The Conflict And Merging Between Eastern And Western Cultures From The Perspective Of The Christian Art In Macau

This study attempts to elaborate the Sino-Western Fine Arts exchanges phenomenon due to the introduction of Christian art into Macau during16-17th century from different perspectives and approaches. It considers the development of Macao’s Fine Arts in the Global history context brought by the Age of Discovery and focuses on the effect and significance of merging among different national cultures. The historical events and cultural phenomena are derived reversely through the theme of the historical event and the significance presented by the image. Moreover, this paper makes a formal analysis of the style and language as reflected in the images whose sources and evolution are also traced. The approach of "Images testify history" has been adopted to discuss the conflict and merging between Eastern and Western cultures in such particular historical period in Macau.The dissertation consists of six chapters and the study is described chronologically. The first chapter entitled "Macau in the context of the Age of Discovery" introduces the reasons for Macau becoming the first stop of "The Influence of Western Paintings on Chinese Paintings" since the16th century. Chapter two is divided into four parts, combing vertically the origin of Christianity and the evolution of propagating doctrine by images. Chapter three makes a horizontal comparison of the universality and variation of the symbols and symbolic meanings of the Christian art between East and West. Chapter four to Chapter six analyses the early Christian works of fine arts in Macau by adopting the approaches of case study and synthesis. Chapter four discusses the creation of Macau’s Christian art combining with Western art education in Macau and analyses the differences and integration between Chinese and Western cultures in terms of painting by giving the examples of The Archangel Michael, The Martyrs of Japan and the Guia chapel in Macau. Chapter five continues to explore the Christian symbols and symbolic images in Macau based on the Ruins of St. Paul in Macau. Chapter six focuses on the analysis of the Portrait of Matteo Ricci. Through the investigation of formal constitution of the painting together with the costumes, folklore and rituals, it discusses Ricci’s missionary ideas of "acculturation" and his contribution to Sino-Western cultural exchanges.In summary, Macau’s early fine arts is a unique work of art with the integration of Chinese culture and painting features on the basis of Christian art as the main themes and forms and symbolic style of the Western Christian art. It is not only influenced by Western Christian art, but also influenced by other Asian cultures. Macau’s early fine arts play an important role in the communication and integration between Chinese and Western cultures through the absorption and creation of Christian works of art.