Note: This is a painting produced in the last fifty years by an artist who is presumably still alive. I do not have copyright in any way over this artist’s work. I’m reproducing it here because (a) these images are of ethnographic interest, (b) I’d hope that shining more light on contemporary mural and scroll painters will ultimately be good for their trade, and (c) frankly, these people seem unlikely to sue me. To that last point: It’s possible to commission these scrolls images from rural artists in China. If you’re interested, email me and I’d be happy to give you the contact information of several painters we met.
Structure Type: Kang-liners 炕圍子 in village houses. A kang is the heated clay platform set in each room of a north-Chinese house – during the day this platform is seating area, during the night, futons are rolled out on it and it becomes a bed. In traditional houses, small murals (“kang-liners”) are often done on square panels set around the walls.
Location: This village was partially abandoned, thus we could wander through the old houses and photograph as we pleased.
Period: Undated. This type of painting seems mostly to have been done in the early Reform and Opening 改革開放 era, ~1970s-90s.
Artist: Unknown, artwork in various hands.
Mural Contents: These murals show opera scenes, auspicious symbols, geometric designs, etc.
Other Notes: This village also contains a small monastery called Śākya Dhyāna Monastery 釋迦禪寺. This site has been entirely rebuilt and more renovations were ongoing when we visited – the murals, which are new and ugly, show the Arhats 羅漢 and, more unusually, the Ten Vidyārājas 十明王. The most interesting thing about this monastery in fact is the steles, which record its re-foundation in the late 15th century by a Tibetan monk named Lama Samden Yeshé and his two disciples, Yeshé Sanggyé [Senggé?] and De Miao 德妙. How these Tibetans arrived in rural Shanxi and what doctrines they taught there are not explained.
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