Along the River During the Qingming Festival

Along the River During the Qingming Festival

Along the River During the Qingming Festival (simplified Chinese: 清明上河图; traditional Chinese: 清明上河圖; pinyin: Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú; lit. 'Clear bright up river image') is a handscroll painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) and copied or recreated many times in the following centuries. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng) during the Northern Song. The theme is often said to be the spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers. Read right to left, as a viewer would unroll it, successive scenes reveal the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as economic activities in both rural areas and the city, and offer glimpses of clothing and architecture. The painting is considered the most renowned work among all Chinese paintings, and it has been called "China's Mona Lisa." As an artistic creation, the painting has been revered and artists of subsequent dynasties made hundreds of replicas, copies of copies, and even forgeries of well-regarded copies, each following the overall composition and the theme of the original but differing in detail and technique. Over the centuries, the Song original was kept in private collections before it eventually returned to public ownership. The painting was a particular favorite of Puyi, the last emperor of China, who took it with him when he was forced to leave the Forbidden City in 1924. It was recovered in 1945 and kept at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. The Song original and later versions are regarded as national treasures and are exhibited intermittently, and only for brief periods of time, due to their delicate nature.

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Along the River During the Qingming Festival

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