What may be China’s most famous painting, “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” is now on display in Hong Kong to mark the tenth anniversary of the handover to Chinese rule. The painting, one of the few paintings from Imperial China that remains on the mainland, is very rarely displayed. The New York Times has written about the painting and its significance:
“Qingming Festival” is famous partly for its involvement over centuries in palace intrigues, theft and wars, and partly for its detailed, geometrically accurate images of bridges, wine shops, sedan chairs and boats beautifully juxtaposed with flowing lines for the depiction of mountains and other natural scenery. It is routinely covered in courses on Chinese history, art and culture, across China and in the West. [Full text]
