A Study On The Chinese Folklore Paintings Collected By Russian Sinologist V.M.Alekseev

As an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and leader of Russian Sinology in the 20th century,V.M.Alekseev(1881-1951)once went to North China,the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,South China,etc.in 1907,1909,1912,and 1926.During this period,his extensive collection of Chinese traditional woodblock folklore paintings formed the special collection of Chinese folklore paintings well-known in the academic circles at home and abroad.In 2015,the staff of the State Museum of the History of Religion in Russia found that the museum collected nearly a thousand pieces of Chinese folk paintings collected by V.M.Alekseev in China,including door god paintings,God of Wealth paintings,Buddha statues,Taoist god paintings,amulets,paper horses and other subjects Accordingly,a special collection of Chinese folklore paintings by V.M.Alekseev was established in the museum.Chinese folklore painting is an important material for V M.Alekseev's research on Chinese history,culture,and religion.As the first sinologist in the history of Russian Sinology to conduct a systematic study of Chinese folklore painting,V.M.Alekseev devoted himself to the promotion and popularization of Chinese folk culture from the beginning of his academic career.Chinese folklore painting has become an important medium for the West to understand Chinese folk beliefs and cultural customs,and a bridge for Sino-Russian cultural exchanges in modern times.Chinese folklore painting is the carrier of folklore culture of the Chinese nation for thousands of years,and it embodies the talent and wisdom of the working people.The collection of Chinese folk paintings in the Russian State Museum of the History of Religion,in the form of pictures,concretely reflect varieties of folk conventions such as festival customs,life customs,funeral customs,folk beliefs,and folk proverbs and so on all over China at present.They are an encyclopedia of Chinese folk culture and an important object for folklore studies.This research analyzes the significance of this special collection for Sino-Russian cultural exchanges from the cultural value of folklore paintings;uses Mikhail Bakhtin's carnivalization theory to investigate into the spiritually carnivalized world of the middle and lower classes under the feudal guideline,etiquette,and dogma in old China reflected in this batch of folk paintings,and interpret the "carnival" implication of folk spirits in folk custom paintings.By digging Russia's knowledge of Chinese folk culture,this dissertation reveals the cultural value of folklore paintings in the exchanges between the two nationalities of China and Russia.