Chapter 57 3. Qianlong East Hall

The Catholic Church located to the east of the palace, commonly known as "East Church", is located at No. 74 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District.In the twelfth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1655), the royal family gave the Jesuits Lilesi and Anwensi a house and open space to build a church.Later, it was damaged by nature and society such as the Kangxi earthquake, the Jiaqing fire, and the burning of Gengzi.In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), it was rebuilt, which is today's Bishop's East Church.There were many holy images painted by Castiglione in the hall. Castiglione (Joseph Castiglione, 1688-1766), a native of Milan, Italy, went to Beijing in the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi (1715) to enshrine paintings in the Ruyi Pavilion of the Construction Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Later, he was summoned by Emperor Yongzheng to use Western painting methods to paint "Ju Rui Tu" and so on. He paid attention to realism and delicate brushwork, which was praised.During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, in addition to painting portraits for the emperor, he also painted many battle pictures for the Qing palace, as well as flowers and birds, dogs and horses, especially horses. "Hundred Horses" is one of Castiglione's masterpieces.Lang Shining painted portraits and court ladies with delicate and lifelike brushwork.According to legend, one day, Emperor Qianlong was with his eight concubines and ordered Castiglione to draw the one he thought was the most beautiful.Lang Shining understood that he couldn't do this.The next day, Emperor Qianlong asked him which concubine he would choose, and he replied: I didn't look at them.Emperor Qianlong asked him what he was looking at.Lang Shining said: I am counting the tiles on the roof of His Majesty's palace.Emperor Qianlong said: So, how many tiles are there?Castiglione replied: Thirty yuan!Emperor Qianlong ordered the eunuch to count, and it turned out to be thirty yuan.Since then, Emperor Qianlong no longer had similar problems.It is a contribution of Castiglione Castiglione and others to represent major historical events in paintings.For example, there are 16 pictures in the "Picture of Battle Merits of Qianlong Pingding Zhunbu and Huibu", and one picture "Banquet at Ziguang Pavilion", in which there are 50 portraits of meritorious officials.In the thirty-first year of Qianlong (1766), Emperor Qianlong ordered the scrolls to be sent to France, engraved with copper plates, and printed more than 100 sets, most of which were shipped back to China, and the rest were collected and circulated in France.Castiglione also participated in the design and supervision of buildings such as the "Western Building" in the Old Summer Palace.Other Western painters in the Qing court, such as Ai Qimeng and Wang Zhicheng, left behind their works.

The exchange of Chinese and Western paintings is especially worth mentioning.Western painting is different from traditional Chinese painting in terms of perspective and light and shade.Zou Yigui, a court painter of the Qing Dynasty, said: "The painting is based on yin and yang, far and near, and it is not bad; the figures, houses and trees in the paintings all have shadows of the sun. The colors used are completely different from those of the Chinese. The shadows are broad and narrow, and they are measured by triangles. Painting the palace on the wall makes people want to walk in." But Castiglione and others can absorb the advantages of Chinese painting when painting Western paintings; court painters such as Jiao Bingzhen and Leng Mei can also absorb the advantages of Western painting when painting Chinese paintings. Long, such as the focus of the picture is concentrated, the painting of the house has perspective, and the painting of the pillars of the house adds light and darkness.Since Western painting was introduced to China at the end of Ming Dynasty, Chinese painting absorbed the nutrition of Western painting and developed according to its own tradition.Castiglione absorbed different styles of Western painting and Chinese painting, and created his unique "new style painting".Sometimes he also cooperates with Chinese painters in scroll landscape paintings—he paints heads and faces of figures, and Chinese painters paint mountains, rocks, flowers and trees, which can be described as a combination of Chinese and Western.During the Yongzheng period, there were 13 Chinese disciples who studied painting with Castiglione, among them Nian Xiyao.Nian Xiyao painted paintings on porcelain, called "Nian Kiln", and published the book "Shi Xue" on the study of perspective painting.He played a big role in spreading Western painting.

Lang Shining's assistant, Wang Zhicheng (1702-1768), a Frenchman, worked as a court painter after coming to China, and participated in the design and construction of fountains in Yuanmingyuan (also known as "Water Method").After viewing it with all the ministers, Emperor Qianlong praised it greatly, and ordered Castiglione and Jiang Youren to build a group of buildings in the northeast of Changchun Garden according to the Western style.This is the later Western Building.Wang Zhicheng wrote to the West, calling the Old Summer Palace a "paradise on earth" and "a garden of ten thousand gardens", and later the Old Summer Palace became famous in Europe.Wang Zhicheng sent back to France 40 pictures of royal gardens such as the Old Summer Palace, which influenced the construction of gardens in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other countries.Wang Zhicheng served the Qing court for 30 years and was good at painting horses. He died of illness in Beijing in the 33rd year of Qianlong (1768) at the age of 67.The Palace Museum has his paintings.

In the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), on Castiglione’s 70th birthday, the emperor held a birthday ceremony for him. The birthday celebration team was led by a band composed of 24 people, and the gifts were held by 8 people. The people who watched along the way had a warm atmosphere .His residence, the East Hall, is decorated with lanterns and festoons, and a group of virtuous people come to talk with each other, which is unprecedentedly grand.In the thirty-first year of Qianlong (1766), Castiglione died in Beijing at the age of seventy-nine. Things have yin, and there must be yang.The Western Jesuits came to China to spread Catholicism. They not only brought Western technology and culture, but also spread Chinese civilization to the West, thus building a bridge of cultural exchanges between the East and the West.The four Catholic churches built in the inner city and imperial city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties have become witnesses of history.