Introduction. 19 



This mode of observation became foreign to subsequent generations 

 who, reflecting upon the peculiar traits of the Chou culture, could 

 but realize that a real representation of grain in the manner of a living 

 plant was intended. The Sung artists with their inspirations for 

 naturalistic designs took possession of this notion and instilled it with 

 life by sketching it on paper. Thus, they transformed a rational 

 reflection by mere intuition into a permanent motive of art promul- 

 gated as the production of the Chou period. 



This case is by no means unique, but it is due to such misinterpreta- 

 tions, reflections and afterthoughts that many hundreds of artistic 

 motives (and certainly not only these, but also customs, habits, tradi- 

 tions, social conventions, moral principles, etc.) have arisen everywhere 

 among mankind. But, whereas in other cultures it is not always 

 easy to unravel the mystery of this development, the long history of 

 China and the vast stores of her literary and artistic wealth will often 

 allow us to peep behind the stage, and to grasp the human and psychic 

 force of such transformations of thought. It must therefore remain 

 one of our principal endeavors, in the treatment of Chinese archae- 

 ological subjects, to penetrate into the psychical basis of motives, — 

 not only because this procedure will simultaneously furnish most 

 valuable contributions to the psychology of the Chinese, which is 

 much needed, but also in order to attain to a correct understanding of 

 the history of the motive itself, since otherwise our knowledge would 

 be an utter fallacy and self-deception. 



We must grasp the nature-loving spirit of the impressionistic Sung 

 artists to appreciate their very neat naturalistic designs of cereals and 

 rushes on the Chou disks of jade. And we must understand, on the 

 other hand, the complex organism of the world and life conception of 

 the Chou period, which is quite a distinct and peculiar China in itself, 

 to be prompted to the conclusion that the Chou design proposed by 

 the intuition of the Sung artists cannot possibly have been an inherit- 

 ance of the Chou. Then we must realize how the gigantic power of 

 the superman Ts'in Shih Huang-ti had broken the ritualistic culture 

 of the Chou, how a few remains and ruins of it only were exhumed and 

 aired again by the revival activity of the Han, a movement of great 

 earnestness and deep honesty of intention. Thus, we gain a basis 

 for a judgment of the thinking and doings of the Han and later com- 

 mentators, on whose shoulders the art -historians, art-critics and 

 compilers of art -catalogues of the Sung period stand. 



By thus joining link for link in this long chain and carefully listen- 

 ing to each tradition, wc may finally hope to learn something of the 

 development of Chinese ideas and art. Certainly, if handled by this 



