China: Visions through the Ages

by Deborah A. Bekken (Editor), Lisa C. Niziolek (Editor), Gary M. Feinman (Editor)

Overview

At the entrance of The Field Museum’s Cyrus Tang Hall of China, two Chinese stone guardian lions stand tall, gazing down intently at approaching visitors. One lion’s paw rests upon a decorated ball symbolizing power, while the other lion cradles a cub. Traditionally believed to possess attributes of strength and protection, statues such as these once stood guard outside imperial buildings, temples, and wealthy homes in China. Now, centuries later, they guard this incredible permanent exhibition.
 
China’s long history is one of the richest and most complex in the known world, and the Cyrus Tang Hall of China offers visitors a wonderful, comprehensive survey of it through some 350 artifacts on display, spanning from the Paleolithic period to present day. Now, with China: Visions through the Ages, anyone can experience the marvels of this exhibition through the book’s beautifully designed and detailed pages. Readers will gain deeper insight into The Field Museum’s important East Asian collections, the exhibition development process, and research on key aspects of China’s fascinating history. This companion book, edited by the exhibition’s own curatorial team, takes readers even deeper into the wonders of the Cyrus Tang Hall of China and enables them to study more closely the objects and themes featured in the show. Mirroring the exhibition’s layout of five galleries, the volume is divided into five sections. The first section focuses on the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods; the second, the Bronze Age, the first dynasties, and early writing; the third, the imperial system and power; the fourth, religion and performance; and the fifth, interregional trade and the Silk Routes. Each section also includes highlights containing brief stories on objects or themes in the hall, such as the famous Lanting Xu rubbing.
 
With chapters from a diverse set of international authors providing greater context and historical background, China: Visions through the Ages is a richly illustrated volume that allows visitors, curious readers, and China scholars alike a chance to have an enduring exchange with the objects featured in the exhibition and with their multifaceted histories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226456171
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	02/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	29 MB
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About the Author

Lisa C. Niziolek is the Boone Research Scientist in Asian Anthropology at the Field Museum. Deborah A. Bekken is an adjunct curator in anthropology and director of sponsored programs and government affairs at the Field Museum. Gary M. Feinman is the MacArthur Curator of East Asian, Mesoamerican, and Central American Anthropology at the Field Museum. Thomas A. Skwerski is the exhibitions operations director at the Field Museum.
 

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Building the China Collections at The Field Museum

Deborah A. Bekken

The Field Museum is in the fortunate position of being the steward of a remarkable collection of materials from East Asia generally, and China more specifically. Numbering more than twenty-nine thousand objects and specimens, the Chinese collection is diverse in material type, time period, and geographic origin. In addition, the collection documents diverse facets of human activity, ranging from religious artifacts, to humble objects of daily life, to imperial court objects, to finished products such as books, and the tools used to manufacture them, such as printing blocks and carving tools. The collection has been well studied, but there is a great deal more to do, and the questions that researchers will ask in the future have yet to be imagined. As a tool for public education and enjoyment, the collection has provided the material basis for exhibitions continuously since its original acquisition, and there have always been display cases devoted to the archaeology and cultures of East Asia in the halls of The Field Museum. Lending objects for exhibition at other museums further broadens the degree to which the public has access to the collections. But how does a museum build a collection in the first place? And, more specifically, how did The Field Museum build a collection of materials from China?

The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Early Years of the Museum

Many of the Museum's collections began with the closing of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The Field Museum was in fact incorporated in September of 1893 as the Chicago Columbian Museum in order to be a repository for the materials that had been collected for the fair, and the first fifty thousand artifacts in the collection stem from that time. The Museum was renamed in 1905 as the Field Museum of Natural History in order to honor the $1 million endowment gift of Marshall Field, a retail magnate. As the level of ambition in developing and staging the World's Columbian Exposition had been grand and far reaching, so too was the ambition for a new museum to house the natural wonders from the fair also expansive. Soon after the incorporation of the Museum, additional collections and expeditions were organized in order to study and collect the natural and cultural history of the world, whether botanical, zoological, geological, or anthropological.

Collecting from China, however, began later. Although there is a small selection of Chinese items that date from the fair, it is important to remember that Qing Dynasty China had boycotted the fair due to the renewal of Chinese immigrant exclusion policies through the 1892 enactment of the Geary Act. A previous piece of legislation, the Chinese Exclusion Act, was originally signed into law in 1882, and the Geary Act of 1892 provided another ten years of policy support for the exclusion of immigrant laborers based upon their ethnicity. The policy was made permanent in 1902 and was not repealed until 1943. Due to the unfavorable treatment of Chinese immigrants, the Qing Dynasty government boycotted all participation in the fair (Ooi 2009, 57–58). However, cultural exchanges between Chinese and Americans were not completely absent, and the Chinese community already in Chicago was interested in having a presence at the fair. Through the Wah Mee Corporation, organized for this purpose, a pavilion was established on the Midway Plaisance outside the fairgrounds, consisting of a "joss house," or Chinese temple, a theater, and a restaurant (fig. 11). Many visitors to the fair had their first taste of Chinese foods along the Midway that summer.

Despite the position of the United States regarding immigration, diplomatic initiatives between China and the United States did occur. Chinese government officials visited on various occasions to assess the level of industrialization in the West and how it might be brought to China for the benefit of the country. One such visitor was Duan Fang (fig. 12) (see Fan Jeremy Zhang, this volume). Duan Fang (1861–1911) was a scholar-official of the Qing government as well as a connoisseur and collector of Chinese art and antiquities. He came to the United States in 1906 with a delegation studying the political, business, educational, and social institutions present in America and Europe (Pearlstein 2014, 8–9). He was so impressed with the Museum, then barely more than ten years old, that he sent a stone stele from his personal collection as a gift and token of his appreciation (fig. 13). The object, on view in the third gallery, "Shifting Power, Enduring Traditions," is a Daoist stele that dates to AD 726 (catalog no. 32362). It is a memorial made to honor a deceased daughter, whose father includes in the inscription a wish for blessings for "seven generations of his fathers and mothers, his living family, and all the beings of the world."

Duan Fang was an avid and learned collector in the long tradition of the scholar-official who was not only a working administrator but also a connoisseur of the arts. He assembled a well-known collection of art, artifacts, rubbings, and books during the course of his lifetime. During his stay in Chicago he held a position as viceroy in the Qing administration. After his return to China, he held several other posts during the final, chaotic years of the Qing Dynasty. The Xinhai Revolution, which toppled the Qing government, progressed throughout the fall of 1911, and in November Duan Fang was beheaded in a massacre of ethnic Manchus in Sichuan Province. Neither he nor The Field Museum could have known in 1906 that the Museum would again be a beneficiary of his great connoisseurship; that would not happen until 1960.

Building the Collection through Expeditions

Building a great collection requires attention to detail, a very broad set of research interests, a long view, and a talent for predicting the future value of, and insights to be gained from, the material accoutrements with which we decorate and document the opportunities and challenges of daily life. The Field Museum is enormously fortunate to have had as its first curator for Asian ethnology Dr. Berthold Laufer (1874–1934), an individual definitely equal to the task of assembling a collection that continues to provide both insights and wonders to the researchers who study it and the visitors who learn from and enjoy it.

With a figure such as Berthold Laufer, it is difficult to know where to start (fig. 14). An academic of herculean achievements, Laufer was both brilliant and seemingly inexhaustible. He was born in Cologne in 1874 and studied at both the University of Berlin and the University of Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1897 from Leipzig (Bronson 2003, 117). At the university Laufer had concentrated on Asian languages, studying a dizzying list that included Persian, Sanskrit, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan, among others (Hummel 1936, 101). Bronson (2003, 117) argues that, although some of these may have involved familiarity rather than fluency, it is also evident that by 1897 he had attained fluency in Chinese, Manchu, and Tibetan, languages representative of areas in which he would concentrate his research activities. Laufer was also proficient in European languages including Russian, French, English, and, of course, German.

Laufer first came to the United States as part of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1898–1900) sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. Later, he also led the Jacob H. Schiff Expedition to China for the AMNH from 1901 through 1904. Laufer joined the staff of the AMNH upon his return from China in 1904, but by 1907 he was ready for another opportunity (Bronson 2003, 119; Hummel 1936, 101). Laufer proposed to George Dorsey, the head curator of anthropology of The Field Museum, an expedition focused on developing a collection of Tibetan materials. He joined The Field Museum as an assistant curator and immediately set out upon the Blackstone Expedition, funded with a $40,000 donation from Mrs. Timothy B. (Isabella F.) Blackstone, the widow of a Chicago railway executive (Bronson 2003, 119; Pearlstein 2014, 9). Although the expedition was focused on gathering materials from Tibet, Laufer was prevented from reaching the plateau, and Lhasa, first from the Indian side, and later from the Chinese side of the border. He persevered in collecting Tibetan objects from Tibetan areas of northern India and western Sichuan and Gansu Provinces, and he also branched out, assembling a collection of Chinese materials drawn from Beijing, Taiyuan, Xi'an, Chengdu, and points along the way. Laufer was interested in developing a collection that included not only ethnographic materials but also archaeological objects, and his surviving shipping logs document a collection that included theater items, shadow puppets, ceramics, jades, bronzes, stone statuary, textiles, paintings, and books, among other items. Among the materials from the Blackstone Expedition that are on display, a rare and beautiful Yuan Dynasty (c. fourteenth century) porcelain figure of a bodhisattva (fig. 15) in the fourth gallery, "Beliefs and Practices, Symbols and Stories," illustrates the observation that Laufer's judgment was at its best with regard to ceramics (Pearlstein 2014, 10).

Laufer traveled on one other collecting expedition to China, the Captain Marshall Field Expedition of 1923. During that expedition, Laufer concentrated his efforts in larger cities, specifically Beijing and Shanghai, with short trips to adjacent locales such as Hangzhou and Suzhou (Bronson 2003, 122). Although the expedition lasted less than a year, Laufer was still able to assemble an impressive set of materials to send back to Chicago. Although the collection contained many ancient materials, the Captain Marshall Field Expedition focused on more recent items from the Ming (AD 1368–1644) and Qing (AD 1644–1911) Dynasties. Objects on display that were collected in 1923 include rhinoceros horn cups (fig. 16) and Yixing clay tea wares (fig. 17) from the fifth gallery, "Crossing Boundaries, Building Networks," as well as the court hat worn by a scholar-official in the third gallery, "Shifting Power, Enduring Traditions" (fig. 18).

Many scholars have noted that Laufer's perspective regarding Chinese history and culture was very positive. This stood in contrast to the prevailing attitudes of the general population at that time (Bronson 2003, 118, 123; Latourette 1936, 46; Pearlstein 2014, 10). Laufer professed a deep admiration for China, the Chinese people, and the long traditions of culture and scholarship among the educated elites. Laufer also stressed the importance of mutual understanding and promoted the study of East Asia. The Field Museum archive contains many examples of letters written by Laufer that include admiring statements illustrating his thoughts. As just one example, in response to a letter from President Benjamin Wheeler of the University of California at Berkeley requesting advice on candidates for the Agassiz Chair of Chinese Language and Literature, Laufer responds by providing the names of several candidates. In addition he states that

if I am allowed to give expression to my personal opinion, I should venture to say that my ideal of the incumbent of such a chair would be a man who, broadminded and large-hearted, imbued with a sincere sympathy for the people of the Orient and a deep insight into their cultural achievements, could prove a fresh and living inspiration to the student and a stimulus to advance him not only in mere knowledge but also in culture of mind. It seems to me that our relations with the East are increasing from year to year on a moral and intellectual basis, and that it becomes our foremost duty to bring to the hearts of our fellow men the ideals and aspirations of the East in thought, religion and art as a living organism. We are living in an era of Pacific developments and therefore require a profounder understanding for the spirit of the East and the mutual ties binding us with the Orient. (Letter dated May 17, 1912)

Laufer remained at The Field Museum throughout his subsequent career. During this time, he produced a remarkable body of research numbering more than 450 publications. In addition, he was responsible for exhibition halls devoted to East and Southeast Asia, the reinstallation of all the anthropology exhibition space during the move from the old Jackson Park location to the Museum's current building during the 1920s, and the administration of the entire Anthropology Department in his later years. Laufer's death by suicide, precipitated by a diagnosis of cancer, shocked the community of East Asian scholars. Tributes by colleagues illustrate the impact of Laufer's research productivity and the general esteem in which he was held (Hummel 1936; Latourette 1936). Bronson (2003, 124) makes the important point that Laufer did more in his exhibition layout and label writing than any other museum curator at that time in attempting to reflect the views and perspectives of the people who had originally made the artifacts, an extraordinarily foresighted perspective that set the tone for future Field Museum efforts regarding China and East Asia.

Building upon Laufer's Achievements

Dr. C. Martin Wilbur (fig. 19) was appointed curator for Sinology (Chinese archaeology and ethnology) in 1936, two years after the death of Berthold Laufer (Nash and Feinman 2003b, 260, app. 1). His tenure at the Museum coincided with World War II, and he spent much of his time not at The Field Museum but rather in China working for the U.S. State Department. Although Wilbur (1908–97) did not undertake extensive collection-building activities, he did preside over several significant acquisitions, including the very first artifacts seen in the exhibition. The two stone guardian lions at the entrance to the Cyrus Tang Hall of China were acquired during Wilbur's tenure as a donation from Grace Studebaker Fish (fig. 20). Mrs. Fish was the daughter of John M. Studebaker, of Studebaker automobile fame. Around 1940, Mrs. Fish offered to donate the lions to the Museum in honor of her late father, stating that

I have them in front of my son's house in South Bend [Indiana] where they of course do not belong. My father was an old friend of Mr. Marshall Field and I should like very much to present them to the Field Museum. I have been living in New York for the past twenty years and this December I am spending in South Bend. This house is closed most of the time and I feel these dogs [editorial note: she refers to the figures earlier in her letter as "Ming Chinese stone dogs" rather than as guardian lions] should be placed in a museum. I will motor to Chicago and tell you more about them if you can please place them there. (Accession record no. 2248)

It becomes clear from the correspondence that there was a dispute over the monetary value of the lions, and Wilbur found this aspect of the negotiations to be unpleasant and even painful, a perspective that he shares with the Museum's director, Clifford C. Gregg, in part of a letter dated May 15, 1942 (accession record number 2248):

There is no question about the Field Museum's valuing the two Chinese stone lions, for we have exhibited them prominently and given them wide publicity.

As to the valuation of them carried in our Departmental records, Mrs. Fish perhaps does not understand the principle underlying our book evaluations, and this might be explained. Since we are a scientific institution rather than an art museum, we acquire most of our collections in all departments by means of expeditions and field collection. Valuations are determined by actual cost, even though some of the specimens may be very rare, and might bring more if we were to sell them. (Incidentally, for $10,000 we could have an expedition to China and purchase many items of far greater scientific and exhibition value than the two lions: I believe the Marshall Field Expedition to China was only four times as much as Mrs. Fish Evaluation of her two lions!) [Editorial note: This was in fact the budget for the Blackstone Expedition of 1908–10.]

(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Lisa C. Niziolek, Deborah A. Bekken, and Gary M. Feinman

Timeline

1 Building the China Collections at The Field Museum
Deborah A. Bekken

Section 1 Diverse Landscapes, Diverse Ways of Life

2 Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in China
Gary W. Crawford

Highlight 1: Zhoukoudian: Peking Man and Evidence for Human Evolution in East Asia
Chen Shen

3 China during the Neolithic Period
Gary M. Feinman, Hui Fang, and Linda M. Nicholas

Section 2 Ritual and Power, War and Unification

4 The Bronze Age in China: What and When
Yungti Li

Highlight 2: Sanyangzhuang: Life and Death in the Yellow River Floodplain
Tristram R. Kidder and Haiwang Liu

5 Written on Bamboo and Silk, Inscribed in Metal and Stone: Varieties of Early Chinese Writing
Edward L. Shaughnessy

Highlight 3: Consort Hao’s Inauspicious Delivery
Edward L. Shaughnessy

Section 3 Shifting Power, Enduring Traditions

6 Along the River during the Qingming Festival: A Living Painting with a Long History
Lu Zhang

Highlight 4: Conserving a Treasure: Preparing Along the River during the Qingming Festival for Display
Rachel Freeman and Shelley R. Paine

7 Men of Culture: Scholar-Officials and Scholar-Emperors in Late Imperial China
Fan Jeremy Zhang

Highlight 5: Commemorating a Gathering of Friends: The Lanting Xu Rubbing
Yuan Zhou

Section 4 Beliefs and Practices, Symbols and Stories

8 Daoism and Buddhism in Traditional China
Paul Copp

Highlight 6: Sealed in Time: A Manuscript from Dunhuang
Yuan Zhou

9 Shadows between Worlds: Chinese Shadow Theater
Mia Yinxing Liu

Section 5 Crossing Boundaries, Building Networks

10 The Silk Road: Intercontinental Trade and the Tang Empire
Lin Meciun and Ran Zhang

11 The Java Sea Shipwreck and China’s Maritime Trade
Lisa C. Niziolek

Highlight 7: Herbs and Artifacts: Trade in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Amanda Respess

Conclusion: Legacies of Qin Unification: A Hinge Point of Chinese History
Gary M. Feinman

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"One interesting feature of China: Visions through the Ages is that, as it has its roots in a curatorial department, it offers some insights into museum practices, such as acquisitions and personal opinions about different artefacts, changing standards and expectations of labels and displays, and techniques available to conservators. With this museum-based dimension, and splendid images of sites and artefacts, the book is a multi-faceted and comprehensive guide to China’s past and how we view it."

Current World Archeology

This book—with its 225 plates—is certainly gorgeous. It is also deeply learned. The editors curate the almost 30,000 objects in Chicago’s Field Museum, which holds agricultural remains dating from earlier than 10,000 years BC, and precious treasures loved by emperors and learned connoisseurs. Visitors to the museum, dazzled by what they see, probably form convictions about the cultural identity of this material, namely its ‘Chineseness.’ As I have studied China since 1954, I, too, have accumulated impressions about its long past and identity. But those who read this book will find much to learn—and their visions will change, as have mine.”
 

Times Higher Education