology and production were widely distributed and the most developed areas were in Qi (the present northern Shangdong) and Lu (the present southern Shangdong). Knee-deep clothes and hufu(short clothes worn by non-Han nationalities living in the north and west in ancient times) were not mutually exclusive. Knee-deep clothing was a kind of garment with the lower part and the lower hem was edged but not slit in the sides. It was the main fashion of that time, continuing up to the Han Dynasty. The hufu was originally worn by the nomadic people on the grasslands in the north, having the characteristics of jacket, trousers and boots. Later it was introduced into the Central Plains, improving combat effectiveness and bringing about convenience to life.

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Starting from the Xia, the Shang and the West Zhou, China began the replacement of dynasties one after another. Both the Xia and the Shang had official post specially set up to manage handicrafts under the direct control of royal families and nobles. The sacrificial vessels, sacrificial utensils, weapons and valuable articles for daily use needed by the rulers were all fabricated by the handicrafts under the control of officials. Most of the craftsman in the Shang Dynasty belonged to the respective clan engaged in a special kind of handicraft from generation to generation but a small part of them were slaves transformed from prisoners of war.

Bronze ware was an important handicraft variety in the Shang Dynasty. The brone ware of the Shang Dynasty had almost all categories with various shapes. For decorative designs, they were of central symmetry of single line patterns, mysterious and solemn. Due to the tendency of drinking prevailing among the ruling class of the Shang Dynasty, the making of drinking vessels was highly developed. As the cost was very high, the bronze ware could only be used by rulers. For the broad masses of slaves, earthenware was still taken as principal articles for their daily necessities. As a result, the pottery-making technique of the Shang Dynasty was also universally developed. There were three kinds of technique to make pottery: wheel, mold and their combination. There was also an internal division of labor for the pottery-making technique and different kilns fired different potteries. China is the first nation in the world to breed silkworms, weave silk fabrics and use lacquer. In the Shang Dynasty, wild silkworms had already been domesticated. The coating of lacquer can prevent wooden articles from rotting and be used for decoration as well. So far as decoration was concerned, the handicraft in the Shang Dynasty was full of strong religious color and its religious significance was more important than aesthetic consciousness.

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As the handicraft level of the Song Dynasty was rather high, obvious development was made in various aspects, such as the development of varieties, the scale of production, the technology of handicrafts, the management and trading. The administrative setups of government-run handicrafts were more unwieldy and the division of labor was more elaborate than the Tang Dynasty. Most of the artisans of the government-run handicraft were recruited and had personal freedom to a certain extent while the management of the folk handicraft workshop was even more flexible and open. The commerce of the Song Dynasty was well developed, the urban economy became brisk day by day and handicrafts became commodity production universally. In Bianliang (the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty in the present Kaifeng, Henan) and Lin’an (the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in the present Hangzhou, Zhejiang) shops and stores stood in great numbers, gathering together almost all articles of daily use, and urban handicrafts were very flourishing, The scroll of the Qingming Shanghe Tu (Pure Brightness Day on the River) drawn by Zhang Zeduan(1085-1145) of the Northern Song Dynasty showed the busy commercial activities in Bianliang city in a lively and visual representation. There was regular country fair on the outskirts of bi cities like Chang’an, Luoyang, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Yangzhou and Chengdu. Gradually the rural fairs developed into marked towns.

The Song Dynasty deserved the title of the “Porcelain Age” as porcelain was the most outstading of all its handicrafts. Famous kilns were scattered from north to south. The Dingyao Kiln, Ruyao Kiln, Guanyao Kiln, Geyao Kiln an Junyao Kiln were known as the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty. They created ceramic varieties with their respective characteristics, such as the white porcelain of the Dingyao Kiln, the celadon of the Ruyao Kiln, the light greenish blue porcelain of the Guanyao Kiln, the crackle porcelain of the Geyao Kiln, the transmutation porcelain of the Junyao Kiln and the shadowy blue porcelain of the Jingdezhengyao Kiln. In addition, the simple and straightforward porcelain fired by folk kilns like the Cizhouyao Kiln in the north and the Jizhouyao Kiln in the south was verypopular among the people. The ceramic technology of the Song Dynasty achieved unprecedented prosperity by incorporation the great achievements of the successive dynasties. The dyeing and weaving technology of the Song Dynasty was also greatly developed. The varieties of silk weaving were plentiful and the center of silk weaving was in the regions south of the Yangtze River. For the production of lacquer ware, not only did the government have special administrative setups, the fabrication among folk people was also so common that local centers were formed. For the jade carving technique, as the “qiao se” (coincidental natural colors) on the jade was given full play to, gigantic achievements were obtained.

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