The diasporic aesthetics : Hakka adaptations on Suzhou style polychrome painting at Pun Uk, Hong Kong

Abstract

The Hakka polychrome paintings on wood are capable of revealing cultural and historical knowledge and yet to be studied academically. This thesis establishes a categorization system for Qing or later paintings and justifies the existence of Hakka adaptations on traditional Suzhou Style painting. Pun Uk, a Meixian Hakka mansion from the 1930s in Hong Kong, is chosen as the case study. For the categorization system, this thesis develops both the contextual and pictorial criteria for evaluation and comparison after studying the characteristics of the three classes of traditional Qing paintings, Hexi painting, Circular painting, Suzhou Style painting, and some regional paintings. The data collected at Pun Uk suggests an association with the Suzhou Style painting. Painting materials and techniques reviewed also provides visual and scientific clues on optical analysis on a traditional Suzhou Style painting. Despite the similarities between the Hakka paintings at Pun Uk and the traditional Suzhou Style paintings, the presence of visual discrepancy inspires the second goal of this thesis, the theory of Hakka adaptations. It analyses how the Hakka culture has altered the traditional Suzhou Style painting. The results show that their ancestral origin, diasporic background, Confucian faith, and Fengshui superstition are the contributing factors for the strong desire for prosperity, fertility, safety, and social stability. Hence, their paintings reflect these qualities through motifs, color, particular patterns, the spatial configuration of the paintings, and the reduced quality. They often carry more than one of the cultural factors discussed as these contributing factors are correlated under the umbrella of the Hakka diasporic and almost nomadic nature. From an art history perspective, this thesis demonstrates the cultural significance of Chinese polychrome paintings, specifically the Hakka paintings in Hong Kong from or after the Qing Dynasty, and the methodologies and approaches for interpreting the paintings beyond their apparent aesthetics.