Shan shui

Shan shui (Chinese: 山水 lit. "mountain-water") refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form.

History

Shan shui painting first arose to prominence during the 5th century, in the reign of the Liu Song Dynasty. It was later characterized by a group of landscape painters such as Zhang Zeduan, most of them already famous, who produced large-scale landscape paintings. These landscape paintings usually centered on mountains. Mountains had long been seen as sacred places in China, which were viewed as the homes of immortals and thus, close to the heavens. Philosophical interest in nature, or in mystical connotations of naturalism, could also have contributed to the rise of landscape painting. The art of shan shui, like many other styles of Chinese painting has a strong reference to Taoist (Daoist) imagery and motifs, as symbolisms of Taoism strongly influenced "Chinese landscape painting". Some authors have suggested that Daoist stress on how minor the human presence is in the vastness of the cosmos, or Neo-Confucian interest in the patterns or principles that underlie all phenomena, natural and social lead to the highly structuralized nature of shan shui.

Shan

Shan may refer to:

People

Places

Shaan Shahid

Armaghan Shahid (born 27 April 1971), popularly known as Shaan, or Shaan Shahid) is a Pakistani actor, writer, model, and film director. With two decades in Pakistani cinema and around 500 films to his credit – many of them commercially successful. He is one of the most popular face of Lollywood (a name given to Pakistan's Film Industry). – Shaan has established himself as the leading actor of Pakistan. Shaan started his acting career in 1990 by making debut in Javed Fazli's film Bulandi opposite to Reema Khan. He has won many awards in Pakistan including one Pride of Performance, four National Film Awards, fifteen Nigar Awards, five Lux Style Awards, one Pakistan Media Award, ARY Film Award.

Early life and family

Armaghan Shahid better known today as Shaan Shahid was born in Lahore to director Riaz Shahid and television, theatre and film actress Neelo. His father was a Punjabi Muslim whereas his mother was Punjabi Christian who embraced Islam. His paternal uncle Fiaz Shahid was a cameraman and producer for PTV in Islamabad.

Shan (surname)

Shan (simplified Chinese: 单; traditional Chinese: 單; pinyin: Shàn) is a Chinese surname. The origin of this surname is not clear. One explanation is that it came from Shan County in Shandong province. Another possible origin involves King Cheng of Zhou's youngest son's acquisition of the name when he was given what would become the Shan state when the enfeoffment system was enacted during the Zhou Dynasty. The Shan state existed for a few hundred years before it was annexed by a stronger neighbouring state. It was located in present-day Jiyuan, Henan province. Although the surname comes from the place name, the Shan family was a branch of the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty. Its ancient origin determines its rareness and not many people have the Shan surname. According to one unverifiable estimate, about 150,000 people are of the surname.

Shan could also be used to refer to the rare surname . The rare character was unable to be rendered on a computer so people chose Xian 冼 to replace it. People from Gaozhuang Village born after the system change and people who didn't want a hassle with technology were affected. The choice was controversial as some people saw that future generations would forget their name.