The Son of Heaven

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The IMA produced trailer for this exhibition
0:00:02

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Bronze Age in China
0:00:10
Read about the Bronze Age in China.

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Emperor of China as the Son of Heaven
0:00:21
Learn about emperors in Chinese history and their role as the Son of Heaven.

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“Power and Glory” exhibition website
0:00:30
Visit the exhibition website to discover more about the Ming dynasty and the objects used at court.

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Sons of Heaven
0:00:40
Stories of Chinese Emperors Through the Ages (Insights into Chinese History)

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IMA Chinese galleries
0:00:50
See other works in the IMA Chinese collection.

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An IMA Blog post
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Read an Indianapolis Museum of Art blog post discussing this exhibition.

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Channels: Asian ArtChinese ArtExhibitions

Chinese Art Curator, Michael Knight explains the concept of Son of Heaven and the divine right to rule of the Emperor.

A groundbreaking exhibition, Power and Glory was the first exhibition to focus on the full range of Ming dynasty (1368-1644) court arts. More than 200 treasures were on view, including gold and jade, paintings and porcelains, from China’s greatest museums, many never before seen outside of China. The works illustrated how this ancient dynasty surpassed the technology of its time to become a global leader in maritime power, mass production and artistic accomplishment.

Organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Palace Museum, the Nanjing Municipal Museum and the Shanghai Museum.

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00:00:05 So, the Chinese emperor was the Son of Heaven and that starts at the very, very beginning of Chinese history. Back in the Bronze Age, we already know that the emperor was considered the Son of Heaven, so heaven was in the state cult, Heaven,

00:00:16 the ultimate being, and the emperor as the Son of Heaven, then who had the divine right to rule and so the emperor, as the Son of Heaven

00:00:26 and as such had the divine right to rule. How do they come about the emperor was considered the Son of Heaven? It was a religion! It was the state cult

00:00:33 and heaven at the beginning and in the Bronze Age it was Shangdi and Heaven, Tian, and that was the method of communicating with heaven

00:00:43 and was through the ancestors and the main person to communicate through the ancestors was the emperor. So, the emperor communicated through his ancestors to heaven,

00:00:53 but the emperor was also the Son of Heaven. It comes as a very foundation of Chinese civilization; it comes from the very, very beginning.