Middle-late Ming Dynasty "beijing Three Mountain" Visual Expression And Its Cultural Connotation

Jingkou, the ancient name for Zhenjiang city of Jiangsu province, was once highly historicized and culturalized in Chinese history. Jingkou is mountainous and is historically symbolized by its’Three Hills’, namely Gold Hill, Jiao Hill and Beigu Hill, all standing at the crossway of the Yangtze River and the Grand canal.’Jingkou Three Hills’is not only a real landscape but also an eternal subject in both Chinese painting history and cultural history. The purpose of this thesis is, by analyzing pictures of’Jingkou Three Hills’in the mid-late Ming Dynasty, to find out the reasons behind the works, and to discover the multiple cultural connotation of the ’Jingkou Three Hills’in the Ming Dynasty.Section one introduces the formation of the concept of the’Jingkou Three Hills’ and its pictures by tracing the origins of them. Section two is based on analysis of pictures.’Three Hills’in the mid-late Ming Dynasty, were forming four classic modes of presentation during this periods.’Jingkou Three Hills’is a real landscape, and the reason why it has been visualized since the mid-late Ming is directly related to certaintive choices. Beyond natural scenery,’Jingkou Three Hills’also implies miltiple cultural connotations.These involve not only its prevailing traveling atmosphere, but also its geographic attributes. Its unique landform triggered people’s imagination for Mountains of the Immortals and its traffic hub position made itself a gateway for Jiangnan Literati proceeding northward or returning homes. Jingkou is always associated with parting sorrow, homeland nostalgia and political ambition. Its special geographical location and the cultural landscape can also trigger the recall of history and the relations between home and country.