Woodblock Print - New Dawn though the Moon Gate
Item
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Title
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Woodblock Print - New Dawn though the Moon Gate
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Identifier
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BMK_002
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Description
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This print shows an extended family consisting of grandmother, son, daughter-in-law and three children sitting in front of a circular "moon gate." The grandmother and the baby are looking away from the gate, while the rest of the family are looking through it. The scene that appears before them is a countryside with a small cottage in the mid-ground and a rising sun in the distance. The grandmother wears the women's traditional jacket with trousers, while the son, daughter-in-law and child wear scholars' gowns.
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Commentary
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The imagery symbolizes the modernization of China as the "new dawn," a concept that was circulating among both missionaries and progressive Chinese during the 1920s-1940s. The child carries a book, emphasizing the importance of education to the modernization process.
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Creator
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Beatrice McDowell Kitchen
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Date Created
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1925 - 1947
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Location
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Chengdu, Sichuan
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Original Format
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Woodblock print
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Source
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Donald Willmott
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Provenance
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Self-published pdf compiled by Robert Kilborn and distributed to missionaries and mish kids at the Canadian School in West China annual reunion.
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Publisher
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SIUE
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Record Date
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2025-04-03
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Contributor
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Cory Willmott
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Type
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Still Image
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Published In
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Robert Kilborn, ed. n/d. Beatrice Kitchen: A Collection of Her Wood Block Prints and Other Prints which She Created for the Canadian Mission Press, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
