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the fashinating story of empress cixi

cultural heritage / By / 11th March 2021

This is the story of a noble Manchurian teenager, chosen to be one of the concubines of the Emperor of China Xianfeng. After the death of the Emperor in 1861, she became the regent of China for decades on behalf of her son first and her nephew later, both appointed Emperors as little children.

She would pass to history as ‘Empress Dowager Cixi’ (慈禧), taking decisions and using the imperial seal on behalf of her son and nephew. Her final act, on her deathbed actually, was to appoint little Puyi as the last Emperor, in 1908. Despite that decision of continuity, the glorious tale of the Chinese empire was nearing its end, as four years later Qing dynasty officials forced the abdication of Puyi. The end of the Chinese imperial era opened a new chapter in the history of the country: the Republic of China.

Discover story and legend of one of the most powerful women in history, and enjoy a great selection of images from Europeana in the blog authored by Sofie Taes and Julien Ménabréaz in Europeana website >>

This blog is the result of a collaboration between PAGODE – Europeana China and anther CEF-project co-funded by the European Union: Europeana XX. A Century of Change dedicated to the 20th century and its social, political and economic changes.

image: The lavish décor of Empress Cixi’s photoshoots at court. Cixi was a fervent buddhist and is seen here reenacting a scene from the life of Buddha (Laribe-album, pg. 240), c. 1903-1904, Creator: Laribe, Firmin (1855-1942). Photographe, Xunling (1880-1943). Institution: Bibliothèque nationale de France via Europeana. No Copyright – Other Known Legal Restrictions.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

the mandarin duck

cultural heritage / By / 12th February 2021

As with doves and swans in the Western culture, in China the mandarin duck is considered a symbol of love, fidelity and fertility, and is the protagonist of stories, legends and popular belief. Because of embodying the sweetest of feelings, PAGODE – Europeana China project celebrates Valentine’s day 2021 with a nice blog about our feathered friend.

Either as a beautiful-looking bird to be admired, or as the emblem of marital bliss, the mandarine duck in China is a widely used pattern for artworks, painting and figurines and is also featured on objects for everyday use, including bed sheets, pillowcases, cups and saucers, and furniture.

Discover story and legend for this iconic bird, and enjoy a great selection of images from Europeana in the blog authored by Sofie Taes in Europeana website >>

image: Drawing of a pair of mandarin ducks, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0 via Europeana.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

happy new year!

cultural heritage / By / 12th February 2021

img.: Young man with ox, PD, Rijksmuseum via Europeana.

A new gallery in Europeana to celebrate the year of the ox!

If it wasn’t for the cunning rat, the ox would have won the race in the Chinese fable of the Great Race, which pitted all of the animals of the zodiac against each other. Oxen have been used for transport and agriculture by humans since 4000 BCE.

Visit the gallery on Europeana.eu!

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

weaving the Silk Road

cultural heritage / By / 12th February 2021

Reposting from European Fashion Heritage Association.

“Weaving the Silk Road” was one selected project from “Journeys in the Archives” workshop done by the European Fashion Heritage Association together with students of contemporary design cultures at IUAV University of Venice. The project was curated by Emma Vianello, Davide Celentano, Nicolò Francini, Claudia Degrati, Ottilia Voltolina, and it had the aim to investigate, both historically and geographically, the so-called ‘Silk Road’, also selecting fashion heritage items of any times from the EFHA database.

Silk was first developed in China, probably around 6000-5000 BC, several archaeological findings depict silkworm patterns or other related motifs and thus suggest the importance of breeding silkworms in Neolithic China.  Around 300 BC the methods for silk processing started to spread around the globe, until they reached Europe in 550 AD., where the major producers were to be found in Italy, specifically in Como, Forlì and Caserta. Nowadays the world’s major silkworm manufacturer is China, followed by Japan, India and Korea.
The idea of the ‘Silk Road’ was introduced in 1877 by Ferdinand Von Richthofen in his Tagebücher aus China. Reflecting on the concept of international connections through one precious material, the selection gathers objects that represent the growth of the trade between the East and West, embodying the meaning that the fabric assumed throughout the centuries for different countries.

⁠In the Seventh century, China was perhaps one of the most finely dressed nations in the world. The towns had centuries of experience in silkworm breeding, and the technology of spinning was very advanced. During the Tang dynasty (618-907), privileged men wore robes or tunics, while members of the working class wore jacket and trousers, since bifurcated garments as trousers allowed greater freedom of movement.⁠⁠ To a large extent people dressed according to their means; however, the court was an exception. State officials wore robes of different colours to indicate their rank: the most important wore purple, then deep red, green and blue. ⁠⁠

The silk ensemble shown in the picture, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier in 1985, is the result of his thorough research and fascination for Chinese culture, which he explored through his practice. ⁠⁠

image: Ensemble by Jean Paul Gaultier⁠, image courtesy of MAD Paris. Reposted from European Fashion Heritage Association Facebook page.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

footage about china from bridgeman images

cultural heritage / By / 28th January 2021

img.: Film still from footage: “Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling, speaking about Britain’s backing of Communist China”, 1949, © Bridgeman Images.

Bridgeman Images is a UK provider for the distribution of fine art, cultural and historical media for reproduction, partner of United Archives, one of PAGODE’s consortium members.

Spanning centuries of visual communication, the collection includes reproductions of paintings, sculpture, textiles, maps and anthropological artefacts as well as newer forms of media including footages, newsreels and documentaries. Especially interesting to whomever engaged with Chinese heritage is the curated lightbox “China through the decades” with a selection of exclusive historical footages in the Bridgeman collection.

Visit the lightbox to preview 57 short films here.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

pagode general assembly

events / By / 28th January 2021

On 26 January the General Assembly of PAGODE project was called in an online meeting, to review the progress of the project and to plan the next activities for the remaining months. PAGODE is in facts going to end on 30 September 2021.

A very busy period is therefore ahead: with digitization to be completed; massive ingestion of new collections to be published in Europeana; a second round of the crowdsourcing campaign; automated metadata enrichments via Artificial Intelligence; and the preparation and launch of the PAGODE exhibition to be presented online as a virtual exhibition in Europeana, and to be hopefully inaugurated in physical form at the Museum of Graphics in Pisa, on 24th September, accompained with a collection day to engage local Chinese communities sharing photographs from family albums. The very last event of the project will then be on 27-28 September with the final conference organized by KIK-IRPA, unless travel restrictions will apply..

The meeting was open to partners and associate partners and included a presentation of the upcoming Europeana China thematic space, that will highlight in Europeana portal all the contents and editorials delivered by the PAGODE project.

img. screenshot from the Zoom meeting courtesy of Postscriptum.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

fruits from china

cultural heritage / By / 22nd January 2021

img.: Fruit still life with whole and peeled red grapefruit (grapefruit) with wedges and blossom and on the right six lychees (hair fruits); Elisabeth Johanna Koning (1816-1887), Teylers Museum CC-BY-NC via Europeana.

Flows of people, objects and knowledge went back and forth between Europe and China across centuries, and are witnessed by a wealth of China-related cultural heritage preserved in European Institutions.
Discover the interesting stories that are told in digitized collections available on Europeana, carefully curated and selected by the Editorial Team of EU funded PAGODE – Europeana China project.

Today’s gallery is about “Fruits from China“: we sliced up some of China’s most popular fruits into this colourful gallery.

Visit the gallery on Europeana.eu!

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

a chinese iconic ship: the junk

cultural heritage / By / 13th January 2021

The junk is a classic Chinese sailing vessel of ancient origin, designed as a warship but also used across centuries, and even today, for trade and maritime exploration.

In this blog, authored by Sofie Taes for Europeana in the context of PAGODE – Europeana China project, stories and curiosities are told about this iconic ship – whose silhouette looks so familar in any imagery of Chinese seascapes.

From early testimonies about junks to the epic history of the “Keying” crossing the oceans in mid 1800s, there is no need of being a naval enthusiast to enjoy these easy pills of cultural heritage.

Read the blog about the junk in Europeana website >>

More junks? Also enjoy a cherrypicked gallery in Europeana >>

image: CC-BY-NC-ND Östasiatiska museet via Europeana.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

yin and yang

cultural heritage / By / 15th December 2020

img.: Illustration titled ‘Peace through anarchy’ depicts the balance of inflammation in blood vessels. Three states; anarchy (Circle-A symbol; left), balance (yin-yang; centre) and peace (CND symbol; right) are shown, each essential for the health and wellbeing of our blood vessels.; Neil Dufton, Wellcome collection CC-BY via Europeana .

Flows of people, objects and knowledge went back and forth between Europe and China across centuries, and are witnessed by a wealth of China-related cultural heritage preserved in European Institutions.
Discover the interesting stories that are told in digitized collections available on Europeana, carefully curated and selected by the Editorial Team of EU funded PAGODE – Europeana China project.

Today’s gallery is about “Yin and Yang“.

The idea of opposite forces complementing each other is at the core of many belief systems. The Ancient Chinese concept of yin & yang is often represented by black & white ‘taijitu’, but also by broken and solid lines sometimes combined into trigrams.

Visit the gallery on Europeana.eu!

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

pagode joins the uncharted community

project / By / 14th January 2021

PAGODE recently joined the community of UNCHARTED associate members.

UNCHARTED is a four years project which aims to identify, contextualize, understand, measure and analyse the emergence and conformation of the values of culture from an interdisciplinary, collaborative and pluralistic perspective. Being PAGODE dedicated to highlighting the connections between European and Chinese culture, it offers an unique point of view for reflections on the representation of different cultures and their blending with the European ones.

In terms of research, UNCHARTED will engage the community of members and associate members to investigate the plurality of values of culture in different domains. Members of the community can contribute in the research with their experiences and expertise, responding to surveys and questionnaires, attending conferences, workshops and local encounters. Policy briefs, guidelines and other research outcomes will derive from UNCHARTED, also including a special book.

UNCHARTED website: https://uncharted-culture.eu/

image courtesy of the UNCHARTED project.

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839