Traditional culture of minimalism

The word "minimalism" comes from the west, but it does not only exist in the west. In fact, the spirit of minimalism has already been reflected in China's traditional culture, much earlier than when minimalism was first put forward in the West. For example, Lao Zi, the greatest philosopher in ancient China, has long said that "less is gain, more is confusion". It means to summarize and refine the essence of things, take its essence and discard its dross. Later, the design idea of "less is more" is very similar to the idea of "less is better than more" advocated by Laozi. The difference is that western minimalism is limited to design, while China's minimalism goes deep into the level of culture, art and even philosophy, and deeply affects the way of thinking and living habits of the Chinese nation later.

In China, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, we saw simple thoughts in the works of many thinkers. The idiom "breaking one's promise" comes from the phrase "erudite and detailed, you must use irony to say it" in Mencius Li Lou, which means that learning and research will sublimate from erudition to profundity and finally to simplicity. Confucius also said in "On Ji Lele" that "great joy must be easy, and big gifts must be simple", which shows that simplicity is beauty. Laozi and Zhuangzi of Taoism advocated the beauty of nature and simplicity in view of the luxury of aristocratic culture at that time. Zhuangzi discussed the influence of complex things on people's hearts in Zhuangzi Heaven and Earth: "There are five kinds of husband's nature: one is the confusion of five colors, which makes the eyes unclear; Second, the five tones are noisy, which makes the ears ineffective; Three days and five smelly noses, trapped in the middle; The four flavors are turbid, which makes the mouth sharp and refreshing; Five, fun and slippery, let sex fly. All five are harmful. " This is in line with Laozi's pursuit of the ingenuity of combining with nature and the pursuit of "virtual quietness" in life. This is very consistent with the quiet and simple artistic conception contained in minimalism. These thoughts of Confucianism and Taoism are well known to us and have become the basis of the Chinese nation's thinking concept.

China ancient culture and western culture have different interpretations and expressions of minimalism, but from these thoughts, we can see that they are similar: criticizing excessive decoration and advocating a simple lifestyle. Due to the limited time and ability, this paper does not elaborate the origin and development of China's traditional minimalism, but simply describes its performance in China's traditional culture and art, hoping to find a subset of oriental culture and western design from this perspective, so that I can understand the "minimalism" design thought put forward by westerners with orientalism. Simple creative techniques are widely used in China's traditional aesthetics, such as the creation of ancient poems, and the expression of words is simplified to the extreme. For example, the Confucian classic Yi Zhuan contains rich simple aesthetic thoughts. Among them, "vigorous, honest and radiant" embodies a simple beauty. Confucius also loved this simple beauty. In Shuo Yuan, Han and Liu Xiang recorded a sentence said by Confucius: "Dan paint is not written, white jade is not carved, and orbs are not decorated. Why? " Those who are more qualified are not decorated. "This sentence shows Confucius' love for simplicity and elegance. In later poems and other literary works, it is not uncommon to see a simple and simple creative style. Tao Yuanming is the most representative figure among prose writers. His famous sentence "Picking chrysanthemums under the hedge, leisurely seeing Nanshan". The two short poems only mention some static scenery, but they outline the living environment of the reclusive poet, and also make people feel the tranquility and indifference of his life in harmony with nature after retirement.

China's ancient poems and paintings come down in one continuous line, and countless people have profound attainments in poetry, painting and calligraphy. China's ink painting pursues simplicity, and he used this creative technique to depict a scattered and sparse natural image. This simple aesthetic thought, like Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems, was inherited by later generations, became the mainstream of ancient landscape painting, and created new works of art. Ma Yuan's Water Map in Song Dynasty. Its simple lines show the changeable water to the viewer, and only a few strokes outline the charm of the water. The photographic work Seascape created by Hiroshi Sugimoto, a representative artist of minimalism in the world, is very similar to Ma Yuan's Water Map. While enjoying their works, you can feel a kind of * * * sound that transcends time and space in a trance. The ancient environmental design in China is represented by gardens, buildings and indoor environmental design. The ancient environmental art in China embodies simplicity and elegance. This simple design and elegant charm are closely related to the thoughts of ancient literati.

China's simple thoughts can be seen from his works, such as Random Thoughts and Long History. There is a saying in Liu Yuxi's Humble Room Inscription in the Tang Dynasty: The mountain is not high, but the immortal is not famous. The water is not deep, and the dragon is the spirit. I am a humble room, but I am virtuous. The moss on the stage is green, and the curtain grass is green. There is no Ding Bai who laughs and has a university. You can tune the pipa and read Jin Dian. There is no confusion, and there is no complicated form. Zhuge Lu in Nanyang and Ting Yun Pavilion in West Shu. Kong Ziyun: "What's the matter?" This shows that people have begun to add minimalist elements to indoor environment design.

As far as the traditional ancient buildings in China are concerned, their design is very simple. Gu painted the picture of Han Xizai's Night Banquet, and we can clearly see the scene of the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River. The interior decoration is simple and atmospheric. The essence of China's ancient architectural art lies in the beauty from simplicity to complexity. In ancient arts and crafts, there are also many works of art of primitive simplicity: Qin brick Han, Song porcelain, Ming furniture, full of Confucianism and Taoism philosophy. These designs are simple and frugal, exquisite and not cumbersome, which embodies a transcendental beauty.

Among them, Ming-style furniture can best illustrate the mature simplicity thought in China's traditional art. Whether it is hardwood, wood paint or firewood furniture, Ming-style furniture has a simple shape without too much decoration. This is similar to the western minimalist design idea.

Song porcelain is the pinnacle of ancient porcelain-making art in China. The official kilns of porcelain kilns in Song Dynasty were mostly blue and white, with no decoration. The metaphor of "clear water produces hibiscus" is very sharp. Celadon is as smooth as jade, while white porcelain is as silver as snow. It is very similar to natural jade in vision and touch, showing a kind of natural beauty. The porcelain produced by the official kiln was only used by the court nobles, which reflected the aesthetic taste of the ruling class at that time. It can be seen that the aesthetic concept of Qing Yi in Song Dynasty has become a national aesthetic mainstream. No matter in aesthetic thought, in the origin of circulation and in the expression of design, there are many simple cultures in ancient China, which we can trace back. Many people think that the rise of minimalism in China is only influenced by external factors, which is obviously one-sided. Without an understanding of minimalism in China's traditional culture, it is difficult for people to fully accept it ideologically. At present, the design of China may not reach the development level of foreign countries in many aspects, which is due to many historical reasons. In terms of time, South Korea and Japan in the west, and even South Korea and Japan in the east, started designing earlier than China. But this does not mean that in the future, China's design will lag behind them.

In the process of studying China's minimalist culture, the biggest inspiration and thinking for me is that we can learn from advanced design culture, technology and ideas, but we can't blindly worship foreign things. In China, minimalist culture did not come from northern Europe, but was borrowed from China after it became popular all over the world. It is a part of China traditional culture, and people have been designing and living in the most primitive way with the concept of minimalism for a long time. If we want China's culture to stand on the global stage, we must truly make the past serve the present and make foreign things serve China.