Man-Made Nature?: Artistic Representation and Ecological Concerns of Chinese Landscape

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

Shanshui (mountains and waters), commonly translated as landscape, has been one of the most esteemed genres in Chinese visual culture for over a millennium. Nonetheless, the relationship between landscape and nature remains in flux. As mountains and waterways experience ecological changes, artists continue to reshape and redefine the landscape by portraying nature with their own interpretations, reminding us as scholars of the constructed nature of landscape as a genre. This panel draws from different media and disciplines to consider the underlying concepts of the Chinese landscape, which is especially pertinent during a time of rapid ecological changes.

The papers in this panel explore artistic representation and ecological concerns in Chinese landscape from the early modern period to today. Duan investigates how the landscape paintings of West Lake exerted ecological influences by shaping tourists’ interaction with the environment during the Ming. Huang looks at the mismatch between textual and visual representations of the disappearing pine forest around Xiaoling mausoleum in Nanjing during Ming and Qing. Parke studies how the portrayals of nature in propaganda posters under the PRC shifted from idealistic landscapes to a provider of natural resources, especially in regions occupied by ethnic minorities. Tan examines contemporary “landscapes” that go above and beyond the conventionally defined “nature” in order to reexamine the relationship between humans and the physical environment. The overall goal of this panel is to investigate the role of “landscape,” in images and texts, as constructive sites that continue to shape our perceptions of—and interactions with—nature.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Amy Shumei Huang, Brown University

Chair

• Patricia Ebrey, University of Washington

Individual Presentations

• Beyond the Scroll: Tourism and Ecology in Landscape Painting of West Lake during the Sixteenth to the Seventeenth Century - Xiaolin Duan, Elon University

• Nature, Fengshui, and Political Symbolism: Pines on Mount Zhong during the Seventeenth Century - Amy Shumei Huang, Brown University

• Mining the View: Propaganda Posters, Ethnic Minorities, and Natural Resources - Elizabeth Parke, University of Toronto Mississauga

• Landscape without Nature: Ecological Reflections in Contemporary Chinese Art - Chang Tan, Pennsylvania State University

Discussant

• Jenny Lin, University of Oregon