The Walls Can Talk

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Internal political struggles are not new to China. Tracy Miller, associate professor of history of art, researched the architecture and art of the Jin Shrines complex (Jinci) of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127 C.E.) and found that the very structure and religious art of the complex reflected the struggles of competing social and political groups worshiping different deities. Her book, The Divine Nature of Power, reveals how the wall paintings, sculpture, and temple buildings of the sacred site were manipulated over time, presenting differing ideas about divinity, identity and status depending on who was in power.