The Context

Known in English as Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy, the painting Bunian Tu depicts a meeting between Tang Emperor Taizong and Gar Tongtsen Yulsung, a special envoy sent by Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo to propose a marriage alliance with the Tang in the year 640. What it doesn’t show is how much bad blood there had been in the years leading up to this historically significant moment.
Today, we’re going to talk about this traditional Chinese painting that has, despite its understated solemnity, endured the kind of tumultuous life you might see depicted in one of the many costume dramas so popular on Chinese TV these days.

A hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began to make their way to the New World, a Chinese fleet sent out by the Ming Emperor of China had already ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Pacific and Indian oceans.

Over a period of almost three decades in the early 15th century, admiral Zheng He and his armada made seven epic voyages. His fleet, which consisted of giant treasure ships loaded with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, silk and the like, sailed to India, Arabia and east Africa, visiting more than 30 Asian and African countries and regions.
Today, we’re going to further explore the seven epic voyages made by China’s maritime legend Zheng He more than 600 years ago, but this time we’re going to talk more about their background – full of power struggles, envy, and treachery.

Today, we’re going to continue our talk about Xuanzang taking a closer look at his stay in India, his odyssey on the way home, and how his translations of the Buddhist sutras and the records of his travels in Central and South Asia have been of inestimable value to Buddhism, as well as to world history and archaeology.

To this day, there are altogether 195 designated historical artifacts on the list of the National Cultural Heritage Administration that can never leave Chinese soil. Among them, 20 are paintings, a genre most susceptible to gradual damage with the passage of time.

Luckily for visitors to the cultural relic exhibition entitled “The Making of Zhongguo – Origins, Developments and Achievements of Chinese Civilization” held recently at China’s Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, they had a chance to take a closer look at the most treasured of them all – Zhan Ziqian’s Spring Excursion (展子虔游春图) which ranks number one on the aforementioned list. While it may already be a bit dull in color, its significance cannot be understated.

So, what is it that makes this painting so special?

Today, we’re going to talk about a true Renaissance man of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. He was a bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician; meanwhile, he became the first Chinese to publish translations of European books in China.

This is also the 100th episode of The Context. Over the past two years, we’ve endeavored to provide listeners with an inside account of China’s history and the fascinating stories behind its ancient cultural relics. In the future, The Context will strive to help you have a more complete understanding of China, including the great opportunities the country brings to the world as well as the challenges it faces.