Travel with me #31: Guanzhong's Folk Village and the incredible art on the doors!
Dear Steemit Friends:
Today, I'm sharing a special place with a very rich folk architecture. In China, one of the most famous writers called Luxun once said:
Folk belongs to the world.
So, I hope sharing this folk treasure to my steemit friends will help spread the charm of this place and let culture and art intertwine. Lets take a look at the Guanzhong folk art museum and experience the folk spirit upfront as well as have a look at what the folk houses look like.
Guanzhong is situated in the middle of the Shaanxi province.
As I walk into this courtyard, I realise why these folk homes are nicknamed "museums". Despite not having the same noble feel of the 3 other renowned museums (Palace Museum, National palace museum etc.) it's still a priceless historical and cultural relic - every brick and tile recounts the history behind these beautiful buildings.
Our theme today will be the art of doors. Rather, the frames around them. Here they can be divided into two types: carved or engraved, and painted. The shapes of the entrances can be divided into two types too, the rectangular and the arch. All of them are hand made and intricately beautiful.
The courtyard is composed of eight homes that surround the courtyard and was built in the Ming Qing dynasties. They were once inhabited by government officials or generals and so, these residences would have been considered homes for rich people in the ancient times.
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This is the handle of one of the doors, the handle itself is two dragons biting onto the knob.
This beautiful stage was where early Chinese opera performers from the Qing era would perform.
I really like the designs of the stone engraving.
The wooden panels have dragons, phoenix's and lotuses. These actually look three dimensional, as if they're real and coming out at you.
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I was surprised to see the doors not only had beautiful paintings, but some are even traditional Chinese paintings.
I was very surprised to see how these wood smiths were able to paint such beautiful paintings so high up. It's impressive to see the knowledge and skills of the artists dating back as far as 700 years ago.
Below are some more detailed photos of the courtyard and it's door decorations:
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And that round's up our journey to the ancient Folk village courtyards of Guanzhong, I hope you enjoyed taking a look back at such beautiful architecture and Chinese art.
If you were decorating your own house, would you have intricate pretty paintings and stone engravings or do you prefer simple designs?
今天我想带大家看一看充满民俗魅力的建筑, 在中国，一位著名的作家鲁迅曾说过：民族的，就是世界的。所以我希望与全世界的Steemit朋友分享中国民俗的魅力，让文化和艺术互通。现在我们就一起去关中民俗艺术博物院，去探索一下关中平原上充满民族特色的民居吧。关中位于陕西省中部。 走进关中民居，真的称得上“博物院”三个字，虽然没有三大故宫博物院的皇家贵气，也没有玻璃框住的价值连城的文物，但是这里的一砖一瓦都诉说着古老的故事。今天我们就来重点探索一下门的艺术。门上的装饰，分为雕刻和绘画，门的形状也分为拱形和方形的，门上的工艺完全是纯手工制作，非常漂亮。有龙、凤凰和荷花，非常立体和逼真，就像真的一样。 原来门上面不仅有漂亮的图案，竟然还有中国传统的国画艺术。让我非常惊讶，更难以想象的是,工匠们是如何在2 3 米高的门上作画的。我感慨古人的智慧无穷。下面就来细细品味一下：(1-17)谢谢你们的观看，希望你们喜欢民俗村里门上的艺术，如果你在装修自己的家，你是希望在门和窗户等各个地方有复杂的工艺，还是喜欢简单的装修风格？
Again, a beautiful tour of your home country. Thank you for the visit and the information you shared with us. You liked the flower designs in carved in stone and I have to admit that I do too. When I saw what you were pointing at, I was wondering how deep the carving was? On the other hand, the door-knocker details are simply exquisite! Namaste :)
Thank you eric, looks like we have the same appreciation of flowers as well as art. A lot of the 'paintings' are actually like collages because they are not flat and have texture. It's quite amazing! And yes, the door knocker must have taken someone a really long time to make. Back in those days, the carpenters and blacksmiths were like artists, their greatest works of art are in the every day things they use.. They're just not as widely appreciated as things like paintings etc, but they required a comparable amount of skill.
I can't agree more! I have definitely noticed that too. Namaste :)
Beautiful detail on those doors. Great photos and description. Looks like a nice trip so far!
Thanks donkeypong! Yes it's been a really nice trip thus far, shame the itinerary is really packed and couldn't stay here longer, more to come though!
Great pictures, check it out @jankasparec.
Thanks, carrying around this 5D is so heavy ! I'm glad the picture quality is worth the hassle though!
Gorgeous architecture and painting!
The paintings and architecture fit together so well!
The art and architecture of 中国 has always been beautiful to me.
I am thankful for the translation, thus I can practice reading a little bit.
I like the older version of 国. (Does the pictograph look like emperor in a box to you? I am unsure of my font) I liked the complexity of the older pictograph, with river, emperor, rice and house in a box, for country. (and I may have that wrong) Thank you
You're right, the old character for 国 is written as 國.
Simplified Chinese was a necessity due to China having a large population of people who were unable to read an write. Learning the traditional characters proved to be a difficult task. However, I agree that the Traditional characters have more meaning and are prettier to look at too!
Nice post @sweetsssj!!! That door handle is incredible and so detailed. I'm guessing that I won't find them at Home Depot ;-)
Oh, definitely won't be finding those at the home depot! You could perhaps hire a talented work smith to make you a custom one though, only problem is in those days, these things would take like a year to make..
What a beautiful and wondrous tour.
Thanks, i'm glad you appreciate it as much as i do!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks! You're welcome!
I smell the sense of history,thanks for your sharing.
history has it's own way of making it into our lives today.. we must relish and appreciate it's presence
Steemit T-Shirt looks more beautiful on you <3