1 00:00:07,250 --> 00:00:13,910 So the title of my paper is ink, and the piece I'm talking about is myth shooting the sun. 2 00:00:13,910 --> 00:00:21,760 Now this is sort of the. What can I say? 3 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:28,390 This is the an important example of destruction for the positive, and we'll see why. 4 00:00:28,390 --> 00:00:36,400 In a second, I'm going to tell you a few little stories and they can send gunpowder arrows and fire. 5 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,410 So he is the person we're talking about and we can see here supposedly live four thousand years ago. 6 00:00:41,410 --> 00:00:48,640 But of course, he is a mythological figure. Also knows who die or he. 7 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:57,700 For those who are interested in this sort of thing, we can see the character written in the old and in from the Sean Chancellor, 8 00:00:57,700 --> 00:01:02,950 which is a Han Dynasty dictionary and from the genuine, which is how you see it on. 9 00:01:02,950 --> 00:01:10,870 That's going back quite a long way into the period, but nowhere near as far as when Hoey was supposed to have lived. 10 00:01:10,870 --> 00:01:20,390 So the tale? And she says a lot to us today, because I mean, if you see when I read it out in the second, 11 00:01:20,390 --> 00:01:25,520 it's it has a lot to do with how we think of the environment today and a lot 12 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:34,520 to do with perhaps this certain type of politics that which is on the rise, 13 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:42,620 perhaps and how we can get rid of it. Although there's no e and there is no Yao of Yao and Shrimp, the early emperors. 14 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:50,760 OK. So when it came to the time of Yao, 10 songs came out together, scorching the series with crops and killing the grasses and trees. 15 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:59,630 The people had nothing to eat the young youths out jogging, not Fong Fang yo show all caused harm to the people. 16 00:01:59,630 --> 00:02:06,050 So Yao sent E! To Kill. That's out in the wild fields and fields and meadows to kill the going upon the 17 00:02:06,050 --> 00:02:11,450 raging waters to seise the Dar Fang in the marshes of the green hills above, 18 00:02:11,450 --> 00:02:20,150 he shot the sons and below he killed the Yuya. He smoked the shochu in Dongting Lake and captured the [INAUDIBLE] sea in the forests of Mulberry. 19 00:02:20,150 --> 00:02:24,860 The multitudes were overjoyed and installed Yao as the son of heaven. 20 00:02:24,860 --> 00:02:29,400 So that's the story taken from a Han Dynasty. 21 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:40,130 A collection which was written before 139 B.C. called the financier, and it's the part that's called the treatise on the fundamental norm. 22 00:02:40,130 --> 00:02:44,600 Now, also from the Han Dynasty, but from the later hadn't been nasty. 23 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:50,500 That was from the former Han Dynasty is we find this the ruling shrine. 24 00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:54,040 And I would recommend the book if anyone's interested in reading further on this. 25 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:02,230 This is good for us because it tells us a lot about things that can be seen in these freezers, architecture, clothing, et cetera, et cetera. 26 00:03:02,230 --> 00:03:06,310 But it does have the tail of EA here. 27 00:03:06,310 --> 00:03:18,670 And I then quote again from another Han Dynasty telling of the tale, which is actually written around the time that the ruling shrine was was made. 28 00:03:18,670 --> 00:03:23,620 It is said that it is said that in the time of Yao, 10 sons came out together. 29 00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:27,430 The grasses and the trees withered and died. Yao ordered E! 30 00:03:27,430 --> 00:03:30,850 To shoot the sense on the stone. Having shot nine of them. 31 00:03:30,850 --> 00:03:36,280 The crows within the nine suns were all dead. Their wings and feathers fell to the ground. 32 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:47,970 And so just one son remained. Now, I've put this in because it takes us back, but it doesn't take us back quite far enough because of course, 33 00:03:47,970 --> 00:03:58,950 the Bronze Age was later than was in this so-called in the mythical mythological dynasty of this year. 34 00:03:58,950 --> 00:04:06,810 But these are Shang Dynasty bronze arrowheads. OK, so we've seen this already. 35 00:04:06,810 --> 00:04:11,700 The idea of how run GM bearing arrows with straw boats. 36 00:04:11,700 --> 00:04:17,610 Now this is something that people in China who you know on in everyday conversation may say this. 37 00:04:17,610 --> 00:04:25,800 I've never done it myself, but it has the meaning of to achieve one's goal by making use of the manpower or financial resources of others. 38 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:34,210 So it's it's a common saying. And in in the left, we see a 19th century woodcut of the event. 39 00:04:34,210 --> 00:04:40,390 And we've heard about this earlier earlier on Drew Young. He decided they'd run out of arrows. 40 00:04:40,390 --> 00:04:47,470 He was the general on the on the one side and he had run out of arrows, so he thought of a way of doing it. 41 00:04:47,470 --> 00:04:52,630 The way to do it was to make straw boats and straw people to put in those boats. 42 00:04:52,630 --> 00:04:57,020 And of course, the arrows all go over and he can. 43 00:04:57,020 --> 00:05:00,700 He basically collects arrows. And so here we have. 44 00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:07,270 He is told he is superhuman for doing that. He was a well-known strategist. 45 00:05:07,270 --> 00:05:11,000 So that we have and we've seen it already. 46 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:20,110 This is the borrowing your enemies arrows built of the skeleton of an old fishing boat excavated in treasure. 47 00:05:20,110 --> 00:05:24,850 I imagine similar to the boat that was in Venice, is that right? 48 00:05:24,850 --> 00:05:31,780 Perhaps so. But yes. Anyway, so this is a the Museum of Modern Art. 49 00:05:31,780 --> 00:05:36,820 I don't know if it's on permanent display, but I would certainly like to see it in person. 50 00:05:36,820 --> 00:05:45,220 Okay, so we moved from single. The romance of the Three Kingdoms to sway humdrum, which is another is. 51 00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:52,600 These two are four of the so-called great vernacular novels of Chinese literature. 52 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,890 Now, anyone who's read this book or has studied it will know that it has 100 chapters, 53 00:05:56,890 --> 00:06:01,120 but there is a version with one hundred and five chapters and then its fifth chapter. 54 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:05,530 We have this story, which is that, I mean, it's a sort of spectacle in the self. 55 00:06:05,530 --> 00:06:07,540 I think it's quite interesting. 56 00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:16,690 The Traitors chief ordered 5000 soldiers to attack the deepest recesses of the mountain forest using fire arrows, fire cannon and fire torches. 57 00:06:16,690 --> 00:06:19,300 So is to set it all ablaze. 58 00:06:19,300 --> 00:06:26,620 He ordered his commanders to have carts pushed forward to set them alight and to push them down towards the grain stores on the mountain slopes. 59 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:30,460 All now charged forward. Then suddenly they shouted, Doomed. 60 00:06:30,460 --> 00:06:35,560 Are we doomed? We had there ever been anything so extraordinary? 61 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:42,400 How could it be that the sudden wind that had been blowing so fiercely all at once changed direction veered around towards the north? 62 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:51,250 A clamour like thunder could be heard on the mountains. Chow Douching had used his magical powers to change the course of the wind and fire the fire. 63 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:54,730 Arrows and flaming torches flew back towards the tracers, 64 00:06:54,730 --> 00:07:02,500 just like millions of golden snakes and dragons of fire twisting and turning, the furious flames flew towards the tracers troops. 65 00:07:02,500 --> 00:07:11,010 The tracers had no place to hide. And all were consumed by fire and flame. 66 00:07:11,010 --> 00:07:16,790 So. This is a fire that is fire, this is gunpowder. 67 00:07:16,790 --> 00:07:23,030 And here we have this is actually with the Ming Dynasty, this is an example of the sort of arrow that became the rocket. 68 00:07:23,030 --> 00:07:28,370 And actually, it doesn't look that dissimilar to the sort of rocket that will be let off on the 5th of November, 69 00:07:28,370 --> 00:07:37,270 coming up for fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day. So it is this sort of arrow that was used in this. 70 00:07:37,270 --> 00:07:42,640 It says in the in the text that you can put one or two into a bamboo tube, 71 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:52,100 light the fuse and it will fly 100 paces around 100 paces and it can be used in on battles, in water or on land. 72 00:07:52,100 --> 00:07:53,560 And we've already seen that. 73 00:07:53,560 --> 00:08:03,100 I mean, these things sort of remain in people's minds so that the battle on water was the single year in Iowa, and we can see how that fits in. 74 00:08:03,100 --> 00:08:07,620 Another example is this the bow fired fire pomegranate arrow. 75 00:08:07,620 --> 00:08:13,630 I think this is particularly interesting because this would make a great splash if you if you feel that not my place to say so, of course. 76 00:08:13,630 --> 00:08:17,950 But you know, if you put half of it would make a great splash. 77 00:08:17,950 --> 00:08:23,980 I think so. This is the this is the only translation isn't by me. 78 00:08:23,980 --> 00:08:28,990 So I put Joseph Needham down there. I don't know if he did it behind the arrow. 79 00:08:28,990 --> 00:08:36,400 Arrowhead wrap up some gunpowder with two or three layers of soft paper and bind it to the arrow shaft in a lumber shaped like a pomegranate 80 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:45,810 covered with a piece of hemp cloth tightly tied and seal fast with molten pine resin like the fuse and then shoot it from the bone. 81 00:08:45,810 --> 00:08:53,160 Now, to go even further from from the point we see this is a ching dynasty watercolour. 82 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,990 I put this in because it was on the theme of arrows, but also we have this in the collection here. 83 00:08:57,990 --> 00:09:09,240 And you can actually see it upstairs in the gallery later. China Gallery. Not to this page, but but it is there. 84 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:25,140 All right. So back to this again is Hoey, and he is basically, I mean, shoot, shoot the Crows to kill the to rid, rid, rid of the be rid of the birds. 85 00:09:25,140 --> 00:09:32,100 Now I should have said before, and I didn't say that at the time that of course, shooting down the nine suns is shooting down the crows. 86 00:09:32,100 --> 00:09:36,720 The Crows live in the sun and they have three three legs. 87 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:41,820 There's still one left, of course. There's this one sun, and it still has a crow with three legs in it. 88 00:09:41,820 --> 00:09:47,670 And here we see the crows on the grass here. This is also from the Qing Dynasty, like the other thing we just saw, 89 00:09:47,670 --> 00:09:56,240 but this is from the second year of the Qing Dynasty of this was in late Qianlong period. 90 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:01,520 And just in case people were under the impression that this was an obscure tale, this is known by a lot of people. 91 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:10,980 I mean, this is even something that you can play at home here. I imagine it was formulated in China, but I don't know because this is a game. 92 00:10:10,980 --> 00:10:16,320 Joey. We've got the sort of. 93 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:24,960 This sort of bow, this sort of reminds me of this time they're using the Olympics, which almost shoots itself. 94 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,380 You just hold it and shoot it. So here is the sort of supersonic version. 95 00:10:30,380 --> 00:10:35,180 Anyway, so this is, you know, I, you know, if you're interested in these games, 96 00:10:35,180 --> 00:10:42,230 feel free to look it up, not something I would do myself, but there we are. Thoughts. All right. 97 00:10:42,230 --> 00:10:48,020 So I'm speaking about one object in the exhibition, but in fact, 98 00:10:48,020 --> 00:10:55,100 this is the second which is on the same theme or very, very close to the same thing because this is shooting the Sun. 99 00:10:55,100 --> 00:10:59,990 And here we see the Sun has fallen, this is in the exhibition upstairs, I think it might be the second painting. 100 00:10:59,990 --> 00:11:08,360 And what we see here, I think, is that it is a depiction of real weight and real light, 101 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:15,350 which you don't get usually in in traditional paintings of hooey because you you usually don't see, 102 00:11:15,350 --> 00:11:27,830 as you saw in the wintertime, we saw just saw crows. In fact, you rarely see the Sun in these in tradition, traditionally in Chinese depictions. 103 00:11:27,830 --> 00:11:42,310 And this is the. The original results of the performative act, which was myth shooting the Sons Project for extraterrestrials number 21 from 1994, 104 00:11:42,310 --> 00:11:47,900 which took place in Holland, and this is where our piece comes from. 105 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:58,130 So we can see it is actually. Signed at the bottom, and it's got it, the Holland cycle, which 1994 and in Chinese. 106 00:11:58,130 --> 00:12:03,480 And on another version or another part of this particular. 107 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:11,190 A large piece of paper there is there's more about it, so we know that it was done in December the 18th in Holland. 108 00:12:11,190 --> 00:12:24,910 Now this was given to Michael and Juan Sullivan by Typekit, shown in 2002 and entered the collection here in 2015. 109 00:12:24,910 --> 00:12:30,580 And we are very, very lucky to have it. I mean, it is the only what young peace we have in this, 110 00:12:30,580 --> 00:12:41,320 in this museum and of the four hundred and fifty objects that were given by Michael Michael and Juan Salvador in 2015. 111 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:49,430 Now. Just to finish, I will remind you what I said at the beginning of this, if we think very hard, 112 00:12:49,430 --> 00:12:57,620 we can imagine how this can apply to all our lives at the moment with the environmental issues and with politics as they are. 113 00:12:57,620 --> 00:13:06,230 But while you're thinking about that, we can, uh, I would invite you to go up to the gallery later on and have a look at these two paintings. 114 00:13:06,230 --> 00:13:16,160 So thank you very much.