Goals:• View examples of Chinese Art• Appreciate what some Daoists suggest is

the harmonious relationship between humans and nature

• Describe how Daoism influenced the development of Chinese culture.

• Instructions:• Read the information in the following

slides.• Be prepared to discuss the questions that

accompany the paintings.• Read the poem and answer the questions

that accompany it.

The Chinese word for landscape literally means "mountains and water," and the many geographical features of the natural world, its rocks and streams, valleys and peaks, rising and falling movements were believed to be material embodiments of yin and yang energy. As such, landscape paintings did not just depict the outer forms of nature, but were equally concerned with the movements of the energies that infuse the natural world with life. All of the patterns of nature, from the loftiest cliff face to the smallest rock and from violent ocean to intimate stream, were viewed as outward signs of the vital energy (qi) that formed the basis for all matter.

Of all the material embodiments of energy, mountains were the most impressive, with their massive twisting forms thrusting upward to the heavens. Mountain cults developed even before the formation of religious Taoism, and they remained the most important sacred places in Taoism. Mountains were home to revered immortals, Taoist temples and retreats, and the herbs and fungi that gave long life.

Your Task: Read the poem below, by Li Po, a famous Tang-dynasty poet and then respond to the questions.

Dialogue in the MountainsYou ask me why I lodge in these emerald hills;I laugh, don't answer, my heart is at peace.Peach blossoms and flowing watersgo off to mysterious dark,And there is another world,not of mortal men.

Li Po

Questions:1. What kind of landscape is Li Po describing? Is it similar to

the scenes in the landscape paintings? Explain.2. What does Li Po mean by the second line? Why is his heart

"at peace"?3. What might be "mysterious" and "dark" in the landscape Li

Po is describing?4. Discuss the other world that is "not of mortal men."