Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"
A genre painting that reflects the life of the Northern Song Dynasty. The author of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is the Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan. Zhang Zeduan was from Shandong. He studied painting in Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) in his early years, and later became a painter at the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. Although there are few records about him, this remarkable work has made future generations remember him forever.
"Along the River During Qingming Festival" is a long scroll with colors on silk, 24.8 cm high and 528 cm long. The picture depicts the bustling scene of Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Qingming Festival. Going up the river during the Qingming Festival was a folk custom at that time, just like today's festival gatherings, where people used it to participate in business activities. The whole picture is large in scale and rigorous in structure, and is roughly divided into three sections: the first section is the suburban scene, the second section is the Bianhe River, and the third section is the city streets.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is not only a great realist painting art treasure, but also provides us with rich image information on the commerce, handicrafts, folk customs, architecture, transportation and other aspects of the metropolis of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, it also has the value of historical documents.