工业设计英语.doc

The Enlightenment of Traditional Chinese Ideologieson Modern Industrial Design Abstract: The 21st century is a century of design. Industrial design has entered peoples daily life as an effective method of planning more reasonable conduct of life for people, which plays a very important role in coping with the relationship between humans, society and environment. Traditional Chinese ideology has a profound influence on Chinas antique utensils and architecture. Meanwhile, it has provided sources of ideas for modern industrial design. It integrated many traditional ideologies of creation art including mental concepts, value systems, standards of conduct and ethnic styles and features together with the design concepts, modes of thinking and social fads, with which to take the form of a set of design ideas which is possessed of native ethnic cultural characteristics based on elegance & utility. Keywords: traditional Chinese ideology; creation art; industrial design Traditional Chinese cultural ideology has always been blending, spreading and developing in the long-term social practice of the Chinese and the summarization and refining process of all previous Chinese thinkers and it has already become the basic spirit that stands proudly in the family of nations. Such Chinese ideologies of creation art as “man is an integral part of nature” and “utensils are meant to convey truth” have provided referential and inheritable spiritual treasury for modern design. Chinas industrial design should keep on innovating while maintaining cultural continuity thereby meeting the spiritual & material demands of the people of the new era. According to literature available and investigations into material objects, the following fundamental features of traditional Chinese ideology can be summarized: 1. The foundation of traditional Chinese ideology “system of Chinese rites &music” In the history of Chinese culture, as a kind of obstinate feudal ethics & concepts, Chou Kungs system of Chinese rites & music has a profound impact on the spiritual outlook of Chinese culture as well as the formation of basic aesthetic standards. Immemorial totem singing & dancing and mediumistic rites were getting more and more complete and finally became divided. In the times of Western Zhou Dynasty, the rulers of this dynasty represented by Chou Kung inherited and perfected this and finally systematically established a fixed system related to Chinese rites & music. The system of Chinese rites & music is bound up with aesthetics. The first is “rites”. Rites are a general reference to a set of rites of sacrifice, daily life, military and politics. Their fundamental features are that they make compulsory requirements, restrictions and control of individuals in terms of extrinsic behavior, activities, movements and appearances. Via restrictions on codes of individual conduct, the stability and unity of groups and organizations are guaranteed. The core of the system of “rites” signifies that the reigning crux has shifted from “deity” domination to the emperor, which confirms the important institutional alteration from the collegiality of aristocracy groups to autocratic monarchy. However, influenced by the system of “rites”, the traditional Chinese system of creation art was taking shape and evolving further in the form of materialization. The system of “rites” is the restriction and standard of peoples daily conduct, which involves the aspects of perceptual forms of appearances, movements and patterns and so on as an expression of materialization. This aspect is relevant to “pulchritude”. Chinese rites and music include formalized requirements for a series of sequences such as various kinds of movements, conduct, expressions, apparel and colors and so on. In terms of the combination relationship of utensils, there are very clear reflections of this on bronze wares. In Zhou Dynasty, cooking vessels was substituted for drinking vessels as sacrificial vessels, and inscriptions recording feats and conferring titles of nobility on somebody started to turn up the utensils, thereby declaring and intensifying the strength of monarchs and aristocrats benevolence and benefaction. On that basis, “Nine ding” system of rigid hierarchies came into being gradually. Hierarchical differences were embodied by progressive decreases in order in “Nine ding and eight gui”. Influenced by the system of Chinese rites & music, hues of ancient creation art became symbolic emotional elaboration besides a simple visual and perceptual form. The hue concepts and sequences of the hierarchy of Chinas ancient society are greatly embodied in architecture and apparel. Yellow tiles and red walls were mostlyused to build imperial palaces of royal households and aristocrats, while their apparel gave priority to the hues of red and yellow. Meanwhile, ordinary residential houses were usually built with black bricks and black tiles, and the civilians apparel was mainly made of cloth of blue, brown or other colors. Whats more, there were strict restrictions on the colors of officials dress, which means different ranks of officials differed from one another in the styles, hues, materials and trappings of their dress. The yellow color of imperial robes was regarded as the exclusive color of emperors dress, and the system of costumes was a ranking system based on colors. In the ancient society, however noble or humble someone was, he or she was definitely graded, and creation art was the material manifestation for hierarchy. From material to varieties and from patterns to mixing colors, there were differences between the noble and the humble, which was unbridgeable. Therefore, the system of Chinese rites & music is the core of China thousands of years political systems, and this concept is deeply stamped with the brand by Chinas traditional system of creation art. There were always patterns which stood for some meaning on traditional Chinese utensils, thereby systematizing utensils via the system of Chinese rites & music so that the combination relationship, ornaments, connotations and functions of utensils could form a system of a deep-going structure of significance. 2. The traditional Chinese ideology “man is an integral part of nature” “Man is an integral part of nature” is an important ideology raised during the development of traditional Chinese culture, and this reflects harmonious outlooks on society and nature. This ideology is embodied in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The ethic sequence of Confucianism is Jade Emperor, Yama, monarchs, relatives and teachers, which illustrated the sovereignty of Jade Emperor and Yama. Thus, Confucius put forward the ideologies of “harmony is the most precious”, “joy aims at harmony” and “seeking harmony without uniformity”. This proposed the interpersonal harmony and the harmony of people and society in the value of ethics. It is written in Yizhuan that “as heaven revolves, gentlemen should strive to improve themselvesthe greatest morality in the world is cherishing life”. It is written in Taoism that “people emulate earth, the earth emulates heaven, heaven emulates the ethics, and the ethics emulate nature.” As the main successor of Laozi, Zhuangzi proposed his concept of “heaven-human-ethics”, which supplemented Laozis concept of “harmony”. Zhuangzis basic creed is that “I coexist with heaven and earth, and all things on earth and I prove to be one.” In terms of “heaven and earth are of indescribable magnificence”, heaven refers to nature here. Therefore, Confucianism advocates “natural humanization”, while what Zhuangzi recommended is actually “naturalization of humans.” The former talks about “man is an integral part of nature”, which describes and complies with human affairs by means of nature. The concept of “man is an integral part to nature” which was raised by Zhuangzi indicates that the relation between people and heaven is not antagonistic and running counter to natural laws is not advised. This emphasizes that humans must give up their sociality so that their naturality will not be stained and they will integrate naturally with the universe. This sort of world outlook can help people regard everything with a lenient attitude and observe the objects which will be remoulded with the spirit of diversified harmonious coexistence and the mind of bemoaning the state of the universe and pitying the fate of humankind. Finally, nature and humans can coexist harmoniously.The traditional concept of “man is an integral part of nature” is not only a concept of long prevalence in Chinese aesthetics and artistic creation, but also an aesthetical principle all Chinese artists of past dynasties abided by. Based on this principle, the ancients took the utility relationship with the natural environment into account first when examining production practice of construction and handicrafts. Traditional Chinese utensils emulated natural laws and applied such laws to utensil designing. It is recorded in Kao kung chi which was written during the Spring & Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that “Making utensils requires conforming to weather, adapting to geographic elements, high-quality material and ingenuous craftsmanship. Only with these four elements can fine utensils be made” Thereof, “weather, geography and material” proceed from characteristics which comply with natural laws, and “craftsmanship” refers to the process and manufacture of forms and shapes of utensils, which gives prominence to peoples subjective initiative during the manufacture process. Only when work of nature and manual work are combined can fine utensils be made. This is a kind of concept of creation art and such concept respects nature and material, thus to integrate humans, utensils and nature. Creation art relies heavily on nature. In ancient China, metal, wood, water, fire and earth were regarded as five basic material elements that constitute the world, and thus the concept of five elements was formed. Pottery made of natural clay was the utensils used most in peoples daily life in ancient China. During the manufacture process, the ancients gradually grasped the natural quality of clay material, and then they elutriated and kneaded the clay according to its properties. Next via jolleying and carburization techniques, eggshell pottery which is as black as lacker, as bright as a mirror, as thin as paper and as hard as porcelain would be finished. This is exactly a masterpiece of which workmanship of nature was applied to manual work. Chinese peoples worship and reverence for nature pursued the lofty realm of “man is an integral part of nature”, and this was also embodied in the forms and shapes of utensil manufacture. In terms of the design and manufacture of vehicles, it was described in Kao kung chi that “square carriages symbolize earth; round canopies symbolize heaven; spokes symbolize thirty days in each month; bow-shaped timber frames symbolize the lunar mansions of the sidereal revolution.” The shapes of canopies and carriages were compared to “heaven is round and earth is square”, the thirty spokes which symbolized thirty days in each month stood for the alternating movement of the sun and the moon, and twenty-eight bow-shaped timber frames symbolized the lunar mansions. Carriages symbolized earth, canopies symbolized heaven, and then the mode of “man is an integral part of nature” would take shape with people sitting in them. Traditional Chinese architectural forms also contain the profound ideology of “man is an integral part of nature”. Just take the Temple of Heaven as an example: in ancient China, the figure 9 was regarded as the greatest so as to embody the supremacy of heaven. Many constructions of the Temple of Heaven are related to the figure 9: the length of the top of three-layer bluestones is measured in the figure 9, and the figure 9 was used as the cardinal number for the stones paved on the altar. In addition, the railings of the Temple of Heaven increase progressively by the figure 9: there are nine pieces for the upper part, eighteen pieces for the middle part and twenty-seven pieces for the lower part. In the next place, the Temple of Heaven has a distinct feature: square and round geometric figures constitute the general configuration of the Temple of Heaven. Together with round altars and square walls, external alter walls and internal altar walls compose a shape of which the northern part is round while the southern part is square. The designers and architectural craftsmen of the Temple of Heaven gave full play to their wisdom and applied many techniques such as figures, shapes, colors, names and layouts etc, which embodied the supremacy and sacredness of heaven as well as the close relationship between emperors and heaven. This integrated the ancients world outlook and the attainments they made in astronomy with the Temple of Heaven. Such world outlook created a perfect artistic conception of great harmony of heaven and people, and thus the Temple of Heaven became a shining example in the architectural history. Thus it can be seen that the belief that Chinese people and nature are in harmony has influenced many aspects like mental culture, material culture, behavioral culture, institutional culture etc. The concept of “man is an integral part of nature” in traditional Chinese creation art gives expression to a high degree of harmony & unity in all aspects: the harmony & unity of utility and aesthetics, the harmony & unity of perceptual manifestation and rational norms, the unity of craftsmanship and the construction of artistic conception. 3. The traditional Chinese creation art ideology of “utensils are meant to convey truth” The ideology of “utensils are meant to convey truth” were often applied in traditional Chinese creation art, and this ideology embodies the semantic values of traditional Chinese design culture. It is written in The Book of ChangeXici I “that metaphysical objects (xingershang in pinyin) refer to abstract objects (dao in pinyin), while practical objects (xingerxia in pinyin) refer to concrete objects (qi in pinyin).” Xing refers to shape and structure, which is the perceivable shape and quality of utensils and is possessed of materiality; Qi stresses the functions of utensils, which is of certain utility. Xing is extrinsic and concrete, qi is intrinsic and functional, and dao is metaphoric and intentional. These three elements are three essential factors that composed utensil designing and shaped the traditional Chinese design system. Hence utensils embodied the ancients cognition on formal beauty through not only apparent beauty but also through conveying intangible objects by means of tangible objects, thereby breaking through the general material significance of utensils and achieving mental artistic conception of pursuing the value of life. There was an allusion in ancient China. The ancients discovered in their experience in grinding and manufacturing utensils that some tough and imperishable beautiful stones would become lustrous after a polish. They named such stones jade because they believed such beautiful stones were abundant in vitality. Jade had nine virtues, and monarchs took “the nine virtues” as the code of conduct for their rule. Besides the texture and shape of jade, engraved patterns and symbols were also elements that might produce supernatural power of telepathy. So those Chinese ancient people who believed in the bird of deity were fond of carving abstract or concrete flying birds with splendid jade, such as the cirrus jade of Hung-shan culture and the hawk relief on a jade tablet of Shandong Lung-shan culture. In Eastern Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties, patterns of two-body animals were often engraved on round flat pieces of jade with holes in the middle. The ancients believed that the middle of the hole on a round piece of jade was the immutable north pole of the world outlook (tai chi, taiyi), so when honored aristocrats were buried, they were put into boxes with jade pieces stitched onto. In addition, a round flat piece of jade with holes in the middle was stitched onto the part of the box which covered the top of the head of the dead. This was just because they were convinced that the souls of the deceased could reach the acme of immortality through the gate to the Heavenly Palace via the hole on the jade. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese ceramics is more of an embodiment of which Chinese art stresses integrity, perfection, harmony, flavor & tone and artistic conception. Porcelains of Song Dynasty are the best example of the beauty of “artistic conception”. Celadon which was baked in Ru Kiln and Guan Kiln were top-notch work of porcelains of Song Dynasty. Its hue is greenish, bluish and grayish. Its glaze is lustrous. There are almost no ornaments on it except for some irregular crackles. All of these have gathered artistic conception of ornamentation in the glaze which is as gentle as jade and the classic & elegant shapes. “It is distinguished and accomplished even with no words engraved on it”, and it is also thought-provoking, with which the solemn, quiet and implicit beauty have culminated in perfection. The artistic conception of porcelains of Song Dynasty reposed their intrinsic message via their shapes, ornaments and artistic images. For example, the implicit shapes and glaze colors of porcelains of Song Dynasty symbolize an intangible and silent realm, which represents scholars demeanor and embodies the Chinese artistic features of conveying spirit through form and conveying a profound message as well as the tranquil, implicit and euphemistic oriental taste. Consequently, traditional Chinese creation culture has experienced changes from emulating natural forms to emulating inherent laws of natural things in order to achieve harmony, from cognition on qi to solicitude