| The mural in Kaihuasi Temple(Gaoping,Shanxi Province),huge in its scale,represents the outstanding quality of murals in the Song Dynasty.As a precious cultural heritage,it should be well preserved and made accessible to researchers both at home and abroad.It should also play an important part in China’s international cultural exchanges.This thesis uses case study and focuses on one specific element of the mural on the west wall of Kaihuasi Temple.Based on field study,literature review and the digital resources of the school library,this thesis classifies architectural images of the mural on the west wall of the Hall of Sakyamuni in Kaihuasi Temple,and then gives statistic analysis.The researcher,either directly facing the mural or entering the mural,conducts the research based on existing textual and iconographical materials.From architectural perspective,this study uses texts and images from The Construction of Style to analyze the shape,structure and composition of the architectural images in the mural,and makes comparison with similar images from similar time periods,so as to identify its architectural style that embodies its time period.By using research methods such as qualitative analysis,empirical research and time framing,this study is very detail-oriented and analyzes the statistic significance levels.From artistic perspective,this study looks at the single building element,and carries out reverse recovery experiments,and explores both the architectural and artistic aspects of the mural.With various categories of data,this study concludes that the west wall mural in Kaihuasi Temple depicts the architecture of royal residences or vassal state palaces in Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties,as it reflects the social life of the upper class during that time period and well creates a temporal artistic space. |
