The Chinese have never been noted for mass production of anything but masses; but civilization is an old Chinese custom. Some 1,200 years ago, long before movies were invented, the Chinese had a fair substitute. They painted picture stories on long silk scrolls, to be scanned slowly from right to left.
One of the best of these self-propelled movies went on exhibition in Manhattan last week at the Metropolitan Museum. The scroll depicted a spring festival, Ch'ing Ming ("Clear and Bright"), as it was celebrated along the Yellow River in 12th Century China.
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