The efforts of the Manchu rulers, from the beginning of their rule, to become assimilated into Chinese culture bred strongly conservative Confucian political and cultural attitudes in official society and stimulated a great period of collecting, cataloging, and commenting upon the traditions of the past. Decorative crafts declined to increasingly repetitive designs, although techniques, notably in jade carving, reached a high level. Much architecture survives; although it is often grandly conceived, it tends to an inert massiveness with overwrought ornamentation. The two major visual art forms of the period were painting and porcelain.
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Despite the prevailing attitude of conservatism, many Qing dynasty artists were both individualistic and innovative. Based largely on the dicta of a late Ming dynasty artist-critic, Dong Qichang, Qing painters are classified as “individualist” masters (such as Daoji and Zhu Da) and “orthodox” masters (such as the Six Masters of the early Qing period). In addition, there are “schools” of painting (though painters so classified share more a common location than a single style), such as the Four Masters of Anhui, the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, and the Eight Masters of Nanjing. The attitude shared by most artists, in spite of obvious differences, was a strong preference for “literati painting” (wenrenhua), which emphasized personal expression above all.
Manchurian porcelain displays a high technical mastery even to the almost total obliteration of any mark of the potter’s hand. Among the innovations of the period was the development of coloured glazes such as copper red, called “blown red” (jihong) by the Chinese and “oxblood” (sang-de-boeuf) by the French, and two classes of painted porcelain ware, known in Europe as famille verte and famille rose, from their predominant green and rose colours.
The Peking Opera was born and developed
The most prominent development in fine arts during the Qing era was the Jingxi or Peking opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. The Peking opera was first performed in late 18th centuryduring the reign of Qianlong Emperor. It became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. Jingxi was extremely popular in the Qing dynasty court and has since been regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. It continues to be performed, though it has adapted according to times. Peking opera and its stylistic devices have appeared in many Chinese films.