Below
is a list of interesting Chinese art and culture books
we've come across over the years. Most of the books listed
are ideal for casual readers interested in Chinese art,
culture and history. Many of these books are from Asian
publishers and out of print but some may still be available
through online book sellers. Unless noted all books are
written in English or include Chinese and English text.
Book
Categories
Chinese Art & Architecture
Chinese Culture & Symbolism
Chinese Religions
CHINESE
ART & ARCHITECTURE BOOKS
Looking
at Chinese Painting
1996 - Wang Yao-t'ing
An excellent book, Looking at Chinese Painting discusses the history, philosophy
and techniques of traditional Chinese painting. This books covers a great deal
including Chinese painting materials and how they are used, merging of poetry
and painting, the presentation of chinese paintings, authentication paintings,
comparing Chinese and western style painting techniques, and much more. The
writer Mr. Wang is a scholar at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. The National
Palace Museum in Taiwan houses the finest collection of Chinese art in the
world.
Chinese
Pictorial Art
1958 - R. H. Van Gulik
A large book (500+ pages), the complete title of this book is "Chinese
Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur: Notes on the means and methods
of traditional Chinese connoisseurship of pictorial art, based upon a study
of the art of mounting scrolls in China and Japan". This fascinating book
covers the history and techniques of mounting Chinese paintings, how Chinese
paintings should be displayed, the judging of antique scrolls, the connoisseurship
of seals, collecting scrolls and much more. It also includes translations of
two old Chinese books about the mounting of Chinese paintings. There is a lot
of information in this book you won't find anywhere else and the information
is based on "old China" methods and ways. We highly recommend this
book to anyone interested in Chinese paintings.
Panoramic
View of Temples in China
1996
This
is an amazing oversized two volume book set that includes
descriptions (English and Chinese text) and over 900 color
pictures for more than "300" temples and monasteries
in China (and 11 in Taiwan). Many of the temples in these
two volumes have never been published before. Religious and
academic scholars, history professors from China and Taiwan,
and numerous professional photographers combined their efforts
to complete this book which took well over 5 years to complete.
Because these books are oversized, many of the pictures are
very large and full of detail. This unique set was not made
available outside China or Taiwan and had a very limited
printing. This is a must have set for anyone interested in
Chinese religion, architecture, and culture. Retail price
listed in the book is $300. Each book measures 10.5" x
14.75". Vol. 1 has 278 pages and 450 pictures, Vol 2
has 255 pages and 500 pictures. Expensive but well worth
it.
Foreign
Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities
and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia
1984 - Peter Hopkirk
The
Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant
China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth.
Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold,
and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas.
Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres
of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began
to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left,
and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert
sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But
legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasurees
and guarded by demons. In the early years of the
20th century, foreign explorers began to investigate
these legends, and very soon an international race
began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge
wall paintings, sculptures, and priceless manuscripts
were carried away, literally by the ton, and are
today scattered through the museums of a dozen
countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the
intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these
long-range archaeological raids, incurring the
undying wrath of the Chinese.
CHINESE
CULTURE AND SYMBOLISM BOOKS
The
Chinese Art of Tea
1985 - Blofeld
Great in-depth overview of the varieties of Chinese tea and drinking vessels.
Includes history, poems and treatises about tea, tea houses, ceremonies, brewing,
cups and vessels, varieties, and the effect that tea has on the physical health
and psyche. Everything you need to know about Chinese teas is contained in
this book.
A
Dictionary of Chinese Symbols - Hidden Symbols in Chinese
Life and Thought
1983 - Wolfram Eberhard
A to Z coverage of more than 400 Chinese symbols and their meanings. This book
also covers information about Chinese beliefs, customs, arts and crafts, food,
agriculture, medicine, and religions. A very good reference book for anyone
wanting to learn more about Chinese symbols and culture.
Chinese
Symbolism and Art Motifs
1941 - C.A.S. Williams
This book covers many Chinese symbols, Chinese beliefs, customs, arts and crafts,
food, agriculture, medicine, and religions. A very good reference book for
anyone wanting to learn more about Chinese symbols and culture. Over 400 illustrations.
This book has been revised a number of times.
Chronicle
of the Chinese Emperors - The Reign-by-Reign Record of
the Rulers of China
1998 - Ann Paludan
Biographical
accounts for all the 157 emperors of China from Qin Shihuangdi, the great First
Emperor to the boy Puyi, the last emperor. 368 illustrations including portraits
of the emperors, art treasures from imperial tombs and maps detailing old China.
Easy and very fun to read. There is a lot of nice yet brief art and cultural
related information about such things as printing, gunpowder, horses, tomb
figures, commercial trade, Buddhism and lots of other subjects.
CHINESE
RELIGION BOOKS
100
Buddhas in Chinese Buddhism
1997 - Wu Boheng & Cai Zhuozhi, Illustrated by Lu Yanguang
This book traces the beginnings fo Buddhism and how it spread form Central
Asia and India to China 2000 years ago. This collection of 100 Buddhas not
only includes those who are revered for their contribution to China's civilization,
but also those who spread Buddhism to Korea and Japan. A historical biography
is included for each Buddha.
Chinese
Gods - The Unseen World of Spirits and Demons
1997 - Keith Stevens
This is one of the finest books about Chinese gods and covers deities of creation
and prehistory, and the gods of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. This great
book covers numerous deities of fate and destiny, health and medicine, matrimony
and childbirth, wealth and business, nature and agriculture, oceans and river,
and others. Also covered is Chinese iconography, temples and worship, temple
design, casting fortune blocks, seances and enlivening images to deities, and
so much more. The author Keith Stevens spent more than 30 years compiling the
information first hand for this book while living and traveling to China, Taiwan,
and Hong Kong. This is a very difficult book to find but well worth the search.
Reading
Buddhist Art - An Illustrated Guide to Buddhist
Signs and Symbols
2002 - Meher McArthur
This is a very good and easy-to-use reference book on Buddhism. Covered are
the major Buddhas, Buddhist signs, symbols and ritual objects, and major Buddhist
sites.
Buddhism
- Flammarion Iconographic Guides
1995 - Louis Frederic
Another very good and easy-to-use reference book on Buddhism. Covered is the
evolution of Buddhist representations, Iconography, the Buddha and the great
Buddhas, other major Buddhas, defenders and guardians of the Buddhist law,
groups of deities, and divine beings and deified historical figures. Highly
illustrated and covers three thousand manifestations of the Buddha in Asia
and provided different names and attributes by which they are known in India,
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, S.E. China, China, and Japan.
