-
Feature: Bridging cultures: Italian curator’s mission to connect Italy and China through art
Davide Quadrio, curator of the Asian Art Museum, rearranges a decoration of the museum in Turin, Italy, on March 11, 2024. ( tasteallchina /Li Jing) ROME, May 23 ( tasteallchina ) -- In the heart of Turin, Italy, stands a museum of oriental art, which serves as a unique bridge between the Southern European country and China. At the helm of the museum is Davide Quadrio, an Italian curator whose life's work has been fostering cultural exchanges between these two ancient civilizations. The Asian Art Museum in Turin, with its impressive collection of nearly 2,300 works spanning from the Neolithic era to the early 20th century, holds a special place in Quadrio's heart. Among its five rooms dedicated to permanent exhibitions, the Chinese section stands out, showcasing hundreds of ancient artifacts from the Han, Tang, and Yuan dynasties. For Quadrio, this collection is the museum's soul, and a testament to the enduring influence of Chinese culture on his life and work. This year, the museum unveiled a landmark exhibition called "Translation and Tradition of Eurasia", commemorating the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death. The exhibition, which opened in April, features an array of blue and white ceramic wares, meticulously curated… -
Suzhou Silk
Basic Introduction to Suzhou Silk Suzhou is the birthplace of silk, with Neolithic and Paleolithic sites in the Taihu Lake area attesting to the long history of silk. Fragments of textile products from 6,000 years ago have been unearthed at Caoxiashan in Weiting Town of the Development Zone; silk fabrics from 4,700 years ago were found at Qianshan Yang in Wuxing; and a large number of spinning wheels and bone needles from 4,000 years ago, along with pottery adorned with silk and silkworm patterns, have been excavated in Meiyan, Wujiang. These discoveries indicate that Suzhou's ancient ancestors mastered sericulture and silk spinning techniques very early on. Product Characteristics Advantages: Lightweight, fitting, soft, smooth, breathable, rich in color, lustrous, elegant, comfortable to wear. Disadvantages: Prone to wrinkling, clings to the body, not very durable, fades quickly, does not provide warmth. History and Folklore In ancient times, Suzhou belonged to the Yangzhou region of the Nine Provinces. During the time of King Yu of the Xia Dynasty, there were local tribute offerings of silk products known as "zhibei," a type of colorful brocade. During the Spring and Autumn period, Prince Ji Zha of the State of Wu gifted gauze belts produced in… -
Pic story: inheritor of jade carving art in Beijing
Zhang Tiecheng makes a jade carving work at his studio in Beijing, capital of China, June 15, 2024. ( tasteallchina /Tian Weiwei) China's Jade carving art, which can date back to the Neolithic Age, reached its peak time in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). The art was inscribed into the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008. Selecting materials, designing and carving are the three major steps involved in jade carving. The craftsmen should have mastery in painting, carving and literature in order to complete an artwork, which is designed and carved according to the material itself and the aspiration of the artist. Most of the jade carving artworks convey auspicious meanings. Zhang Tiecheng, a master of the jade carving art born in Beijing in 1967, has devoted his love to traditional Chinese paintings since childhood. In 1987, he was enrolled in the Beijing Jade Articles Factory and became an apprentice of master Wang Yaotang. In his over 30 years' career, Zhang learned skills from his predecessors and formed his own unique style. Since 2005, he has participated in the repairing of rare jade cultural relics for the Forbidden City. In the past 20 years, Zhang has accepted more… -
History of Ancient Chinese Ceramics and Porcelain
Ceramics symbolizes the beginning of the Neolithic Age. The Chinese pottery of the Neolithic Age, the firing of ceramic objects was the other great success of mankind after the discovery of fire. With the help of fire, clay objects and figures could be fired, a process that led to the production of porcelain, which, with different methods, gradually became the domain of almost all the peoples of the world. Since human beings began sedentary life and started to cultivate crops and raise livestock, they began to need ceramic utensils for cooking and serving food, as well as porcelain items for the storage of various contents. Chinese ceramics have about 8,000 years of history. Each period of antiquity left its own legacy of manufacturing techniques, thanks to which many excellent works were created. Chinese ceramics and porcelain are a symbol of a materialized culture, which combines arts with science and technology, while linking material and spiritual civilization. The history of Chinese porcelain developed gradually, starting from the gray period, through black and white, to the stage of filigree and colorful, then moving from simple to complex patterns, from rough to refined texture, from prosaic to exquisite. Terracotta Warriors One of the… -
Timeline of Ancient China: From Shang to Tang Dynasty
The Chinese culture forms a world apart from strong isolation. Only in prehistoric times, especially the Neolithic, can we point to any contact between such distant worlds. The pottery with painted spirals of the Chinese Yang-Chao culture, in the 3rd millennium, resembles that of Southern Russia and the Danube at the same time. It has been brought from the West, perhaps by the first Chinese, farmers and herdsmen arriving from the Turkestan districts, where they were in contact with Caucasians and Indo-Germans and with other Mughal groups, the Uralo-Altaic and Turkic. Early History of Chinese Culture People were already living in the large region we now call China long before the beginning of recorded history. About 9,000 years ago, the ancestors of today's Chinese created agricultural settlements near two mighty rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Near the northernmost Yellow River, the earliest agricultural settlements consisted of wooden houses plastered with mud and roofed with reeds. Farmers cultivated a plant called millet, as well as fished in the river and hunted. Further south, people built houses on stilts in the swampy land near the Chang Jiang or "Long River". They grew rice on the waterlogged land and archaeologists have… -
The Legend of “Prosperity Year by Year”
During the Spring Festival, many regions in our country have a tradition of eating rice cakes, also known as "yearly cakes" or "nian gao," which sounds similar to "prosperity year by year," symbolizing that people's work and life improve with each passing year. Rice cakes, as a food item, have a long history in China. In 1974, archaeologists discovered rice seeds at the Hemudu Neolithic site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, indicating that our ancestors began planting rice as early as seven thousand years ago. The Han people had various names for rice cakes, such as "rice cake," "glutinous rice ball," and "sticky cake." The process of making rice cakes evolved from using whole grains to using ground rice flour. The sixth-century recipe book "Shi Ci" describes the method of making New Year's cake called "white cocoon sugar": "Cook glutinous rice until it is thoroughly cooked, then while still hot, pound it into a sticky mass in a clean mortar and pestle, ensuring there are no remaining grains of rice...". After pounding, the glutinous rice is cut into pieces the size of peach kernels, dried, fried, and coated with sugar before being consumed. The method of grinding rice into flour to make…
❯
Search
Scan to open current page
Top
Checking in, please wait...
Click for today's check-in bonus!
You have earned {{mission.data.mission.credit}} points today
My Coupons
-
$CouponsLimitation of use:Expired and UnavailableLimitation of use:
before
Limitation of use:Permanently validCoupon ID:×Available for the following products: Available for the following products categories: Unrestricted use:Available for all products and product types
No coupons available!
Daily tasks completed