The three essential elements of bonsai: first the scenery, second the pot, third the stand

Bonsai is composed of three elements: the scenery, the pot, and the stand. These three elements are interconnected, mutually influential, and form an indispensable unified whole. This is what is commonly called the trinity of scenery, pot, and stand.

The "scenery" is the main part of the bonsai, while the pot and stand are subordinate parts. That is, in a good bonsai, the scenery, pot, and stand must cooperate harmoniously with clear distinctions between primary and secondary, taking care to avoid directing the viewer's attention to the "pot" or the "stand." The relationship between the pot and stand and the scenery must be handled in a coordinated and natural way in terms of shape, volume, color, and other aspects. The primary-secondary relationship must be maintained, which is the reason for the common saying: first the scenery, second the pot, third the stand.

Bonsai Musings - Bonded with Bonsai

The formal beauty of a bonsai work is determined by spatial beauty, linear beauty, and their combined beauty.
Bonsai shaping art, in the final analysis, is the art of handling space and lines.
Professor Zou Xianmin holds that: strange stone culture is part of traditional mountain stone culture.
Mr. Li Qingzhai holds that: a strange stone is a natural stone body with ornamental value.
Mr. Wei Wenfu holds that: the current dynamic bonsai of tree-and-stone, forest, and varied combinations is precisely modern Chinese bonsai with distinctive Chinese national characteristics. It represents the style and schools of Chinese bonsai. It is the direction of bonsai development in a certain period.
Growing raw material trees: alive in one year, strong in two; transformed in three or four; presentable in five or six; worth reconsidering in seven or eight; only after ten years can it enter the elegant hall. (Xiao Wenhua)
The philosophy of purchasing raw material trees: "Rare and curious, relatively quick to take shape, reasonably priced, loved by all." (Xiao Wenhua)
Selecting bonsai raw material: roots and root feet strong and radiating in all directions; trunk-to-branch ratio harmonious; branch pads even and natural; few artificial wounds; tree character unique and distinctive.
Bonsai creation should treat space as a major compositional element in the layout. (Xiao Xiaoyang)
The blending of scenery and emotion, the unity of image and meaning, constitutes the essence of Chinese bonsai. (Feng Rulin)
Only by endowing it with "humanistic spirit" is bonsai alive; only by thoroughly comprehending the "artistic conception" of a work does bonsai possess independent personal charm.
Bonsai appreciation should not only study common issues, but also study the different styles of the same issues. (Feng Rulin)
Different arts have different artistic languages, forming different aesthetic characteristics.
Artistic creation, because it has stages and continuity, is what forms the artist's personal style.
Appreciation is the reverse thinking of creation; one must mobilize imagination, experience, personal history, and even cultural cultivation to discover something deeper in the work. (Feng Rulin)
The industrialized development of bonsai art must ultimately take the path of cultivating material in nursery fields. (Liu Chuangang)
Regarding formal imagery in a certain aesthetic vision, bonsai tree species each have their strengths, each have their reliance, and cannot substitute for one another. (Huang Xiang)
Diligence can make an artist. Only by going deep into life, deep into practice, and deep into nature can one refine artistic masterpieces with both form and spirit.
Read widely the books of sages; broadly absorb the strengths of many schools. (Provided by Bonsai Home)
To learn bonsai, one should often go out and walk around; seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. "Having knowledge does not equal having common sense, and having common sense does not equal having insight."
Creating scenery to express meaning is the essence of Chinese bonsai, and titling bonsai is the distinctive feature of Chinese bonsai. (Lin Fengshu)
Global bonsai has long been active among the people, and because it has not formed an independent discipline, there is no orthodox academic education. Continuing in a master-apprentice transmission mode makes it easy to form fixed patterns. (Yang Xiu, Taiwan, China)
Current bonsai creation uses the principles of fixed-point perspective and scattered-point perspective from painting theory for layout, so only the front has aesthetic appeal, while the aesthetic appeal from other angles is weaker. Because bonsai is a three-dimensional space, bonsai must be constructed using sculpture theory. (Yang Xiu, Taiwan, China)
Currently bonsai has only one face; this is a mistaken concept. All should be laid out in all-directional three-dimensional space, so that viewers have different aesthetic experiences from different directions. (Yang Xiu, Taiwan, China)
The beauty of bonsai is not composed of leaf clusters and leaf blades, but lies in the changes of branches and texture, and the artistic conception expressed through the spaces created by their interweaving. (Yang Xiu, Taiwan, China)
Formulaic shaping forms cause many bonsai to be largely similar, differing greatly from tree forms in nature. (Yang Xiu, Taiwan, China)
Repotting and changing soil for bonsai is not easily determined by time, but should be based on the specific conditions of the tree. (Huang Jianming)
Bonsai collecting means judging the past with a historical eye, examining the present with an artistic eye, and opening up the future with a developmental eye. (Fu Quan)
In fact, there is no creation without appreciation, and even less appreciation without creative practice. (Huang Qiang)

A bonsai should be the embodiment of a journey of the heart. No two people have exactly the same two states of mind, so they will not make exactly the same bonsai, and therefore each one appears all the more precious. (Xu Feng)
Making bonsai is like being a person; one must pour in all one's heart and blood, as any negligence can brew pain that can never be remedied. (Xu Feng)
The popularity of cypress bonsai precisely shows that our country is climbing a new peak in the development of bonsai art, so its popularity will be forever, forever... (Hu Leguo)
Being unable to understand the relationship between Chinese bonsai and traditional Chinese culture is probably the difference between a "craftsman" and a "master." (Feng Rulin)
The final artistic effect and the highest artistic realm of bonsai must all be based on natural beauty. (Zhao Qingquan)
Compared with mountain-collected material, self-cultivated bonsai material provides broader space for bonsai artistic creation in terms of shaping time, tree-form control, scope of application, artistic conception expression, work adjustment, and market development. (Zheng Xuming)
The unique style of Lingnan bonsai is "modeling after nearby trees." The unique production method of Lingnan bonsai is "trunk chopping and branch accumulation." (Zheng Yongtai)
Bonsai is a visual plastic art based on cultural cultivation, guided by aesthetic theory, and using shaping techniques as its means. (Zeng Xianye)
The development of bonsai culture must rely not only on artistic creation, but also on attaching importance to market development. (Mr. Wang)
The beauty of bonsai individuality is inseparable from exploring the cultural connotations of tree species. (Hui Youlin)
Chinese bonsai indeed still has no complete, independent theoretical system, but in this line of work one can only focus mainly on practicality. (Qiantang Sou)
From simple to complex is a change in quantity; from complex to simple is a leap in quality. (Li Yu)
Chinese painting and Chinese bonsai have the closest relationship, so painting theory must be read and famous works must be seen. One should cultivate a love for various art categories to thereby raise literary and artistic cultivation and ideological taste. (Hu Leguo)
The judging of bonsai works, in the final analysis, is a contest of culture. (Hu Leguo)
Applying artistic dialectics well reflects the level of the work and the cultural and artistic cultivation of the author. (Hu Leguo)
Chinese bonsai is "rooted in nature and higher than nature." Let works show harmonious and perfect expression in both form and content. (Hu Leguo)
Chinese bonsai must pursue its own distinct national style. (Hu Leguo)
Today's bonsai art should embody the combination of China's tradition and modern concepts. (Hu Leguo)
Bonsai is culture; like poetry, calligraphy, and painting... it has become part of Chinese culture. (Hu Leguo)
In September 2005, the China Bonsai Artists Association awarded the latest 10 "Chinese Bonsai Art Masters": Liu Chuangang, Xie Keying, Zhang Zunzhong, Liu Zhongming, Jiao Guoying, Zheng Jianming, Wang Rusheng, Li Zhonghong, Xu Hao, Lu Zhiquan.
The function of shari and jin: to make bonsai's "transitions more natural, lines more gracefully curved, and colors richer." (Zhang Zhongyi, Henan)
"Chinese style" bonsai means: freehand bonsai created with profound traditional Chinese national culture as its characteristic. (Shi Wanqin)
Without tradition there is no innovation; without innovation there is no development. (Wei Youmin, Jiangxi)
Branch division and branch accumulation shaping method: "One branch shows twists and turns, two branches divide into short and long, three branches speak of gathering and scattering, there is exposure and also concealment." (He Gansun)
Single-tree momentum layout method: "The tree divides into four directions, some short and some long; momentum faces toward and away, both relaxed and tense." (He Gansun)
The development direction of dynamic bonsai: on the basis of deepening single-subject shaping, take the path of tree-and-stone, forest, and varied combinations. (He Gansun)
Bonsai art, like other arts, is a synthesis of multi-layered cultural cultivation. (Li Erzhong)
"Shari" and "jin" are products of Japanese social forms. In the final analysis, they are only a method of modifying tree trunks, definitely not the whole of bonsai art; use them when there is a place for them. (Gong Shuding, Jiangsu)
In natural-style bonsai, the "dual expression of great tree and high mountain" is a mistake. (Chen Hongkui, Shandong)
Bonsai titling is not pasting on a label. (Shi Wanqin, Beijing)
It is time for bonsai judging to establish laws and follow regulations. (Yu Dongsheng, Wuhan)
Bonsai is a three-dimensional landscape painting that creates scenery from emotion, brings poetry out of the scenery, and brings painting out of the poetry, with scenery, emotion, poetry, and painting integrated into a unified whole; this is where the artistic charm of Chinese bonsai works lies. (Xia Zhuhua)
Bonsai is not simply planting a tree species in a pot, but planting the tree, the conception, and the techniques into time. (Ke Jin)
The appreciation process of bonsai art is actually the process of re-creating bonsai. (Xu Changqi)
Making rigid regulations on bonsai exhibits is a practice that restricts competition and is undesirable. (Chen Shuguang)
The development of art depends on the prosperity of the art market, and the development of bonsai is no exception. (Chen Shuguang)
Bonsai is a type of art form with its own existing "circle," and there is really no significance in popularizing it. (Chen Shuguang)
The dispute between "bonsai and potted plants" is essentially a "dispute over face." (Chen Shuguang)
"Better short than long" is a creative concept that tree bonsai must follow from beginning to end. (Huang Biaoyuan)
Thinning pruning, short pruning, and contraction pruning are the most basic and most important pruning techniques for tree-stump bonsai. (Zhai Hongmin)
Bonsai art should take the path of diversification. (Hui Youlin)
Two types of Chinese root art: natural-type root art and carved-type root art. (Xu Huadang)
Technique serves art; technique is not the artist's goal, but without technique one cannot achieve the goal. (Wang Xuanmin)
Bonsai years of merit: "An inch of branch grows for several years; only when the fine scenery is complete have ten autumns passed."
Mr. Zheng Xuming holds that: bonsai is a living artwork, a continuously created artwork, and an artwork that can be reworked.

"Looking up at the mountain top from the foot of the mountain is called high distance; peering at the back of the mountain from the front of the mountain is called deep distance; gazing at distant mountains from a nearby mountain is called level distance." (Guo Xi, "Lin Quan Gao Zhi")
The purpose of pine carving: to improve the natural beauty of broken branches, severed trunks, and cut surfaces; to increase the utilization rate of raw material and turn ugliness into beauty; to improve the visual effect of transitions. (Wang Xuanmin)
The emergence of "galloping-strike style" bonsai should be a pioneering creation in our country's bonsai circles, and perhaps it will become a new form of our country's bonsai art. (Gong Shuding, Jiangsu)
Protecting the copyright of bonsai authors is urgent and brooks no delay. (Xu Degong, Guizhou)
Gao Siming of Shandong and others hold that: the commonality and inclusiveness of art provide infinite space for our creation.
"A tree is a living thing; adding stone gives it longevity; stone is an inert body, but with a tree it has spirit."
Mr. Huang Yagong of Fujian holds that: the making of branches is the most artistic work in creation, the embodiment of human effort, the skill of acquired cultivation, and the key to raising artistic value and commercial value; it cannot be treated lightly.
Mr. Ke Zongrong combined root art with bonsai plants to make root-art bonsai, with very good results.
Lin Ruiwen of Fujian's experience: using root material to propagate stone-attached stump material is one of the shortcuts to creating stone-attached bonsai.
Mr. Liao Junsheng holds that as long as it has the appearance and temperament of "thinness" and "elegance," it is a literati-style bonsai.
Mr. Shi Wanqin proposes: carrying out modern interpretation and application of bonsai art is the key to realizing the transformation from a major bonsai country to a strong one.
Mr. Tang Huayang of Lipu's experience: binding and cultivating small seedlings to rapidly cultivate large banyan bonsai.
Professor Dong ZUGan holds that: the essential difference between potted plants and bonsai lies in whether there is artistic shaping.
Mr. Fan Yicheng of Shandong proposes: Chinese arborvitae bonsai has rich themes, spirit, connotations, cultural atmosphere, and creative space.
Mr. Zhang Huanxian of Guangdong holds that: it is easy for a work's style to seek similarity with others, but difficult to differ from others. "Difference" is outstanding work individuality.
Seeing more natural landscapes and ancient trees is beneficial to the creation of bonsai works.
Professor Dong ZUGan's definition of "bonsai": so-called bonsai is an artwork developed on the basis of ancient Chinese potted plants and stone appreciation, using trees and stones as basic materials, and through artistic shaping, expressing natural landscapes, humanistic landscapes, and human activities within a pot.
On bonsai appreciation: observe momentum from afar, observe skill up close; endow the landscape with thought, give imagination wings.
The key to selecting stumps in the Guangxi Wuzhou bonsai circles: "Big head, rat tail, with curves; old tree, tender branches, and short and compact." (Provided by yuweiqiang)
Bonsai art master Professor He Gansun summarizes the characteristics of Hubei bonsai: "Lively rhythm, soaring dynamic momentum, freehand effect, natural spirit."
Bonsai art follows the same principles as calligraphy and painting. Calligraphy emphasizes structure and momentum; painting emphasizes composition and spirit. Bonsai is the same. Only by guiding according to circumstances, exercising unique ingenuity, and integrating the principles of calligraphy and painting can one create artworks of superlative craftsmanship. (Provided by Zheng Tongguo, Shandong)
Mr. Hu Leguo holds that: pine creation should emphasize the expression of character and backbone.
The main issues in popularizing bonsai: promotion of bonsai knowledge, improvement of policy management mechanisms, reducing costs through scaled production, development of accessories, circulation obstacles (transportation, mailing, etc.), miniaturization of specifications, popularization of artistic taste, specialized supporting services, etc.
Mr. Wei Jinsheng holds that: amateur bonsai enthusiasts and entrepreneurs (groups) obsessed with bonsai will become the intermediate force of Chinese bonsai and lead the future of Chinese bonsai art.
Mr. Xu Zhimiao holds that: the artistic conception expression of single-tree bonsai is limited after all, while mountain-stone bonsai provides broader space.
The space and lines in bonsai are three-dimensional, alive, and constantly changing, making the work more vivid, richer, and more expressive.
Using straight lines to construct the skeleton of a pine landscape is more conducive to expressing the work's firm, upright masculine beauty. (Qian Zebin)
The discussion about carving, literati trees, and treatment of tradition is a great joyful event for innovation in Chinese bonsai art, and also an inevitability in the evolution of Chinese bonsai culture.
The improvement of culture and art depends on economic leverage for support, and the development of bonsai must also be combined with the market to be a path to take off. (Su Benyi)
Three types of people indispensable to bonsai: outstanding award winners; entrepreneurs who promote exchange; and visitors who enjoy themselves. (Su Benyi)
Bonsai is not only a splendid market flower that can be picked, but also a colorful cultural feast. (Su Benyi)
Stone cannot speak, yet it is most pleasing.
Liang Zhiwei proposes: "In stone appreciation, what should be appreciated is the posture and momentum of the stone." "Posture" is static, while "momentum" is flowing.
On stone appreciation: modern "form, quality, color, and veining" challenge traditional "wrinkled, thin, perforated, and transparent."
"Years of merit" is an important measure of whether a bonsai work is mature.
On technique: "The move that cannot be seen is the exquisite move; the technique that cannot be comprehended is the superb technique."
On inheritance and development: "Those who learn from me live; those who resemble me die (Qi Baishi)."
Without human artistic creation, tree-stump material will forever be soulless raw material.
On selecting stumps: "There are no bad colors, only bad combinations" (a painting saying).
The principles for reference in bonsai creation: "use the ancient for the present," "use the foreign for China," "use others for myself," to create bonsai with Chinese characteristics.
Bonsai creation: a thousand peaks all have different postures, ten thousand trees each have their own bearing. One must vary according to the scenery and highlight individuality.
Treat tradition from a materialist viewpoint, and approach creation with a realist method.
Bonsai aesthetics: an aesthetic outlook is a reflection of a worldview.
Bonsai learns from nature: "externally learn from nature, internally gain from the heart." "The bamboo in the eye, the bamboo in the chest, the bamboo in the hand."
Among tree bonsai, deciduous bonsai are considered the most difficult to style, owing to factors such as the great number of species, complex individual characteristics and unpredictable branch changes.
Bonsai people can be divided into: horticultural bonsai people, scholarly bonsai people, collector bonsai people, and intermediary bonsai people.
Deadwood (shari) and divine branches (jin) are very appropriately expressed in the styling of pine and cypress bonsai, and can also be applied to deciduous bonsai.
The premise of artistic conception beauty is image beauty. Only a beautiful image can produce a beautiful artistic conception.
Chinese bonsai's emphasis on poetic and painterly quality means being like poetry, where "the words end but the meaning is endless," like painting, where "there is painting beyond the painting," while bonsai requires "scenery beyond the scenery."
The making of deadwood (shari) is regarded as the most difficult skill in tree bonsai creation.
Nature ---- is our best teacher.
Chinese bonsai emphasizes "not revealing the hand of the maker" and "as if formed by heaven," which is the pursuit of natural beauty.
"Poetic and painterly quality" is an important aesthetic characteristic of Chinese bonsai, embodying the union of realism and romanticism.
Chinese bonsai has methods but no fixed formulas. Stones have no fixed form, but mountains have fixed methods.
According to differences in purpose of creation, bonsai can be divided into artistic bonsai, commercial bonsai, horticultural bonsai, etc.; they are both connected and distinct.
Creating a water-and-land bonsai requires the basic skills of tree bonsai, the experience of landscape bonsai, and relatively high cultural and artistic accomplishment.
Directional cultivation of works: design a styling plan, and directionally cultivate the work.
Regarding stands: there are tree-root stands, pillow stands, scroll stands, square stands, round stands, irregular-shaped stands, single stands, double stands, curio stands, etc. The requirements are that the craftsmanship be simple and antique, the lines smooth, the proportions harmonious, and the scenery mutually echoing.
Regarding bonsai composition: one pot, two scenes, three stands, the three merged into one, both mutually harmonious and mutually complementary. Bonsai appreciation must go beyond visual sensation into emotional association, transferring feeling onto the scene, rising above the realm of vision. This depends on the quality of the appreciator.
Chinese bonsai art possesses a broad Chinese national character; "borrowing" can only be used for our own purposes and cannot weaken or replace the "theme." Otherwise "Chinese bonsai" would no longer exist in the world.
Naturalistic and formalistic bonsai works are pale and feeble.
Chinese bonsai must pursue not only the expression of emotion, but also multiple forms of expression in which the scene changes with each step and changes with each glance.
Artistic conception is the highest measure by which bonsai art is tested.
The natural beauty of bonsai is an artificialized, artisticized natural beauty, not a natural prototype. That is why more social content is blended into it.
Rule-bound bonsai was proposed on the basis of natural-style bonsai; the more rules there are, the more complete the work, but the more it can form formulas and shackles.
Bonsai art is the crystallization of the long-term wisdom of the Chinese nation, and a major contribution to world culture.
Artistic conception actually refers to an infinite space that can be comprehended with the mind.
Placement of figurines: a zhang for mountains, a chi for trees, a cun for horses, and a fen for people.
Regarding bonsai maintenance time: fast is slow, slow is fast ......
Root carving art is art created by nature. Seven parts natural, three parts artificial.
Bonsai art is a comprehensive art that fuses painting, music, styling, literature and other art categories into one.
First learn to be a person, experiencing life's hardships; then learn bonsai, releasing the passion at the bottom of the heart.
Tending bonsai is not only a comprehensive exercise for physical strength, mental power and psychology, but also has the effects of dispelling irritability and driving away fatigue, refreshing the spirit and regulating the qi, calming the mind and nourishing the complexion, and cultivating body and character.
Bonsai is the best traditional Chinese medicine prescription.
Cherishing bonsai prolongs life and suits longevity.
Savoring bonsai art is savoring ---- nature, society and life ......
Bonsai is --- poetry without words, painting in three dimensions, music that cleanses the soul ......
The skill of bonsai lies beyond the pot.
Playing with bonsai is planting suitable plants in pots and enduring the years. So playing with bonsai is playing with interest, playing with willpower, playing with cultivation.

Introduction to Bonsai