Chinese Folk Arts (Introductions to Chinese Culture)

I wish it was a little bigger, but the illustrations and information were good. Wish there were more illustrations like the fabulous one on the front.

This book is an historical and cultural view of Chinese folk arts. It concerns arts relating to birth, marriage, and funeral/memorial, as well as cultural festivals (as Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn). It has photos of totems, pottery, paper-cuts, embroidery, porcelain, masks, and paintings. You can get artwork ideas from this book, though it is more descriptive than having items to draw. The book will especially appeal to persons interested in paper-cuts and pottery. I also recommend "Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy" by Rebecca Yue and "Chinese Brush Painting" by Pauline Cherrett.

I bought this book to use as part of my art class presentation on Folk Art Paper Mache projects from different cultures. I thought this book was going to have lots of colored pictures so I was disappointed when it did not. It was full of good information, but it was not helpful to my presentation. I needed visuals, not stories. Maybe I missed something when reading the book description prior to ordering it.