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腴合 Bamboos on the Rocks

zh炭 sh鱈

q朝n鼻(1616-1911)
zh竪n鼻 xi竪 (1693-1765)

絎絮延yo d狸n鼻 q朝n鼻 shn b湛 fn鼻 sn鼻鐚
腴劫翫鴬筝l狸 gn yu叩n zi p嘆 y叩n zhng
脾筝肢qin m坦 wn j朝 h叩i jin j狸n鐚
篁糸筝茱水r竪n r dng x朝 n叩n bi fn鼻

絎絮延yo d狸n鼻 q朝n鼻 shn b湛 fn鼻 sn鼻鐚
腴劫翫鴬筝l狸 gn yu叩n zi p嘆 y叩n zhng
脾筝肢qin m坦 wn j朝 h叩i jin j狸n鐚
篁糸筝茱水r竪n r dn鼻 x朝 n叩n bi fn鼻

|#|Bamboos on the Rocks

By Zheng Xie(1693-1765)
Qing Dynasty(1616-1911)

Cling to the green mountain, never give up,
The bamboos take their roots in the cracks of the rocks.
Though they suffer, they are still strong,
Hold unyieldingly, no matter where the winds blow.

Cling to the green mountain, never give up,
The bamboos take their roots in the cracks of the rocks.
Though they suffer, they are still strong,
Hold unyieldingly, no matter where the winds blow.

|#|Zheng Xie (1693-1765) was a famous poet, calligrapher and artist in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) and one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou (a group of eight painters in the Qing Dynasty).   He was from Xinghua of Jiangsu Province; his original family home is Suzhou.

Zheng's father was a teacher who taught hundreds of students. However, when Zheng Xie was born, his family was in restrained circumstances:his mother died when he was 3 or 4 years old and at the age of 14 his stepmother passed away.

Following his father, Zheng Xie started to read at the age of 3, wrote articles at 8 or 9 and wrote poems and lyrics when he was 16 years old.

He earned the title of Xiu Caia successful candidate in the imperial examination at the county level when he was 20; got the title of Ju Rena successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level at 40 years old and gained the title of Jin Shia successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations when he was 43 years old.

Despite this, he lived a poor life and he had to sell his paintings in Yang Zhou so that he could support his family. Not until he was 50 years old was he appointed as a county magistrate, first in Fan County and then in Wei County in Shandong province. He was then fired from these positions, and he went back home to spend his time painting.

As an official, Zheng Xie loved his people as he loved his own sons. One year when he was the magistrate in Wei County there was a famine. Despite strong opposition from his superiors, he kept the granaries opening and saved more than ten thousand lives. With this kind of responsible attitude to his work, there were no cases of injustice during his tenure as county magistrate. He was so much appreciated that the local people built a memorial temple for him. However, what he had done annoyed his superiors and he was fired so he went home to paint.
In 1748, when Emperor Qianlong inspected Shandong, he appointed Zheng Xie as the Shuhua Shiofficial Historian of Calligraphy and Painting; he participated in the preparatory work for the Emperor to climb the Tai Mountains.

At least 5 of his books are still extant.
As an artist, Zheng Xie's calligraphy painting and poetry were called the Three Matchless skills.

In calligraphy, he combined the句罐撃Cao (cursive handcharacters executed swiftly and with strokes flowing together), Li (official scriptan ancient style of calligraphy current in the Han Dynasty 206 B.C.-220 A.D.), Zhuan (seal charactera style of Chinese calligraphy, often used on seals鐚and Kai (regular script), together with his own orchid and bamboo painting style, the big or small size and the deflection style, to create his own style which he humorously called(li湛 fn bn sh笛),   meaning that it is made of four ancient calligraphy styles plus his own two and a half styles.

In painting, his favorite subjects were bamboo, orchid and stone,and he said he painted s狸 sh鱈 b湛 xi竪 zh朝 l叩n鐚 bi ji辿 ch叩ng q朝ng zh朝 zh炭鐚wn g b湛 bi zh朝 sh鱈鐚qin qi笛 b湛 bin zh朝 r辿n the orchid that does not wither in the four seasons; the bamboo with a hundred joints that is evergreen; the rock that does not crumble throughout the ages and people who are unchanged forever.

In poetry, most of his Ti Hua Shipoems on the paintings, were made after he was fired. He said to himself 絎, hun hi gu朝 l叩i ling xi湛 kng,f辿ng r辿n hu zh炭 mi q朝ng fngWith two clean hands, I have come back from official circles;as soon as I meet people, I sell my bamboos with the clean wind to them. (ling xi湛 q朝ng fng : keep two clean hands during the time he was an officer,meaning that an honest official is not corrupt and lives a simple life all the time.)   

Zheng Xie's Ti Hua Shipoems on the paintings, departed from the tradition of poems on paintings where either the poem is a subsidiary of the painting or the painting is a subsidiary of the poem. The content of his poems always relates to real life.Through painting of admiring the bamboo, orchid and stone he is admiring people who are firm and unyielding, upright and selfless, gritty, honest noble and so on. Each line expresses some idea of the poet; there is a far-reaching artistic conception.

By combining the painting, poem and stamp together, Zheng Xie of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou led the literati painters in the direction of paying attention to the reality, helping the pure flower and bird paintings to have much more social content, more ideological depth and
lyricism, making literati paintings more accessible. Writing a poem on a painting also helps to continue and enlarge the stillness of the moment of the picture, adding to the artistic influence of the painting.

Zheng Xie is really one of the creators of the Ti Hua Shi in Chinese poetry history.
Ti Hua ShiPoem on Chinese Painting or Painting Poem
Ti Hua Shi usually refers to a poem on a Chinese painting. It is used to express the feelings, artistic opinion or artistic conception of the author. Just as Fang Xun in Qing Dynasty said :,莇,go q鱈ng y狸 s朝,hu zh朝 b湛 z炭,t鱈 y f zh朝 Noble feelings or surpassing thoughts cannot be fully expressed by a painting alone, a poem can extend them.

A poem in calligraphy inscribed on a painting together with a stamp is a special characteristic of Chinese art. It is a unique style of Chinese painting and is considered to be a unique aesthetic phenomenon in the world of art history. There are many excellent Ti Hua Shi and they are not only a valuable inheritance, but they are also important in the history of Chinese literature.

Before Song Dynasty (960-1279), poems that were not written on paintings, but expressed the poet's feelings about some paintings could also be called to be Ti Hua Shi in the broad sense of the term.
There are two theories concerning the origin of Ti Hua Shi. One states that it started in the Wei 鐚220-266鐚, Jin (265-420), and Southern and Northern Dynasties 鐚420-589鐚, the other says it started in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Zheng Xie and the 7 others of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou are acknowledged as being the best creators of Ti Hua Shi in the history of Chinese painting and poetry.
TraditionalTi Hua Shiwas written on the blank part of a painting to help give the painting balance. Zheng Xie and the 7 others of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou's poems on their paintings developed it to a new phase.

As a representative of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Zheng Xie did not only write a poem on his every painting,but he also wrote his poems in a style combining calligraphy and painting togetherusing the four kinds of traditional Chinese calligraphy with his painting, poetry and calligraphy together. His calligraphy became a close part of his painting; his paintings were pictures and also poetry.

With the creative style of combining poetry, calligraphy, painting and stamp together perfectly, Zheng Xie and the 7 others of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou extended the content of the traditional flower and bird painting, made literati painting more accessible to ordinary people, created a wonderful comprehensive art, and had much more influence in their society and on later generations.
|#||#|This is a Ti Hua Shipoem on the painting and Yong Wu Shia poem that expresses people's aspirations, emotions through chanting (writing) about a thing / object, and was written to complement the artistic conception of his bamboo paintings.

Since the Song Dynasty, bamboo has been praised as one of the four gentlemen of the flowersplum blossoms, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. It is the symbol of the qualities of modesty, straightness, rectitude, nobleness, tenacity and doggedness;it does not bend no matter how harsh the wind is and never goes with the flow.

The title: 腴合 zh炭 sh鱈, the Bamboos on the Rocks or the Bamboo on the Rock.

The first line: 絎絮延 yo 鐔狸鐔ノ q朝n鼻 shn b炭 fn鼻 sn鼻 Cling to the green mountain, never give up.
This line writes about the roots of the bamboos, how they take their roots into the green mountain, just like a person who bitessomething and never lets go. The words yo d狸n鼻bite /cling firmly, endow the bamboos a human quality;both the features and the character of the bamboos and the people who share its qualities stand vividly revealed on the paper.

The second line: 腴劫翫鴬筝 l狸 鼻n yu叩n zi p嘆 y叩n zhn鼻 The bamboos take their roots in the cracks of the rocks.

This line explains why the bamboos can bite /cling firmly to the green mountain, because they have taken their roots deeply into the rocks. With the word p嘆break / crack of, the poet indicates the poor living condition of the bamboos.

Anyway, even though in the riprap, the bamboos still take their roots inside, just like the pine that Mr. Tao Zhu wrote: ,, b湛 z辿 d狸 sh狸鐚b湛 w竪i y叩n h叩n k湛 r竪鐚su鱈 ch湛 zhu坦 zhung de shng zhng q l叩i it does not choose the topography, it does not fear deep cold or intense heat,and it grows healthily and strongly everywhere.

Since they can live in such a difficult environment, lacking both soil and water, the implication is that the bamboos would be able to withstand any tribulation. This line is a continuation of the previous line and an introduction to the following line.

The following two lines explain that even though the bamboos have experienced much hardship in the rain, snow and thunderstorms and have been shaken violently by the wind, they still stand firm.

The third line: 脾筝肢 qin m坦 wn j朝 h叩i jin j狸nThough they suffer, they are still strong.
It is an analogy with the cold hardening of metal by striking it many times with a hammer, the bamboos have become stronger, standing upright and firmly in the wind, never bending with the wind at all.

The last line: 篁糸筝茱水 鐔竪鐔 r dn鼻 x朝 n叩n bi fn鼻 Hold unyieldingly,no matter where the winds blow .

With the words 脾筝 qin m坦 wn j朝go through much suffering, showing us how bad the environment is; with the four winds indicating the bad forces and the characteristics of the times that the poet lived in and the environment that the bamboos live in, both the poet and the bamboo have been inosculated as a whole.

When I write here, I cannot help thinking of the other poem Ting ZhuBamboo in the Courtyard by Liu Yuxi. If in that poem the bamboo is like a gentleman, then in this poem, the bamboo is more like a fighter.

With the method of personification, the author not only makes us to feel a kind, true and natural beauty, we are also naturally influenced by the character of bamboo and the author.

With a superb ability, Zheng Xie used the usual common verbs to produce a charming and wonderful artistic conception for the poem.

In four short lines, a clear picture has been shown to us: under the cliff, in the cracks of the rocks, several green bamboos proudly stand up in the wind, their roots clinging deeply in the cracks, they grow up strongly.Both their inner tenacity and straight outer shape are vividly revealed on the paper.

This poem purely writes about the bamboo in nature, but it is more of a sketch than an absolute copy. What is written and painted has a clear symbolic meaning.

On the surface, it writes about the bamboo, whereas, in fact, it writes about the poet himself. The abstract meaning is implied in the visual description and offers the reader double enjoyment.
|#|This is one of my favorite poems. I love this poem because it speaks out what I am thinking in my mind and what I want to say in my heart. So, I see it as my motto, and I often use the lines in this poem to encourage myself to study, work and fight against sicknesses. It has been accompanying me in my study, thinking and exploration of the road to a comprehensive art since 2000; it has also been encouraging me to fight my sicknesses since 2009.

With so much respect to the bamboos in the poem and to the poet, I created a piece of music to go with this poem in 2011 and I painted two paintings as my assignments at Chinese National Academy of Arts to match them in 2012.   

I do hope that my effort will be of some help for you in learning something more about Chinese culture and language.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn .