Tang Material CultureTang Material Culture

• How much and to what extent does material culture reflect Tang dynasty’s cultural advances?

• How important were the foreign influences on Tang material culture?

• What were situations of dwelling and clothing in the Tang?

• What kind of food did Tang people eat and what constituted Tang transportation system?

• Dwelling: little foreign influence; the majority of people lived in houses

• Special dwelling structures: – artificial caves (northwest)– homes built on pilings (southwest)– boats (along the Yangtze River) – large ships (central China)– Boats (some southern districts)

• Clothing: many foreign influences– Women wore burnoose adopted from the Tu-

yü-hun, curtain bonnet from Tokâra– The rich and the poor

Earliest Tang

buildings still

remain today

Northern corner of

Huaqing Pool Park, Xian

Old Huaqing Pool site

Dwelling in the TangDwelling in the Tang

• Built according to the principle of fengshui– Gates face south– Walls and outer

walls, made of earth– Images of gate

gods painted on or attached to gates

Gate GodsGate Gods

Dwelling of the RichDwelling of the Rich

• Houses of the rich and powerful had to follow sumptuary statutes– Only highest-ranking aristocrats could place lances

with banners attached to them, planted outside the gates of their homes

– Mansions having two or more courtyards and halls– Men lived in front apartments, women rear or inner

apartments– Wood pillars, beams, rafters used to construct halls– Windows made of oiled papers, cloth, or silk– Walls were plastered and decorated with paintings

and calligraphies

• Houses of rich families and ranking

officials consisted of:

– Center room, wife and relatives’ rooms

– Personal library

– Treasury room

– Family shrine

– Bathhouse or hot spring

– Separate privy (had goddess of the privy)

– Wells

• Furnishing: – couches, chairs (after mid-Tang century),

round stools and long benches, dinning tables,

screens, beds (supported by four poles from

which curtains hung), foreign rugs, treasure

chest, chamber pots

– Pillows: made of porcelain, wood, stone,

rosewood

– Lightening: torches, oil lamps, candles, and

lanterns

Chair, Body, and HealthChair, Body, and Health

• Influence of Buddhism– monks played an important role in the use and spread of

chair, sugar, and tea in China.• Before the mid-Tang (8th century), people sat on mats

on the ground – Preferred method on sitting was to kneel– On casual occasion, one could sit cross-legged

• Buddhist monks started to sit on chairs– Beginning the 6th century or earlier, monks sat on chairs,

which were often referred to as corded-chairs,• Sitting on chairs cross-legged was form of seated-meditation• It was to avoid the distraction caused by crawlers such as poisonous

snake, spiders, insects etc.

– chairs spread from monasteries to living rooms, particularly in late Tang and Song households.

LandscapingLandscaping Architecture Architecture

• Garden in the yard: – Occupied half of the land for a stately home– A lake or pond and bridge

• Fish, ducks, geese in the lake or pond

– Pleasure boats– A bamboo grove– Esteemed flowers and trees: peonies, blue lotus

flowers, white and purple magnolias, cassia trees and flowers, a fragrant bramble with yellow blossoms, azaleas, chrysanthemums, redbuds, pine and cypress, apricots, peaches, crabapples

– A pavilion (for playing zither or small gatherings)– Rare rocks

Pipa Pavilion Built in the Tang

In honor of Bai Juyi, who wrote“Ballad of Pipa”

(“Song of the Lute”)

Houses and pavilions tend to show bilateral symmetry but gardens are asymmetrical

Tang women

and their costumes

Clothing in the TangClothing in the Tang• Materials:

– Felt (made from wool), used for hats, tents, saddle covers, and boots

– Camel hair, otter fur, bombycine, cotton, silk, used to make garments

• Major types of cloth:• Wool made from animal fur• Linen made from woody

fibers: hemp, ramie, kudzu• Silk made from insect

filaments: silkworms (which eat mulberry leaves) cocoons

Men’s and Women’s ApparelsMen’s and Women’s Apparels• Men:

– Wore loose, baggy trousers, tunics that opened in the front, and sashes tied at the waist

– Slippers and sandals served as shoes

– Formal dress resembled modern bathrobes

– Boots for horse riding

• Women:– Wore trouser and outer

skirt that was tied across or above the breasts

Foodstuffs in Tang ChinaFoodstuffs in Tang China

• Examples: Sweeteners and Teas

• Sweeteners:

– Chinese used maltose and honey as sweeteners in the pre-Tang period

– Monks first acquired the knowledge of sugar-making and were dispatched by Tang court to Indian monastery to learn the technique

– The steady stream of monks traveling between China and India accounted for the transfer of the sugar-making technology

Left: Gauze-dressed

noble women in Tang times

Right: Modern version

Sugar-productionSugar-production

• Evidence indicates that monks first demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of sugar refining– A monk invented sugar frost (known in the West as

sugar candy, coffee crystals, or rock candy)• Monasteries often possessed large fields and mills,

making it possible to:– Cultivate sugarcane– Extract juice from the cane

• Monks paid attention to sugar manufacturing because– they had to follow the rule of eating two meals a day

before noon

Tea and Tea DrinkingTea and Tea Drinking • Tea drinking became fashionable among literati

officials in the south during the 3rd to the 6th centuries• It gained currency after the 7th century (Tang

dynasty), and reached its climax in the 10th century• The popularity of tea drinking led to:

– the establishment of a tea-drinking ritual, or several refined rituals

– Refinement of the tea drinking culture entailed the use of good quality of waters for brewing tea

– Advocacy of the medicinal use of tea– State levied tax on tea, indicating the thriving trade in tea

leaves– Poets composed verses praising merits of tea, creating a

new genre of literature—”tea poetry”

Beginning of Tea ManufacturingBeginning of Tea Manufacturing

• Scholars generally agree that tea manufacture (cultivation and using their leaves) originated in China.– Tea cultivation and drinking throughout the world

can for the most part be traced to China– Even pronunciations of the words for tea in all

modern languages derive ultimately from Chinese

• The modern Chinese word of tea, however, did not become the standard word for the plant until the eighth century

Buddhism Helped Spread TeaBuddhism Helped Spread Tea• The first Chinese author

of tea, Lu Yu (b. 733), was raised by a monk and maintained close contacts with monks throughout his life

• Tea in monasteries: popular because of – its medicinal properties– its value as a stimulant, – Used as an aid in staying

alert during meditation

• Monasteries offered tea to visiting literati officials

Other BeveragesOther Beverages• Wine

– Most were products of glutinous millet or glutinous rice

– Grape wine was a result of newly developed wine technology

– “spring wine”: celebrated in poetry, most popular– Herb added to make it salubrious

• Milk:– Goat milk was regarded salubrious; of special

value to the kidneys– Mare milk made into “kumiss”

Northern & Southern FoodsNorthern & Southern Foods

• Food in the north differed from that in the south– North:

• millet, barley, wheat, turnips, fruits (grapes, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, persimmons, pomegranates), pork, lamb

– South:• rice, sago flour, bamboo shoots, yams and taro, fruits

(litchi, dragon eyes, oranges, tangerines, kumquats, loquats, seafood (jelly fish,oysters, squid, crabs, shrimps, turtles, puffers), monkey, frogs, pork

• Exotic foods:– Golden peaches, pistachios, dates, mangoes

Foods and HealthFoods and Health

• Foods yield different effects when eaten or prepared in different ways– Cold food: food generating cooling effect– Warm food: food generating heating effect

• Food combinations prone to the generation of toxicants– Plums with the meat of songbirds or honey– Turtle with pork, rabbit, duck or mustard– Leeks with beef or honey– Mussels with melons or radishes

Culinary ArtsCulinary Arts

• A wide array of cooking methods– Boiling– Steaming– Roasting– Broiling– Barbecuing – Frying– Stewing

Feasts and Entertainments

• Regular imperial and private feasts accompanied by – Performances of music and dance– Poetry written to commemorate the occasions:

festivals, birthdays• Buddhist feasts: vegetarian

– Celebrated Buddha’s birthday, anniversaries…• Beverages drunk in banquets:

– Water, fruit juices, tea, wine, kumiss, ale– Inebriation contributed to the excellence of artists’

or poets’ works