Discovering China - Chinese Art on Auction, Qingming Festival, Hanfu

Hi I'm Ben Hedges and welcome to Discovering China, the show that brings the boundless beauty of Chinese civilization right into your living room. Coming up this week, we visit iGavel Auctions in New York to take a look at an upcoming sale of Chinese art, hear the story of the Qingming or Tomb Sweeping Festival, and check out a fashion show of traditional Chinese clothing put on by miniature models. Chinese artwork is highly acclaimed and attracts international buyers at auction houses across the world. I took a trip to iGavel Auctions in New York City to talk to President Lark Mason about an upcoming sale of Chinese art. The auction of fine art doesn't always take place like this. 850,000 pounds. iGavel is an online art auction platform and there are many independent companies that use it. My company, Lark Mason and Associates, is one of those. So we have an auction that is occurring on beginning April 17 and it ends on May 1st. Lark Mason is auctioning a selection of Chinese antiques through his online auction platform iGavel. These pieces make up part of the Asian ancient and ethnographic works of art auction. So in this sale we've got some extraordinary items including an imperial ancestor portrait that is of extraordinarily large size, probably dating to the mid-19th century, likely a prince from the imperial household. The quality of the painting and the workmanship and the condition of this painting is extraordinary. Besides printed works, the sale will feature other forms of Chinese art. We've also got a selection of very fine quality carved jade objects that range in date from the Ming Dynasty up through the 20th century. A wonderful selection of porcelain including a really beautiful vase dating from the Kang Shi period that incorporates decoration of peaches and it says underglaze copper red and underglaze blue over a very pale celadon, which is a pale green ground. And it's of extraordinarily large size for this particular type and it actually was sold in 1943 in the sale of a famous dealer's collection that was seized during World War II. Western collectors bought fine Chinese art to America during the 20th century, yet now in the 21st century the trend is starting to reverse. Today the market's changed and China has become a powerhouse and Taiwan is certainly extraordinarily powerful economically, so there are a lot of collectors that want to have back things from their culture. Buyers can start bidding on these works of art on April 17th without leaving the comfort of their home. The online auction will last for two weeks. The Qingming Festival marks the beginning of April and it's a time when Chinese people traditionally sweep the tombs and pay respects to their ancestors. But how did this tradition start? The Chinese Qingming Festival falls on either April 4th or 5th. Also known as Tomb Sweeping Festival, it is a time for families to remember and pay respects to their ancestors. The origin of the festival dates back to the spring and autumn period, 770 to 476 BC. It was the owner Jie Zi Tui, a loyal follower of the Duke Wen of Jin State, before he became the king. Jie cut a slice of meat from his own thigh to make soup for the starving duke. A gratified Wen promised to reward Jie. But when he became king, he forgot about Jie. Jie, seeking no gain or reward, quietly left to live in a forest with his elderly mother. When Wen realized his mistake, he tried to persuade Jie to return to the court by setting fire to the forest. But Jie and his mother died in the fire. A saddened Wen declared that no fires could be lit on that day. Thus people would only eat cold food, and the festival was originally called Cold Food Day. During the Tang Dynasty, the festival evolved into a tomb sweeping event. By the time of the Song Dynasty, candles were also used. Today, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to pay respects. They sweep the tomb area and clear the weeds. Then they offer food, flowers, light candles, or burn incense and pepper gifts for the ancestors. The one-day festival is also known as Clear Bright Festival or Ancestors Day. Now we go to Taiwan to find out more about the cuisine of the Qingming Festival. At Qingming Festival, apart from sweeping the tombs of ancestors from ancient times, up until today, there has existed the tradition of eating renbing, a type of soft spring roll. The tradition continues today in Taiwan. But why do Chinese people eat these rolls? I'm not too clear on that. We just eat it every year. That's that. It's something to do with respecting the ancestors? You cook some food at home and wrap it up inside the renbing skin and take it with you when you sweep the tombs and pay respect to the ancestors. This is the belief that has been passed down. At Qingming Festival, we pay respects with spring rolls, using spring rolls to pay respects to our ancestors. The tradition stems from the so-called Cold Food Festival that pays respects to Jiezi Cui, a virtuous official from the spring and autumn period. On this ancient festival, people could not cook hot food, so many people brought the renbing pancakes. It's also said that during the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty, the situation was so chaotic that there was no time to prepare items to pay respects. So people thought of a method. They would wrap up whatever food they had in pancakes and use this to pay respects to the ancestors. After some time, eating renbing at the Qingming Festival became a tradition. The day before Qingming Festival is the Cold Food Festival, then the next day is the Tomb Sweeping Day. This is related to the story of Duke Wen of Jin and Jiezi Cui. Later on, people merged these two festivals into one day. So on this day, everyone eats cold food. What is more, eating renbing has nutritional value. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, it is related to the season. Fifteen days after the beginning of spring is Qingming Festival. During this time, new plants are sprouting, so inside the renbing pancakes, people put sprouts. Of course, there is a little bit of meat as well. This carries the meaning of spring returning to the earth. The ancients were very elegant and cultured. They also called it biting spring. But no matter what historical explanation you go with, renbing spring rolls have become a traditional food. Since 2008, NTD Television has been promoting traditional Chinese Han Kuo Chua through its global competition series. On April 4th, Children's Day was celebrated in Taiwan and Hong Kong. On Children's Day, NTD held a competition for kids to take to the catwalk wearing traditional Chinese Han Kuo Chua. Here's more from New Taipei City. Did you really come from overseas to take part? Which country did you come from? From heaven? Wow, people really came from all over. Because she is about to graduate from kindergarten, I took her to join in as a present. I want to give her a memory that is hard to forget. This is a really different thing. Normally we wear modern clothes, but now our kid is dressed like an ancient official. I feel the essence of Chinese culture is displayed here. Well that's all for this week, but you can catch all our China news and more on our website ntd.tv, or on our YouTube channel, youtube.com forward slash NTD on China. See you next Friday. Bye.