Three Zhuangyuan
'Three Zhuangyuan'
Yangjiabu, Shandong
41 x 30 cm
modern reprint of early 20th century image
This image represents the great happiness experienced by a family as three scholar-official sons return home to commemorate their father's birthday. The father on the right sits before a Chinese character representing 'longevity', indicating the wish that he would live many years. This might actually be his sixtieth birthday, which was a time for great celebration, not only because few people in earlier times reached that age, but because sixty years represented a complete cycle of the lunar calendar. Compare this picture of the homeward return of three zhuangyuan scholars to the return of wealth in figure 1. Do you see any parallels between the concept of honour won by scholarship and the acquisition of raw material wealth? Why might the two be equated?
copyright 2003
