The arts and ages of life in China

The paper aims to show that, in the Chinese traditional arts, as well as today’s, youth and old age are the most highly valued ages of life, especially old age. In the first part of the paper, the arts and the stages of life are discussed in Chinese painting and calligraphy : the ages of those who perform an artistic activity are examined, starting from the confrontation of texts with artistic experience. In its second part, the paper explores the representation of the arts and the stages of life in Chinese movies of the 1990s that stage masters and disciples relationships.