Colour Research

On this blog post i will develop my colour research. 

I think it is important explain about it and how the colour had influence for the development of the Traditional Chinese culture. After it, i will do variations of colour pallets and choose which one i will use in my project.

The five colors in Chinese culture

Pattern reconstruction of the silk with the inscription "wu xin chu dong fang li zhong guo zhu nan qiang"

In ancient Chinese culture, there was the yin-yang theory and five-color system that included red, blue, yellow, black and white. Each color refers either to one of the five directions or positions, east, west, north, south and middle, or to one of the five planets, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, or to one of the five materials, metal, wood, water, fire and earth. 

However, the standard five colors, white, black, blue, red and yellow as described in the Chinese documents are changed a little on the jin silk textiles, for instance, black is replaced by blue, and blue by green, so that the resulting palette is blue, red, yellow, green and white. This may reflect the preference of the weavers for bright colors, or that the black color was not easy to be dyed during that period.

In most cases, yellow was normally used as the ground, and white was for the outline. The other colors are green, blue and white

This fashion was sometimes shown on the other materials, such as ceramics, but mainly on silk textiles, because the silk was most decorative material in ancient China.

Colour symbolism

The Red colour is associated with warmth, life and the fire element, denotes fortune and happiness, they used the red color on festive occasions. It can symbolize joy, but also to ward off evil influences. The Chinese regard red as the "Lucky colour" as use as an example, they used the colour red in weddings and ritual objects.

The yellow is a royal colour used by the emperors, represents power and authority. It is associated with the Earth Element, which symbolizes growth. Under the penalty of death, no Chinese person other than the emperor was permitted to be clothed in any shade of yellow or gold.

The colours green and blue, were associated with the wood element, both symbolize growth and are used to represent longevity and harmony. Blue is also used to denote heavenly blessings.

The colour white is associated with the gold element. It is considered the opposite of red and is used to express sorrow and grief. For the Chinese, white is the ominous colour of funerals and death. Black is associated with the water element and symbolizes the Darkness, it was considered the colour of bruises, and thus a sign of evil and remarkably unpopular. 

Reference

Digitalcommons.unl.edu. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=tsaconf#:~:text=Brocade%20became%20more%20popular%20during,%2C%20black%2C%20blue%20and%20yellow15.> [Accessed 19 August 2021]. 

People.vcu.edu. 2021. Chinese Color Theory�illustrated article. [online] Available at: <http://www.people.vcu.edu/~djbromle/color-theory/color01/Chinese-Color-Theory-The-Symbolism-of-Color-in-Traditional-Chinese-Culture.html> [Accessed 19 August 2021].