The Image Of Chengzhitang

Cheng Zhi Tang, a set of Huizhou vernacular housing built around the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, can be rated as the material cultural specimens in the particular historical period. The decorative images of Cheng Zhi Tang is a kind of comprehensive formative images, integrating into one the carvings, drawings, architecture, decoration, process design, folk art and other factors. Mainly presented in forms of woodcarving and tempera, it is a miniature of the creature concept, decorative thinking and architectural art of Huizhou in the late Qing Dynasty. During this period, construction in folk was getting rid of the weight and bondage of feudal etiquette, and new aesthetic taste gradually formed, the group of Huizhou merchants was declining gradually, an almost every social change appeared in the images of Cheng Zhi Tang. Meanwhile, the life experience and values of the owner, Wang Ding-Gui, were not only projected into the design and construction of Cheng Zhi Tang, but also into the election of topic and the form of imaging. And those have formed the main theme on life, which is presented by Fu in the main hall and of Shou in the back hall, reflecting the owner’s worldly ideal and his expectation on multiplication of his offspring as well as Huizhou merchants’ complex inner world behind their ideas of Confucian Businessman during the Ming and Qing dynasty. This paper has investigated the social changes and conditions of the owner’s life with situational logic method, iconography, formal analysis and symbolic analysis; explored the forms and implications of decorative image of Cheng Zhi Tang, and tried to interpret sociological and psychological implication of the images of Cheng Zhi Tang.The present paper contains seven chapters. Chapter1is introduction. Chapter2primarily describes the owner, Wang Ding-Gui, and the architectural pattern of Cheng Zhi Tang. To identify the building time of Cheng Zhi Tang based on textual research is an important base to recognize the residential architecture. Furthermore, in term of textual and oral materials, to restore the truth about the identification of Wang Ding Gui is a precondition for further discussions. Chapter3focuses on the analysis of techniques, materials, image configuration and visual forms. Based on those analyses, we can have a restricted view on the traits of Huizhou building technology. In Chapter4, Chapter5, and Chapter6, we analyze the main hall, the back hall and the roof by using methods of iconology. We can find that the decoration in the three places composes the main body of Cheng Zhi Tang, which is also an expression of the core spiritual values of the images distributed in Cheng Zhi Tang.Hui studies, Dunhuang studies and Tibetan studies are regarded as the three projects of Chinese territorial culture research. Currently, most researches in the field of Hui studies are limited to textual research and collation of ancient books and records, and few researches were conducted by the approach of visual image. It is undoubtedly a great regret to tremendous architectural relics and visual image resources. From the perspective of visual culture, the present paper tries to explore the technology, idea of manufacturing image, and ethics of Huizhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasty, which may be a beneficial attempt for folk arts and huizhoulogy. Focusing on Cheng Zhi Tang’s images with case method, the present paper tries to clarify the main theme and the form of images closely related to that times and inhabitants, and recognizes those businessmen’s hankering on traditional aesthetic values, and their understanding of the blessedness of life. Furthermore, based on the living fossil of that period, we can comprehend lots of historical culture information on the social context, idea concepts and architectural technology in Huizhou during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and it maybe open a new field for Hui studies.