Behind the Zenith

by+Xu+Shuyuan

Long streams of visitors patiently waited outside the Palace Museum， even though it was midnight， for a chance to see a national treasure. The object was the most eye-catching masterpiece at the special exhibition The Precious Collection of the Stone Moat （Shiqu Baoji）： Along the River During the Qingming Festival （hereinafter abbreviated as Along the River ） by Zhang Zeduan， a renowned painter of the Northern Song Dynasty （960-1127）.

It has been 60 years since the authentic painting was discovered in August 1950. Around this masterpiece now known throughout the country， a school has come up for its studies. Hailed as an “encyclopedic painting” of the Northern Song Dynasty， Along the River depicts a bustling marketplace during the Qingming Festival， a tomb-sweeping day， in the city of Bianjing（todays Kaifeng in Henan Province）， capital of the Northern Song Dynasty， in the early 12th Century.

On a 24.8 x 528 cm scroll， in a remarkable composition of stories， the painter depicted 810 people with vivid facial expressions， 90 live stocks， 28 boats， 20 vehicles， eight sedans， over 170 trees， and 130 houses.

The theme of the painting is widely admired. After the Song court fled south， those nostalgic about the past preferred to see it as an ode to the prosperity during the reign of Emperor Xuanhe of the Northern Song. However， nobody could nail the painting with a single， exact original meaning.

The information on Zhang Zeduan， the painter， was also incomplete. The only details known about him are that he was born in Zhucheng， in todays Shandong Province， he used to study in the capital， and he studied and worked in the central painting academy of the Northern Song Dynasty. There are more than 10 comments from later dynasties inscribed on the scroll， all sighing over of the rise and fall of the Song Dynasty.

“As a matter of fact， its about the crisis in the heyday of the Song Dynasty，” observes Yu Hui， director of the Research Office of the Palace Museum. “Beneath the thoroughly-composed realistic painting lies the painters guarded mocking of society.”

Scholars note that there is a boat about to capsize， with its seemingly broken mast. In the view of scholars， that explains why， between the lines of a prosperous marketplace， it was interpreted as implying the Song Dynastys imminent decline.

Inspired by the painting， some persons attempted to restore the original city map from a birds-eye view but failed to match it with a map of Bianjing. The names of shops and restaurants in the painting could hardly be found in the book The Eastern Capital： A Dream of Splendors Past by Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty. Obviously， the painter foreshadowed the decline with his picture in the hope of advising Song Emperor Huizong in a euphemistic way.

Zhang drew Along the River 20 years before the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty， when Emperor Huizong， a libertine， had no time or will to admire the painting but gave it away to Empress Dowager Xiang.

Along the River was invested with far too many details and puzzles to be decoded. “It is after intensive and thorough studies that we have set out to research the artistic history of this era，”remarks Director Yu Hui.