Essay Topics

Please answer ONE of the two topics:

1. Literati painting and royal court painting are two different genres of classical Chinese painting. Using Ni Jan’s painting (倪瓚 1301 ~ 1274, Yuan dynasty) and the work by Liu Songnian (劉松年 c.1155 ~ 1218, Southern Song dynasty) shown below as examples for each, compare and contrast the development of the two genres and the artistic aspects (such as theme, composition, brush techniques, colour usage, inscriptions, scholarly taste, etc) of each piece.

2. The Suzhou Museum 蘇州博物館 (photo attached), designed by world renowned architect I. M. Pei 貝聿銘 (1917~ 2019), is regarded as an architectural masterpiece. Analyse how the design as a whole has integrated traditional Chinese architecture with modernism. Is there any evidence that the design has achieved the highest standard of Chinese aesthetics: Heaven and human fully integrated into a harmonious unity (天人合一)?