Murals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Murals of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Tangzi Street

synonym

The murals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom generally refer to the murals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Tangzi street

Tangzi street mural of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is located in Tangzi street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing city. It was approved by the State Council on January 13, 1988 and listed in the list of national key cultural relics protection units.

Approaching the May 18 international museum day, surging news learned from the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of culture, broadcasting and information that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom mural art museum, located in Tangzi street, Nanjing, officially opened on May 16, 2016, becoming the exhibition center of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals.

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The mural of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Tangzi street is located in an ancient house at 88 Tangzi street near Hanzhongmen, Qinhuai District, Nanjing city. This house was originally built by the landlord Li Fengxian. When the new house was completed, he abandoned the house and fled to Nanjing when the Taiping army occupied Nanjing. This house became an official office under the East King Yang Xiuqing. After it was discovered in 1952, the Nanjing Municipal Commission of cultural administration immediately repaired and protected it. On the walls and screen doors of the third entrance and the wooden walls and lintels of the fifth entrance of the building, 18 murals with clear ink and bright colors are preserved. They are identified as works of art in the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom by Luo Ergang, an expert in the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

analysis

During the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, murals were quite popular. According to Ding Shoucun's Diary of joining the army, when the Taiping army was in Guangxi, there were murals with "painted yellow inside, painted dragon and tiger inside". Every time they conquered a city or a county, they painted on walls, doors, beams and beams. After the founding of the capital of Tianjing, the main color painting business of Xiujin Yamen in shangjiekou (today's Hongwu Road) was mainly based on the "painters" in the Taiping army of the two lakes, including folk painters, painters and some literati painters. Hong Fuxiang, Zheng Changchun, Li Kuangji, Yu Chan and Chen Chongguang in Yangzhou, Luo Qi in Anhui, Zhu Yi in Zhejiang, Jiang Jian in Changzhou, Fang Meisheng in Wuxi, Xu Gu and Ren Bonian also had relations with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

preservation

After more than 130 years of rain and weathering, many of the murals in Tangzi street have faded and peeled off, but some of them have been well preserved. For example, the description of swallow alum hanging on three sides of the "Jiang Tian Ting Li", reflecting the Qixia mountain range of peaks of the "cloud belt around the mountain"; without exception, the brushwork is extensive and the artistic conception is novel. In terms of flowers, birds and animals, there are lotus mandarin duck, Liuyin horse, Golden Lion playing ball, Shuanglu lingzhi and peacock peony. Fangjiang watchtower is the first one to directly reflect the theme of military struggle. Watchtower is a defensive building. It is used for lookout and reconnaissance in peacetime. It is used for commanding attacks or calling for a call to stop troops in wartime. The watchtower is five stories high, equipped with four-color flags and lights. In case of enemy's situation, it is necessary to raise the flag during the day and hold the light at night. The soldiers and civilians from far and near judge the position according to the signal. The target is accurate and the attack is quick, so they often win. This mural vividly reflects the real scene that the army and people in Tianjing are always fighting to protect the safety of the capital. It has high historical and artistic value.

Zhu Hu of the Institute of art research of Shanghai University once pointed out that among the 18 wall paintings of a palace in Tangzi street, Nanjing, four landscape paintings on the wall of the lobby have always been valued. The four landscape murals are named as the painting of fangjiang watchtower, the painting of Jiangtian Pavilion, the painting of Shanting waterfall and the painting of cloud belt around mountain respectively, which are divided into the East and west walls of a palace hall in Tangzi street. In the main hall of the museum, eight murals of mountains and rivers, flowers and birds show the painting style of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period. They are full of ink, skillful in murals, fluent in lines and bright in colors. According to a staff member at the scene, a mural named "Jiangfang watchtower" is 277 cm high and 201.8 cm wide. It depicts the military facilities along the Yangtze River during the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The content copied is very lifelike, even the traces of corrosion. Fu Baoshi once praised the painting as "a great realistic work."

For a long time, due to environmental conditions, protection technology and other multiple reasons, after more than 150 years of mural disease is becoming more and more serious. In August 2003 and February 2007, Nanjing Municipal Construction Committee approved the construction of Tangzi Street Taiping Heavenly Kingdom mural art museum by stages, covering a total area of about 4100 square meters. In June 2005, the State Administration of cultural relics approved the plan for the maintenance and protection of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals and the renovation of the surrounding environment in Tangzi street, Nanjing. In September of the same year, it also approved the plan for the maintenance and protection of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals in Tangzi street.

As of 2017, there are only more than 100 murals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China. According to the information of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum, the murals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom appeared as early as September 1851, when the Taiping army occupied Yongan (now Mengshan) in Guangxi. In January 1853, the Taiping army captured Wuchang and "decorated the fake palace and violated the law". In March of the same year, the Taiping army conquered Nanjing and renamed it Tianjing. According to it, it became the capital. Murals became the main artistic means used by government offices at all levels to "judge the superiority and inferiority" and "show the splendor". As a result, all doors and walls were painted. To this end, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also set up a special organization "Xiujin yamen", which is responsible for painting murals and other affairs. It appointed "Dian Xiujin" officials to take charge of it, and widely recruited painters and painters to work in Tianjing. Because of the official advocacy, murals were very popular during the period of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which spread all over Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang and other regions.

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