Images Of Chinese Phoenix

In Chinese culture the ’phoenix’ is an auspicious symbol of happiness and light. The phoenix in the course of thousands years of cultural transmission and development has produced an effect of cultural cohesion. For all Chinese people the image of the phoenix is a great symbol of identity that is generally recognized. In this understanding, it gives the Chinese people all over the world a spiritual sense of belonging and psychological sense of identity. There is no real phoenix in actual world. The phoenix has been imagined by the people of the early society who then created it based on the variety of morphological features of different birds in nature. The image of the phoenix exists as a totem in Chinese society; because of different levels of social civilization, there are obvious differences in meaning and style. In primitive society, people created the image of phoenix largely in order to resist unpredictable natural disasters and hoping for the clan’s peace. In periods characterized by a more developed economy, the phoenix image appears as a graphic symbol in daily life activities; as an element with totemic ceremonial meaning, it appears in the field of arts and crafts where it is used by people to pray for happiness. In the vision of modern civilization, the phoenix image, after recreation by contemporary design, has become a messenger between Eastern and Western cultures, and plays an important role in the cultural exchanges of the world. This dissertation is organized as follows:introduction; chapter1, which discusses the origin of phoenix image; chapter2, which discusses the development of the phoenix image (the pattern change of the phoenix image in each historical period and its application in the decorative arts and crafts in the visual arts language); chapter3, about the phoenix image in visual arts (an analysis of the Phoenix images from visual to image, from traditional to modern, from simple to complex); chapter4, discussing the expressions of the phoenix image in Chinese culture (its inheritance and innovation in Chinese traditional culture and modern civilization, an analysis of the expression and value of the Phoenix from images to discourse and a discussion about China’s phoenix image from concept to the communication process and the cause behind the symbols). In different periods, the image of the phoenix has a large number of applications in artistic items and objects of daily necessities. The Chinese people, both in and outside China, have a consistent interpretation about the potential text and discourse embedded in this image. This fact has great realistic significance and academic value for us in studying the development of the phoenix image and transmission, and the continuation of Chinese traditional culture. China has an uninterrupted history of more than5000years. This is the result of a continuous promotion and development of traditional culture which has been very important for the survival of the Chinese civilization. The study on the Chinese image of phoenix can contribute to the diffusion of Chinese culture, and help other cultures improve their comprehension of Chinese society, culture and arts.