A pattern in cultural transference: China westward to India & Persia to Italy and Western Europe

Fine arts survey: the history of the guitar
Originally uploaded by trudeau

China is the origin of an incredible number of things technological as well as artistic -

- printing (developed hundreds of years before Johann Gutenberg)
- jade jewelry
- rockets (used for their beauty before being discovered as weapons)
- ceramic vessels ("China") and art objects
- bronze casting of art vessels such as bowls and bells
- lacquer ware - finely crafted and lacquered bowls
- silk garments and art textiles
- paintings on silk
- landscape paintings

In music:
- metal bells ranging in size from small to megabellific
- zithers - stringed instruments - plucked
- bowed string instruments (primitive violins, if you will)
- drums of many sizes
- pipes (flutes)
- Chinese opera - high voices
- Dragon dance


Sources -
Freer Gallery of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Wash, DC
Sackler Asian Art, Smithsonian, wash, DC
Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)