The Great Wall of China, Essay Example

Japanese Art Ukiyo-E

The ukiyo-e was acknowledged as an artistic style that depicted paintings of the floating world. The ukiyo-e was a style of Japanese art that applied thick wooden blocks in order to demonstrate entertainment, historical occurrences and landscapes. The artwork was in favor in Edo during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Utagawa Hiroshige had been a Japanese artist who specialized in ukiyo-e art. He lived from 1797 – 1858. Hiroshige had been one of the last artists that was able to perpetuate the tradition of Japanese block art. In the Edo era there had been a significant interest in traveling to other lands (Hiroshige 7; Forrer 21).

The concepts of foreign lands enabled Hiroshige to become inspired with his art. The details of Tokyo are still applied in the Japanese block art due to the premise that not much of the landscapes have been modified since the Hiroshige block wood drawings. Artists who included Ivan Bilibin of Russia and Vincent van Gogh were inspired by Hiroshige’s depictions on the block forms. One of the most well-known works that had been created by Hiroshige is the One Hundred different Views of Edo. The depictions of the entertainment rooms were interesting due to the extensive attention to detail that is emphasized in his art. Hiroshige detailed the social distinctions between Japanese women in his block wood art. The geisha were attired in a certain manner and the regular ladies and housewives would be attired in other attire. All of Hiroshige’s art depict peace without aggression (Hiroshige 9; Forrer 25).

Hiroshige demonstrated his ability to paint impressionist paintings with his paintings that depicted thirty six different angles of Mount Fuji. The colors that had been applied by Hiroshige were more vivid than the colors that were applied in art in Europe (Hiroshige 11; Forrer 31). Hiroshige was a master of demonstrating the distinctions of social class in Japan. This is evident in his art work. Hiroshige went to substantial detail in order to ensure that the Geisha engaged in all types of pleasuring activities as a form of making a living and maintaining their social status in Japanese society. Hiroshige went to such detail that he would demonstrated the blush in the facial expression of the Geisha when they were resting or entertaining in one of the entertainment rooms (Hiroshige 7; Forrer 21).

Hiroshige differentiated the women who were geisha from the women who were not geisha by the attire. The women who were mothers and housewives are depicted as having their bow on the back of their dress. The women who are purported to be geisha would have the bow fastened to the front of their dress. In addition, he would show the women who were geisha with more subtle distinctions. These distinctions would include having the robe open slightly. This would infer that the women were engaged in a pleasuring activity. The robe would not be demonstrated wide open, the robe would be opened slightly and flushed with colors of red in order to create an image in the observers’ imagination. Hiroshige demonstrated that the people who were in the privileged classes always dressed with an extensive amount of clothing. The women who were peasants and farmers would attire themselves in less clothing that would have less emphasis on the brightness of the colors.  Hiroshige helped to perpetuate the legacy of Japanese block art (Hiroshige 12; Forrer 26).

Great Wall of China

The architectural wonder that will be explored is the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China is acknowledged as the Long wall of the ten thousand li. It is one of the defensive fortifications that was constructed in order to defend the middle kingdom of China from the barbarians.

The Great Wall of China was initiated during the Chunqiu period that ranged from 722 – 441 B.C.E. A substantial amount of the Great wall was constructed during the period of the Warring States (453- 221 B.C.E.)(Du Temple 16; O’ Neill 55).

These eras required the building of the Great Wall due to the attribute of being period of extensive struggle between seven Chinese dynasties for the Control of the middle kingdom China. The building of some of the walls can be attributed to the conflicts that were had with the feudal lords. The section of the Great Wall that was constructed in 408 B.C. E. in order to provide defense to the Wei from the Qin. Many of the vestiges which were preserved in central China were built many years before the Great wall. The Yan and the Zhao constructed the Great Wall against the barbarians in the years 300 B.C. E. eighty years later, Qin Shi Huang, the patriarch of the Empire that would endure for ten thousand generations, committed to the endeavor of restoring and creating the connection of the divided sections of the Great Wall which had been constructed in 300 B. C. E (Du Temple 17; O’ Neill 17).

Qin Shi Huang also connected the other parts of the wall that extended from the Lanzhou to the valley of Huanghe. The Great Wall of China was the primary fortification that had been built during that era.  In the reign of the Han dynasty, the Great Wall of China was extended from 3700 miles from the Bohai Sea to Dunhuang. The assault by the Turks, Mongols and Tunguz caused the Great Wall of China to be a necessity in addition to a thing of architectural splendor (Du Temple 18; O’ Neill 44).

Subsequent to the collapse of the Han dynasty, the Great Wall of China entered into a medieval phase. The endeavors of maintenance and construction were stopped and were only performed occasionally. The great wall had a garrison of one hundred and eighty thousand Chinese troops that were stationed on the command depots along the Gansu. Additional work was performed on the Great Wall during the fifth to seventh century A.D. In that era, China had developed such a military force that there had been no longer a need to construct defensive fortifications Du (Temple 16; O’ Neill 55).

This perception continued for almost one thousand years. When the Ming emperors ascended to power and required expelling the Mongols in the era that spanned between (1368 -1644 A.D) the long lost tradition that had been initiated by Qin Shi Huang was reinitiated. In the era of the Ming dynasty, more than three thousand five hundred miles of reinforced walls were built. The stones that were used were extremely fitted. The Great Wall become guarded by twenty five thousand deports and 15, 000 military outposts. The roads that were atop the Great Wall of China caused the movement of troops to be extremely efficient or during the times of peace, the Great wall facilitated the transmission of communication. The Great Wall of China is the only architectural wonder of the world that can be clearly identified from space (Turnbull 5).

Works Cited

Du Temple, Lesley. The Great Wall of China. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Company, 2002. Print.

Hiroshige, And? & Chris Uhlenbeck. Hiroshige: Shaping the image of Japan. Leiden, Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2008. Print.

Forrer, Mathi. Hiroshige: prints and drawings. Leiden, Netherlands: Prestel, 2011. Print

O’ Neill, Joseph R. The Great Wall of China. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing Company, 2009. Print.

Turnbull, Stephen. The Great Wall of China 221 BC – AD 1644. New York, NY: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2007. Print.