DOI chapter:
Essays
DOI chapter:Ning, Yao: Propagating the Confucian Virtues: Chinese Artists in Serialized Printed Portrait Books
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70035#0040
Propagating the Confucian Virtues
Fig. 15: Image of WangXizhi wood-
block print, 1877, based on Ren Xiong’s
print in 1856
Fig. 16: Image of Wang Xizhi litho-
graphic reprint, 1886
published for the education of women throughout Chinese history, but these women
were only exemplary - they were not regarded as "the worthies”. Thus in the
nineteenth century, although the term "formal worthies” was still used, its content
and meaning had shifted. This can be observed in Ren Xiong's print.
Following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, doubts concerning the integrity of
society as well as distrust of Confucian ideology were growing. The propagation of
Confucian values often functioned as a means of obliquely suggesting political and
social issues that could not be expressed openly for fear of punishment. The criticism
would be invisible to all except those who were immersed in a specific circle and,
therefore, understood the hidden meaning. The unsuccessful political career of
Confucius was another factor for those scholars and officials who sponsored the
publications on Confucian themes to express their desires for an alternative political
change - a subtle and safe way to vent their discontent towards emperor and
government. Indeed, this type of expression has been utilized throughout Chinese
history. It demonstrates the fact that art has always provided a means to express
social remonstration or to make a political statement, and very often in China, it is
carried out in very subtle ways.
33
Fig. 15: Image of WangXizhi wood-
block print, 1877, based on Ren Xiong’s
print in 1856
Fig. 16: Image of Wang Xizhi litho-
graphic reprint, 1886
published for the education of women throughout Chinese history, but these women
were only exemplary - they were not regarded as "the worthies”. Thus in the
nineteenth century, although the term "formal worthies” was still used, its content
and meaning had shifted. This can be observed in Ren Xiong's print.
Following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, doubts concerning the integrity of
society as well as distrust of Confucian ideology were growing. The propagation of
Confucian values often functioned as a means of obliquely suggesting political and
social issues that could not be expressed openly for fear of punishment. The criticism
would be invisible to all except those who were immersed in a specific circle and,
therefore, understood the hidden meaning. The unsuccessful political career of
Confucius was another factor for those scholars and officials who sponsored the
publications on Confucian themes to express their desires for an alternative political
change - a subtle and safe way to vent their discontent towards emperor and
government. Indeed, this type of expression has been utilized throughout Chinese
history. It demonstrates the fact that art has always provided a means to express
social remonstration or to make a political statement, and very often in China, it is
carried out in very subtle ways.
33