CHINA
Compared to other regions, China has displayed a striking cultural homogeneity over a large area for thousands of years. Most of the region has been united under an empire and its associated bureaucracy since the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. The dominant ethnic group is known as the Han, who speak various dialects of the Chinese language. On the other hand, China also includes many diverse ethnic groups, who are today called "minority peoples." Among those represented in the Hearst collections are the Muslim Uighur of Xinjiang Province and the Yi, Bouyei, Bai, and Dai of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces.
Many Chinese crafts are the products of highly—skilled specialists; some, however, may be considered the folk art of the common people. Chinese artists have long worked with special materials, such as jade, porcelain, and cloisonné, as well as with more unusual substances such as kingfisher feathers. In addition to such religious representations as Buddhist or Daoist deities, Chinese decorative arts are also saturated in elaborate systems of symbolism, generated partly by desires for long life and prosperity and partly by the double-meanings created by the Chinese tonal language.
The Hearst collections from China-which now number about 3,000 items-are quite varied. Most of the holdings from this region are decorative art objects that came to the museum with little information concerning their sources or dates. Because mainland China was forbidden to outside researchers for so long, documented field collections are relatively rare. Among those represented are collections from Hong Kong, Yunnan, and Xinjiang.
Most of the items displayed here date from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), especially during the 19th century, and the Republic Period (1912-49). All the items in this case are from China; specific provinces and cities are noted where this information is known.
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