Han Purple

This piece depicts a traditional Chinese woman sitting elegantly during a war that can be seen from her home. This was influenced by my experiences learning VCE Chinese at school and learning about the early 1900s culture from my Chinese teachers. The woman is meant to illustrate elegance through both her expression and posture but also her traditional Han purple qipao. She exudes strength too during hard times, which are revealed by the two starved dogs fighting over a dead rabbit. As a sign of death and bad luck there are both 4 trees and 4 plumes of smoke, (four is pronounced in Chinese the same as death and considered a bad omen). While the woman has the symbolic 6 coins hanging from her chair to possibly bring some good luck amongst the bad.