RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077
236

BOOK REVIEWS

on his blackwood cage-bed which is decorated by painted porcelain panels, and a glimpse into a corner of the monk's kitchen.

The third group of 35 photos are portraits of the monks who inhabited the monasteries of Hua Shan. Hedda Morrison must have been quite a personality to be appreciated and trusted by the monks in such a short time, that she could catch their faces in so many moods and showing so vividly their characters.

Although the photos were taken in 1935 they were not published before 1975. In 1935 it was possible for anyone who would brave the steep cliffs and the narrow mountain paths to enjoy the beauty and the peace, to purify one's mind and unite with the Tao. There is not much chance of going there today, nor of finding monks enacting dances symbolizing the cosmic battle of nature (plates 43, 44). The photos are thus a priceless record of the faces of Hua Shan, their value enhanced by their poetic quality.

The texts are of minor importance but help us to understand the basic Chinese thinking that the individual must be in harmony with the universe.

Hong Kong, 1975.

HELGA WERLE

SEALS OF CHINESE PAINTERS AND COLLECTORS OF THE MING AND CH'ING PERIODS. REPRODUCED IN FACSIMILE SIZE AND DECIPHERED. REVISED EDITION WITH SUPPLEMENT. By Victoria Contag and Wang Chi-ch'ien (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1966. pp. Ixviii+726. Illustrations. Paperback issue 1974, HK$50.

The academic interest of collecting ancient seals in China was generally developed during the first 150 years of the Ch'ing period (1644-1911) and subsequently sub-divided into several offshoots: such as collecting ancient official seals, an interest related to the study of government organization; or collecting seals of the Han (204 B.C.-220 A.D.) and pre-Han period, connected with either an artistic interest in the archaic style of Chinese sealscript or a paleographic interest on etymology. Following these trends, however, the cited scholastic interests are replaced in the 20th century by a more specified academic practice; for instance, to collect seals of established artists and learned art collectors of previous periods. By so doing, the collected seals can serve students of Chinese art,
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g
50 

to the new comers? I have come up with four logical reasons: 

(1) In the actor's psychology, his role on the stage is to entertain, and as long as he can keep the audience amused, everything will be O.K. Sometimes, he forgets, as when he puts his whims and fantasies into practice, and he throws logic out of the window. 

(2) The theatrical people may be inclined to think that the audience's mind cannot be rushed. The action has to be brought about in such a way that they can gradually grasp the meaning and importance of the story being told. 

(3) One way to highlight the importance of the story is to prolong the time of the fighting scene. In other words, the more you fight, the more important that fight will be. 

Things can turn sour if you run counter with this theme. Take, for instance, the following example which amply proves my point: 

In the play "Jie Dong Feng" (f) which literally means "Praying For The East Wind", people spend hours acting out the story that leads to the "The Battle Of The Red Cliff” (EZ). The story has it that strategists of both the Wu (R) and the Shu (S) States are scheming how to defeat the mighty Wei State's fleet that was anchored on the upper reach of the Yangtze River. Since the Wu's forces were in the lower reach of the Yangtze River, they needed the "East Wind", in gale force, to help them to win. 

Well, when the East gale force winds do come, you would expect that thousands upon thousands of soldiers would throw flaming arrows across the sky aimed at the Wei's fleet, which was tricked to join together with iron chains by internal spies. Then, when the fleet was destroyed and the smoldering ships were cold enough to board, the Wu and Shu strategists would send soldiers to mop up and put a finishing touch to it. 

Nothing of the sort happened! What they did was to send a couple of men, with maybe two dozen arrows (not even the flame carrying ones), and throw them in the direction of the enemy. Before you even knew it, the war was over! What an anticlimax! So everyone who sat
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