Hour China

Ep1. ANCESTORS

*wuxi – qinhuan : Zhangguo – yellow river

*Zhukou – 1950 communits

*Yangzhou 1900 BC : xia, fuxi , nuwa . Erlitou, Henan province : old town, grandcanal 605 BC

#Xia Dynasty

#Shang Dynasty 16^th – 11^th cBCE : first chinese letter :  big, water,heaven

*Anyang – Henan

*Shangqiu 1511 : King Di Xin 1105- 1046 BCE

#Zhou dynasty 1066 – 256 BCE : Taoisme, Qufu capital – The Analect of Confuncious, warring states period 5^th cBCE (metofora hidup) : kemanusiaan & morality. 551 – 479 BCE, what a joy it is to have friends come from far away/kebahagiaan adalah memililik teman yang datang dari tempat yang jauh.

#Qin dynasty 221 – 2016 BCE / Qin Shi Huang Di 259 – 210 BCE :  Xian – changgan

#Han Dynasty / Liu Bang 265 – 195 BCE / 206 BCE – 220 CE :

*Luoyang – Sima Qian 145 – 86 BCE ; choi’s city

Ep.2 SILK ROAD & CHINA SHIP

#TANG Empire 618 – 907  AC * Xuan Zhang : Longmen Caves  - Matanga. Taklamakan Desert / masuklah kau tidak bisa keluar kembali.

Empire taizong 598 – 649 – Anxing

*Gaozhang 640-648 Taizong’s campaign in the west ; Grandcanal : Du Mu “Saat Yangzhou berjarak 16 km dari angin musim panas” 830 eufisme dalam puisi.

*Xinjiang – expanse muslim – Li Bai / bertempur di barat. Sungai kashar – Sung patia – Tiangasan mountain – Jiara, Xuanshong empir vs An Lusan, Sin Siming : “Adegan musim semi “ by Du Fu.

*Xi’an 638 AC. : xian ling mosoleum 700 Ac.

GOLDEN AGE

#TANG EMPIRE 967 AC collapse/ Kaifeng – Central china

#SONG DYNASTY 960 AC -  chen duan – hua san – 20 banjir besar –  Shanghai china art palace 1120  - AC – Meng Yuan Lo

Taizou Song Founder

Expansion of Kaifen 960 – 980 Pagoda Besi di Bukit Panjang Umur. – festival di sungai 1120 AC the festival on the river Kaifeng  -karakter china – bi seng.  – susong 1020-1101.

Sima guang – Henan university

1100 Emperor Huizong 1082 -1135

The siege of Kaifeng 1127

Qing Zho On the defeat of the nation – Song Retreat 1129

Capital of the southern song 1132 Hang Zhou.

Tieshan 19/03/1279

Lu xiu fu  : the end of song dynasty

Hong Wu Empire 1328 - 1398

Ep.4

#Ming Dynasty abad ke-14 (1368 – 1644); Nanjing / sang pembawa lentera; Zhu Shuan Yang; Hong Wu emperor 1328 – 1398 /Shaoxing / Zhao Village : Fujian / Zhang Dai (Biksu) 1645.

Wang Ren yu (penyair) / Xian (Tang’s City)

Manchu / Qing Dynasty

Kangxi Empire

Quangzhou  / Canton

Note: silk road or silk route

Silk Road, also called Silk Route, ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism (from India) via the Silk Road.

Originating at Xi’an (Sian), the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall of China to the northwest, bypassed the Takla Makan Desert, climbed the Pamirs (mountains), crossed Afghanistan, and went on to the Levant; from there the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few persons traveled the entire route, and goods were handled in a staggered progression by middlemen.

With the gradual loss of Roman territory in Asia and the rise of Arabian power in the Levant, the Silk Road became increasingly unsafe and untraveled. In the 13th and 14th centuries the route was revived under the Mongols, and at that time the Venetian Marco Polo used it to travel to Cathay (China). It is now widely thought that the route was one of the main ways that plague bacteria responsible for the Black Death pandemic in Europe in the mid-14th century moved westward from Asia.

Part of the Silk Road still exists, in the form of a paved highway connecting Pakistan and the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China. The old road has been the impetus behind a United Nations plan for a trans-Asian highway, and a railway counterpart of the road has been proposed by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The road inspired cellist Yo-Yo Ma to found the Silk Road Project in 1999, which explored cultural traditions along its route and beyond as a means for connecting arts worldwide across cultures.

France, Italy mark 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death

#Italian President Sergio Mattarella (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron pay their respects at the tomb of Italian renaissance painter and scientist Leonardo da Vinci to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death, at the Saint-Hubert Chapel of the Chateau d'Amboise during a visit in Amboise, on May 2, 2019. (POOL/AFP/Philippe Wojazer)

French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Thursday kicked off commemorations to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died in France, paying their respects to the Renaissance genius in a show of unity after months of diplomatic tensions.

"The bond between our countries and our citizens is indestructible," Macron said after the two men lunched at the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house where Leonardo spent the last three years of his life.

Mattarella and Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, began their visit at the royal chateau in Amboise, where the heads of state laid wreaths at Leonardo's grave.

The Italian leader had started his day with a visit to the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

The joint celebrations come after months of mounting diplomatic tensions between Paris and Rome over the hardline policies of Italy's populist government and its support for France's anti-government "yellow vest" protesters.

In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome.

Amboise, a sleepy town on the Loire River where Leonardo died in 1519 aged 67, was in virtual lockdown because of fears of protests by France's grassroots "yellow vest" movement.

Amboise was turned into a ghost town, with traffic banned within a five-kilometer radius and the usually teeming restaurants and shops shuttered. On Wednesday, dozens of cars were towed away, with some foreign owners apparently unaware of the draconian security measures in the town of just 13,000.

The presidential helicopter arrived on a river island in the heart of the town, touching down on a pad usually used to launch hot-air balloons over the chateau-studded valley.

Also Thursday, the two presidents visited the sprawling chateau of Chambord -- whose central double-helix staircase is attributed to Leonardo though the first stone was not laid until four months after his death.

Among glitterati attending the events were Italian star architect Renzo Piano, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and historian Stephane Bern, a prominent French television personality.

At Chambord, Pesquet told a group of around 500 Italian and French youths: "If Leonardo were alive today, maybe he would be a European astronaut."

The entire Loire Valley has seized on Leonardo's quincentenary as that of the Renaissance in general, planning more than 500 events across the region, with Bern as the figurehead.

Read also: At Amboise, Leonardo's last years paint a picture of Franco-Italian harmony

'Architect of the king'

Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome.

Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation to Amboise, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars.

With Leonardo's commissions drying up, it came as a great relief and no small vindication for the Tuscan artist, who received a handsome stipend as the "first painter, engineer and architect of the king".

At the time, Francis I was barely 23, and his ambitious mother Louise of Savoy "knew that Leonardo would be the man who would allow her son to flourish", Catherine Simon Marion, managing director of the Clos Luce, told AFP.

Leonardo brought with him three of his favorite paintings: the Mona Lisa, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and Saint John the Baptist -- all of which today hang in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October.

With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings.

During his three years in Amboise, Leonardo organised lavish parties for the court and worked to design an ideal city for Francis at nearby Romorantin -- one of the polymath's many unrealized projects -- all while continuing his research

Tales of Leonardo, enigmatic genius GINA DOGGETT

A picture taken in center Milan on May 3, 2019 shows the details of a statue of Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci done by Italian sculpture Pietro Magni. (AFP/Miguel Medina)

Leonardo da Vinci, who died 500 years ago on Thursday, lives in the collective memory as an enigmatic genius who embodied the Italian Renaissance. Here are some anecdotes about his extraordinary life and work.

'Fake news': Leonardo died in the arms of King Francis I

An 1818 painting by French artist Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres shows Leonardo da Vinci breathing his last with his patron, France's King Francis I, at his bedside.

The scene was inspired by an account in "Lives of the Artists" by Giorgio Vasari, first published in 1550.

Vasari, seen as the father of art history, wrote that Leonardo "died in the arms of the monarch". The problem is that it could not be true. According to historical records, the king was a two-day ride away in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, for the baptism of his second son on May 3, the day after the Renaissance master died.

While the Ingres painting, which hangs in the Petit Palais in Paris, is the best-known depiction of the sentimental fiction, it was itself inspired by a 1781 painting by Francois-Guillaume Menageot, which is on display at the royal chateau of Amboise after meticulous restoration work for the quincentenary.

Lover of birds, and flight

A story about Leonardo speaks to both his love of nature and fascination with flight. He would often pity cooped up birds on sale in markets, plunk down the asking price for them and then release them into the air. Leonardo had a legendary obsession with the flight of birds and how understanding the mechanism could lead to the creation of a human flying machine.

Read also: France, Italy mark 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death

The face of a traitor

Leonardo was in the habit of roaming the streets of Milan in search of beautiful or unusual faces, according to Giorgio Vasari, the 16th-century father of art history. "He would follow any such... through the whole day, until the figure of the person would become so well impressed on his mind that, having returned home, he would draw him as readily as though he stood before him," Vasari wrote.

But when it came to the face of Judas for The Last Supper, Leonardo was at a loss as to how to portray a man who "possessed a heart so depraved as to be capable of betraying his Lord". Work on the famous mural at the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery dragged on, and its prior grew so impatient that he complained to the Duke of Milan. He fumed that Leonardo would "sometimes remain half a day... absorbed in thought before his work, without making any progress that he could see," Vasari related. "This seemed to him such a strange waste of time."

Summoned by the Duke, Leonardo explained that "men of genius are sometimes producing the most when they seem to be labouring the least" and revealed his difficulty finding a face for Judas, as well as that of Jesus, which he feared that "he could not hope to find on earth."

At least for Judas, Leonardo had a fallback plan. He told the Duke he could always use the prior's face. Henceforth, "the poor prior, utterly confounded... left Leonardo in peace," Vasari wrote.

Oh, that smile!

One of the many artistic conventions that Leonardo da Vinci upended was the portrayal of people smiling, with no smile more famous than that of his Mona Lisa.

Facial expressions were a source of deep fascination for Leonardo, who conducted meticulous anatomical studies to determine the nerves that trigger them.

Biographer Walter Isaacson writes that while by day Leonardo was painting Mona Lisa, by night he "was in the depths of the morgue... peeling the flesh off cadavers and exposing the muscles and nerves underneath."

And how did he get the young wife of a Florentine silk merchant to smile through hour upon hour of sittings?

Contemporary biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote in the 1550 work "Lives of the Artists" that Leonardo saw the need to keep the lady entertained, and hired musicians and jesters for the purpose. An 1863 painting by Cesare Maccari shows such a studio scene, with Leonardo's subject flanked by musicians. The work is housed at the Museo Cassioli Pittura in Siena, Italy.