The First Bonsai, Ornamental Stone and Root Art Masterpieces Expo Held in Yantai, Shandong
Today, the First Bonsai, Ornamental Stone and Root Art Masterpieces Expo of Yantai, Shandong opened at the Yellow Sea Amusement City, which is open to citizens free of charge. This grand event is jointly hosted by the Yantai Municipal Government and the Shandong Provincial Flower, Bonsai and Ornamental Stone Artists Association, and organized by the Laishan District Government, Shandong Yellow Sea Pearl Group Co., Ltd., the Municipal Bonsai Art Association, and the Municipal Root Art Association.
This event is a grand occasion in the cultural life of the people of Yantai, and bonsai, as a rare gem of culture, displays its extraordinary brilliance. It attracted the national "08 Tang Feng Exhibition," as well as judges and bonsai masters Bao Shiqi, Xu Hao, Lu Zhiwei, Zhang Zhengwu and other experts to come for judging, guidance and academic exchange. National-level judges You Guoquan, Li Baoxiang and other ornamental stone and root art judges also came to attend this grand event.
Masterpieces Gather in Unprecedented Scale
Yesterday, the reporter walked into the Yellow Sea Amusement City and, in the first-floor cafe of the Yellow Sea Pearl, interviewed Wang Xiangze, head of the preparatory committee of the First Bonsai, Ornamental Stone and Root Art Masterpieces Expo of Yantai, Shandong. Wang Xiangze is the chairman of the Yellow Sea Pearl Group. As soon as he saw the reporter, he went straight to the point: "We have held five consecutive bonsai, ornamental stone and root art masterpiece exhibitions, but an exhibition on this large a scale is still a first."
Pointing to a tall bonsai placed on one side of the cafe, Wang Xiangze said: "No matter how beautifully a home is decorated, without a bonsai it lacks vitality, and without a stone placed there it lacks a bit of elegance. Ten years ago, the Yantai Bonsai and Landscape Association was very famous, and whenever it participated in exhibitions in the provincial capital it received great attention, but in recent years the development of bonsai in Yantai has not been ideal, because no overall bonsai cultural atmosphere has been formed. Bonsai originally originated in China, but now it is not developing as fast as in Japan and South Korea. In Japan, primary and middle school students all have bonsai courses, and schools regularly organize students to study and observe at national-level bonsai gardens, cultivating children's sense of aesthetics around them from an early age; in South Korea, on every August 15, families gather together and no longer go out, but when they learned that Yantai was holding this expo, the president of the South Korean Ornamental Stone Association and his party gave up spending the festival with their families and crossed the ocean to attend. They came not only to appreciate Shandong's ornamental stone culture, but even more to establish ornamental stone cultural and artistic exchanges with Shandong. This expo has received strong support from the municipal party committee and municipal government. Before long, Yantai's bonsai and stone culture will also be able to exchange with Japan and South Korea, and let Yantai's bonsai and natural ornamental stones appear at Japan's National Style Exhibition. Now, the expo's exhibition halls are ready." At this point in the conversation, Wang Xiangze stood up and gestured for everyone to go and view the exhibition halls on site.
Wang Xiangze led us into a vast bonsai exhibition hall. A large banyan tree over 300 years old sits in the center of the hall, surrounded by rows of bonsai nestled among coconut palms, arranged in pleasing disorder and vying in beauty, and the large banyan tree, set against a white background, is very imposing. Gazing fondly at a bonsai about over 1 meter tall with a mature, seasoned trunk, he introduced it, saying that this bonsai is already over 200 years old, and over there is also a potted plant nearly 2 meters tall in its pot and over 300 years old...
To make it convenient for the citizens of Yantai and bonsai and ornamental stone enthusiasts to exchange with one another, more than 200 booths have also been set up in the trading area.
It is reported that this exhibition is being held mainly to better promote the development of Yantai's bonsai and ornamental stone industry, enrich the cultural life of citizens, and further elevate the city's taste and the cultural taste of its citizens.
Bonsai Reflects Aesthetic Art
Facing pot after pot of scenery and speaking of the aesthetic art of bonsai, Wang Xiangze began to trace its history: bonsai first originated in China's Tang Dynasty, using plants, mountains, stones, water, soil and so on as materials, and after the conception and design, shaping and processing, and careful tending of horticulturists, it is completed and can present different postures, colors and artistic conceptions. It is the crystallization of cultivation techniques and plastic arts, and also the combination of natural beauty and artistic beauty. It has a history of more than 1,300 years to date, is a traditional Chinese art treasure, and enjoys an extremely high reputation throughout the world.
Some people say, aren't bonsai just pots of green plants? Wang Xiangze believes that bonsai is a synthesis of aesthetics, literature and science. He said: in making bonsai, a horticulturist must first consider giving people aesthetic enjoyment, elegant and beautiful, lively in spirit and thought-provoking; it also requires the designer to have a certain literary accomplishment, and the bonsai's shaping and conception must have poetic and pictorial quality, with high and low levels, with modulation and rhythm, with introduction, development, turn and conclusion; the main shaping material of bonsai is plants, which have the characteristics of life and the laws of growth and development, and this determines that making it requires mastering the knowledge of horticultural science as well as long-term artistic processing and experience in maintenance and management work. Only in this way can its survival and graceful posture be ensured.
Natural Ornamental Stones Have Unique Charm
There is a poem that says: a mountain is not wondrous without stone, water is not clear without stone, a garden is not elegant without stone, a room is not refined without stone.
"In the home, if a few natural elegant stones are placed among the furnishings, there will be the joy of delighting the eye and pleasing the heart." "A good ornamental stone is like a symphony; it moves and inspires you with its shape, or its color, or its streaks, or some other form of moving melody, giving rise to endless associations and resonating with its inner beauty, making you unable to put it down and forget your worries in your joy." So said Wang Xiangze.
Walking through the ornamental stone exhibition hall, Wang Xiangze introduced as he went: stone art has always been a unique art, both ancient and novel, that has existed alongside people's production and life. Look at this stone, a natural ornamental stone over 300 years old, never fading. Even today, people are still pursuing its inner beauty and true meaning, using it to enlighten later generations with the combination of associations of beauty and nature's creations, striving to reach a state of self-forgetful thought. The ancients could do so, let alone people today!
Wang Xiangze continued, saying that the appreciation of natural ornamental stones, as recorded in Chinese historical texts, can be traced back at least to the Spring and Autumn period more than 3,000 years ago. Ornamental stone culture has been summarized through the appreciation of natural ornamental stones. Generally speaking, Eastern ornamental stone culture pays more attention to humanistic connotation and philosophy, with relatively abstract ideas and personified emotional coloring; its main objects of appreciation are natural stone types, and natural stone forms are often rich and varied, and can even be followed at will and suited to different people. It is the reflection and extension of the traditional cultural feelings, philosophy, beliefs and values of Eastern peoples in the field of ornamental stones; whereas Western ornamental stone culture pays more attention to scientific and historical connotation, with relatively intuitive, clear and scientific ideas, and its main objects of appreciation are often various animal and plant fossils and colorful mineral crystals and specimens. It is the display and verification of certain basic knowledge of science and technology in natural objects, stones, that have ornamental value.
The reporter observed that, with the development of Yantai's economy and the improvement of citizens' living standards, the people of Yantai pay more and more attention to the quality of life, and more and more people advocate simple and environmentally friendly decoration and value the green arrangement of their living environment. Citizens traveling out often bring back a few special stones. In many office buildings, high-end hotels and cafes, ornamental stones, root art, bonsai and flowers can almost always be seen, and the beauty they contain is precisely the demand of modern people for continuously elevating their taste.
Calligraphy and Painting Works Also Displayed
The several exhibition halls of this expo each have their own characteristics. Pointing to a building before him, Wang Xiangze said that this is the Yellow Sea Art Museum built 6 years ago. The museum houses more than 500 works by Yantai-native calligraphers and painters of the Ming and Qing dynasties and modern times. An area of more than 1,200 sq m will open at the same time as this expo, and in addition to the existing works, more than 160 works by expert professors and teachers and students of the Rongbaozhai Painting Academy will also be displayed. Most of the expert professors participating in this exhibition are contemporary masters, and more than 30 of them, including Gao Zongyuan, Feng Yuan, Cheng Dali and Long Rui, have come to lend their support.
Masterpieces of Bonsai and Ornamental Stones Gather as Our City Presents a "Cultural Feast"
A Cultural Grand Event with Masters GatheredToday, the First Bonsai, Ornamental Stone and Root Art Masterpieces Expo of Yantai, Shandong opened at the Yellow Sea Amusement City, which is open to citizens free of charge. This grand event is jointly hosted by the Yantai Municipal Government and the Shandong Provincial Flower, Bonsai and Ornamental Stone Artists Association, and organized by the Laishan District Government, Shandong Yellow Sea Pearl Group Co., Ltd., the Municipal Bonsai Art Association, and the Municipal Root Art Association.
This event is a grand occasion in the cultural life of the people of Yantai, and bonsai, as a rare gem of culture, displays its extraordinary brilliance. It attracted the national "08 Tang Feng Exhibition," as well as judges and bonsai masters Bao Shiqi, Xu Hao, Lu Zhiwei, Zhang Zhengwu and other experts to come for judging, guidance and academic exchange. National-level judges You Guoquan, Li Baoxiang and other ornamental stone and root art judges also came to attend this grand event.
Masterpieces Gather in Unprecedented Scale
Yesterday, the reporter walked into the Yellow Sea Amusement City and, in the first-floor cafe of the Yellow Sea Pearl, interviewed Wang Xiangze, head of the preparatory committee of the First Bonsai, Ornamental Stone and Root Art Masterpieces Expo of Yantai, Shandong. Wang Xiangze is the chairman of the Yellow Sea Pearl Group. As soon as he saw the reporter, he went straight to the point: "We have held five consecutive bonsai, ornamental stone and root art masterpiece exhibitions, but an exhibition on this large a scale is still a first."
Pointing to a tall bonsai placed on one side of the cafe, Wang Xiangze said: "No matter how beautifully a home is decorated, without a bonsai it lacks vitality, and without a stone placed there it lacks a bit of elegance. Ten years ago, the Yantai Bonsai and Landscape Association was very famous, and whenever it participated in exhibitions in the provincial capital it received great attention, but in recent years the development of bonsai in Yantai has not been ideal, because no overall bonsai cultural atmosphere has been formed. Bonsai originally originated in China, but now it is not developing as fast as in Japan and South Korea. In Japan, primary and middle school students all have bonsai courses, and schools regularly organize students to study and observe at national-level bonsai gardens, cultivating children's sense of aesthetics around them from an early age; in South Korea, on every August 15, families gather together and no longer go out, but when they learned that Yantai was holding this expo, the president of the South Korean Ornamental Stone Association and his party gave up spending the festival with their families and crossed the ocean to attend. They came not only to appreciate Shandong's ornamental stone culture, but even more to establish ornamental stone cultural and artistic exchanges with Shandong. This expo has received strong support from the municipal party committee and municipal government. Before long, Yantai's bonsai and stone culture will also be able to exchange with Japan and South Korea, and let Yantai's bonsai and natural ornamental stones appear at Japan's National Style Exhibition. Now, the expo's exhibition halls are ready." At this point in the conversation, Wang Xiangze stood up and gestured for everyone to go and view the exhibition halls on site.
Wang Xiangze led us into a vast bonsai exhibition hall. A large banyan tree over 300 years old sits in the center of the hall, surrounded by rows of bonsai nestled among coconut palms, arranged in pleasing disorder and vying in beauty, and the large banyan tree, set against a white background, is very imposing. Gazing fondly at a bonsai about over 1 meter tall with a mature, seasoned trunk, he introduced it, saying that this bonsai is already over 200 years old, and over there is also a potted plant nearly 2 meters tall in its pot and over 300 years old...
To make it convenient for the citizens of Yantai and bonsai and ornamental stone enthusiasts to exchange with one another, more than 200 booths have also been set up in the trading area.
It is reported that this exhibition is being held mainly to better promote the development of Yantai's bonsai and ornamental stone industry, enrich the cultural life of citizens, and further elevate the city's taste and the cultural taste of its citizens.
Bonsai Reflects Aesthetic Art
Facing pot after pot of scenery and speaking of the aesthetic art of bonsai, Wang Xiangze began to trace its history: bonsai first originated in China's Tang Dynasty, using plants, mountains, stones, water, soil and so on as materials, and after the conception and design, shaping and processing, and careful tending of horticulturists, it is completed and can present different postures, colors and artistic conceptions. It is the crystallization of cultivation techniques and plastic arts, and also the combination of natural beauty and artistic beauty. It has a history of more than 1,300 years to date, is a traditional Chinese art treasure, and enjoys an extremely high reputation throughout the world.
Some people say, aren't bonsai just pots of green plants? Wang Xiangze believes that bonsai is a synthesis of aesthetics, literature and science. He said: in making bonsai, a horticulturist must first consider giving people aesthetic enjoyment, elegant and beautiful, lively in spirit and thought-provoking; it also requires the designer to have a certain literary accomplishment, and the bonsai's shaping and conception must have poetic and pictorial quality, with high and low levels, with modulation and rhythm, with introduction, development, turn and conclusion; the main shaping material of bonsai is plants, which have the characteristics of life and the laws of growth and development, and this determines that making it requires mastering the knowledge of horticultural science as well as long-term artistic processing and experience in maintenance and management work. Only in this way can its survival and graceful posture be ensured.
Natural Ornamental Stones Have Unique Charm
There is a poem that says: a mountain is not wondrous without stone, water is not clear without stone, a garden is not elegant without stone, a room is not refined without stone.
"In the home, if a few natural elegant stones are placed among the furnishings, there will be the joy of delighting the eye and pleasing the heart." "A good ornamental stone is like a symphony; it moves and inspires you with its shape, or its color, or its streaks, or some other form of moving melody, giving rise to endless associations and resonating with its inner beauty, making you unable to put it down and forget your worries in your joy." So said Wang Xiangze.
Walking through the ornamental stone exhibition hall, Wang Xiangze introduced as he went: stone art has always been a unique art, both ancient and novel, that has existed alongside people's production and life. Look at this stone, a natural ornamental stone over 300 years old, never fading. Even today, people are still pursuing its inner beauty and true meaning, using it to enlighten later generations with the combination of associations of beauty and nature's creations, striving to reach a state of self-forgetful thought. The ancients could do so, let alone people today!
Wang Xiangze continued, saying that the appreciation of natural ornamental stones, as recorded in Chinese historical texts, can be traced back at least to the Spring and Autumn period more than 3,000 years ago. Ornamental stone culture has been summarized through the appreciation of natural ornamental stones. Generally speaking, Eastern ornamental stone culture pays more attention to humanistic connotation and philosophy, with relatively abstract ideas and personified emotional coloring; its main objects of appreciation are natural stone types, and natural stone forms are often rich and varied, and can even be followed at will and suited to different people. It is the reflection and extension of the traditional cultural feelings, philosophy, beliefs and values of Eastern peoples in the field of ornamental stones; whereas Western ornamental stone culture pays more attention to scientific and historical connotation, with relatively intuitive, clear and scientific ideas, and its main objects of appreciation are often various animal and plant fossils and colorful mineral crystals and specimens. It is the display and verification of certain basic knowledge of science and technology in natural objects, stones, that have ornamental value.
The reporter observed that, with the development of Yantai's economy and the improvement of citizens' living standards, the people of Yantai pay more and more attention to the quality of life, and more and more people advocate simple and environmentally friendly decoration and value the green arrangement of their living environment. Citizens traveling out often bring back a few special stones. In many office buildings, high-end hotels and cafes, ornamental stones, root art, bonsai and flowers can almost always be seen, and the beauty they contain is precisely the demand of modern people for continuously elevating their taste.
Calligraphy and Painting Works Also Displayed
The several exhibition halls of this expo each have their own characteristics. Pointing to a building before him, Wang Xiangze said that this is the Yellow Sea Art Museum built 6 years ago. The museum houses more than 500 works by Yantai-native calligraphers and painters of the Ming and Qing dynasties and modern times. An area of more than 1,200 sq m will open at the same time as this expo, and in addition to the existing works, more than 160 works by expert professors and teachers and students of the Rongbaozhai Painting Academy will also be displayed. Most of the expert professors participating in this exhibition are contemporary masters, and more than 30 of them, including Gao Zongyuan, Feng Yuan, Cheng Dali and Long Rui, have come to lend their support.
[Bonsai Figures] Outstanding Chinese Bonsai Artist: Zhang Zailiang
Zhang Zailiang, in his seventies, still loves the art of bonsai as everSpeaking of Zhang Zailiang, the first impression he gives is that of someone simple and generous, approachable and amiable. If one did not see the many award certificates granted to him over the years, it would be hard to imagine that he is a senior bonsai master of the Suzhou Gardening Bureau, an executive director of the China Bonsai Artists Association, a cross-century outstanding Chinese bonsai artist, and a senior advisor of the World Bonsai and Stone Culture Advisory Committee. He has loved the art of bonsai all his life, treating bonsai art as his second life, and often faces his bonsai, pruning and trimming meticulously, fully absorbed, forgetting food and sleep. His bonsai-making techniques are at a leading level in China, and his works have won awards many times, making him an important inheritor of the Su-style bonsai art.
Zhang Zailiang is not only extremely well known in the domestic bonsai art world, but also has a certain influence abroad. One year, at a friend's invitation, he visited Japan and received warm hospitality from many Japanese bonsai artists. When he proposed to visit Japan's most famous world-class bonsai artist Masahiko Kimura, he was politely declined by the hostess on the grounds that he was busy with work. But when Masahiko Kimura learned that it was Mr. Zhang Zailiang from China who had come to visit, he not only made an exception to receive him, but also accompanied Zhang Zailiang for several consecutive days to visit Japan's main bonsai gardens and production bases, making his peers regard him with new eyes.
Loving Bonsai, Wholeheartedly Growing and Appreciating Flowers
Zhang Zailiang was born in 1942 in Haiyan, Zhejiang. In April 1963, he was sent to the Fifth Production Team of the Xinnong Brigade in Pingwang Town, Wujiang County, worked in the town's sauce and pickles factory, and served as a shop assistant in the supply and marketing cooperative's sales department. He loved nature from childhood, liked flowers and plants, and had a strong interest in plant growth and strange stones and wondrous scenery. In 1968, Zhang Zailiang planted a pomegranate in an ordinary flower pot, and this was his first bonsai.
In 1970, he borrowed a book from a friend titled "Among Flowers and Trees." This book was published in September 1956 by Shanghai Culture Publishing House and written by the famous Suzhou calligrapher, painter and bonsai artist Zhou Shoujuan. At that time, during the "Cultural Revolution," only "politics in command" was emphasized, the bookstores were full of political books, and traditional culture was criticized as "feudal dregs." When Zhang Zailiang borrowed "Among Flowers and Trees," he treasured it as if he had obtained a priceless treasure, could not put it down, read it carefully in detail, and learned the basic knowledge of bonsai art. This book became the awakening teacher who guided Zhang Zailiang in studying bonsai art.
In the early 1970s during the "Cultural Revolution," bonsai art had neither status nor market. There was also the risk of being labeled with "petty-bourgeois sentiment" and "neglecting one's proper work" and being criticized. Not only could bonsai art books not be bought, but the varieties of flowers that could be seen were extremely few, and even if seen, they could not be bought. Zhang Zailiang often went to Suzhou gardens, because only in Suzhou gardens could a small number of flowers and bonsai still be appreciated. Once, at the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, he saw blooming azaleas and really could not bear to leave, and how he wished he could also have a pot of azaleas. Zhang Zailiang, so eager in his love of flowers, although he usually cherished every flower and blade of grass, at this moment could not care about face and made an exception by quietly breaking off a branch. After returning home, it surprisingly took root as a cutting, giving him a pot of azalea flowers of his own that were extremely precious at the time.
A few years later, this rare pot of azalea flowers was cultivated by him into a large potted flowering plant, and after several more years of cutting propagation, one pot became dozens of pots. But he was not satisfied with having only a few varieties such as azaleas. In order to add new flower varieties, he made several special trips to the mountains near Lizhu Town in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, to dig wild orchids. Once he dug two big bags and happily carried them home, planting dozens of pots of orchids. By the mid-1970s, in the small garden at Zhang Zailiang's home, potted flowers and bonsai were already everywhere, with more than ten varieties including Chinese sweet plum, elm, five-needle pine, azalea, orchid and camellia.
In 1979, Zhang Zailiang built two single-story houses in the town, with a small garden of 30 sq m. In order to grow flowers, the roof was made into a flat platform. In 1981, when policies were implemented, Zhang Zailiang changed from a rural household registration to a town household registration and was arranged to work at the town supply and marketing cooperative, growing flowers as a hobby after work. Entering his home, the garden was all flowers, and the rooftop platform was also filled with flowers. Zhang Zailiang moved a few pots of flowers to the store to appreciate them together with customers, and he regarded growing and appreciating flowers as the greatest pleasure in life.
Learning from Nature, Studying Under a Famous Master to Receive True Instruction
As time went on, far and near everyone knew that Zhang Zailiang especially loved flowers, loved growing flowers, and grew them especially well, and more and more people came to Zhang Zailiang's home to appreciate the flowers. In 1985, Pingwang Town planned to build a park, and the town party committee secretary discovered that Zhang Zailiang was a talent and decided to transfer him to Pingwang Yinghu Park to take charge of the park's preparatory construction work. Such a personnel transfer that seemed very ordinary to others was, for Zhang Zailiang, an important turning point in life, transforming him from an amateur bonsai art enthusiast into a garden manager and starting him on the path toward becoming a professional bonsai artist. Zhang Zailiang worked from early morning until dark, treating the garden as his home, and no matter how busy the park construction work was, his face was always cheerful. When others advised him to pay attention to rest, his answer was very simple: "I like it."
Through Zhang Zailiang's diligent efforts, in just over a year, Pingwang Town Yinghu Park was initially completed, the first citizen park in the history of Pingwang Town. After the park opened, in spring peach blossoms were red and willows green and azaleas bloomed, and in autumn there was a chrysanthemum exhibition for appreciating chrysanthemums, deeply loved by citizens, with an endless stream of citizens doing morning exercises, taking walks and enjoying the garden. What made Zhang Zailiang happiest was that, in addition to doing the park's daily management work well, he also set aside in the park a "garden within a garden" of about 2,000 sq m (3 mu) specifically for displaying bonsai.
He gave this small garden an elegant name: "Cui Zhuang." From then on, Zhang Zailiang had a place to give full play to bonsai art. Although it was a "garden within a garden," the layout was very exquisite, and it was neatly filled with bonsai of all kinds of postures. "Cui Zhuang" became famous far and near and became the main feature for which Pingwang Park was known. Because Zhang Zailiang had a strong sense of responsibility for work and loved bonsai and greening efforts, he was elected director of the Pingwang Town Landscape and Greening Management Station and deputy director of the town government's greening office.
Zhang Zailiang was not satisfied with the achievements he had made. Every year he subscribed to publications such as "Flowers and Bonsai" and "Chinese Flowers," specially bought books such as "The Plastic Art of Bonsai" and "Flower Cultivation and Bonsai Making," earnestly studied theoretical knowledge, absorbed the strengths of bonsai works from various places, and broadened his artistic thinking. He cherished and strove for every opportunity to study bonsai art, working hard to improve his theoretical level in bonsai art and his practical production techniques. In 1985, he participated in the China Rural Youth Wealth-Building Correspondence School to study garden art. In 1986, he took as his teacher the world-famous bonsai master and leading figure of Su-style bonsai Zhu Zi'an, becoming his formal disciple. In 1988, he participated in a crash course at Beijing Forestry University to study bonsai art, achieved the outstanding result of first place in the examination, and was accepted as a member by the China Bonsai Artists Association.
In ordinary times, Zhang Zailiang most loved to draw nourishment from nature and increase his inspiration for making bonsai. Using opportunities to participate in bonsai exhibitions all over the country, he squeezed out time to tour local gardens and scenic spots, and whenever he saw ancient or famous trees, he would often gaze at them for a long time and refuse to leave. Every year he specially set aside time to go to the mountainous areas of Zhejiang, Anhui and other provinces, walk into nature, observe the growth patterns of plants, and ponder how to introduce the forms and growing momentum of large trees in nature into bonsai. Therefore, the bonsai made by Zhang Zailiang have the majestic strength and extraordinary bone and the handsome, elegant temperament of large ancient trees in nature, making him an inheritor of Su-style bonsai. He repeatedly won the praise of the elderly Mr. Zhu Zi'an, who praised Zhang Zailiang many times: "He is my true disciple."
Zhang Zailiang (right) takes as his teacher the famous bonsai master and leading figure of Su-style bonsai Zhu Zi'an (left)
Inheriting Tradition, Boldly Pioneering and Innovating
Bonsai art originated in China and is a traditional Chinese art treasure. Bonsai art is a plastic art that integrates garden cultivation, literature, painting and other arts into one, is the miniature of natural scenery, has simple natural beauty and elegant artistic beauty, and is praised as "three-dimensional painting" and "silent poetry." It is not only deeply loved by the broad domestic public, but also enjoys a lofty reputation in the forest of world art.
Bonsai art has been passed down from generation to generation. Due to the influence of factors such as historical evolution, geographical environment and natural conditions in different places, major bonsai schools such as Su-style, Yang-style, Chuan-style, Lingnan-style and Shanghai-style have formed. The bonsai made by Zhang Zailiang belongs to the Su-style, characterized by emphasis on "learning from nature," coarse binding and fine pruning, clear and elegant, and it has had the greatest influence on the formation of the other schools. Common varieties mainly include trident maple, pomegranate, five-needle pine, elm and so on, and the most classic artistic style is "six platforms, three supports, one crown," 10 pieces in total, also called "perfect in every way." In nature, due to the effect of Earth's gravity, after a tree grows to a certain height it can no longer grow taller, and the original pointed top gradually grows year by year into an inverted-pot-shaped flat-round crown, with branches extending in all directions, forming staggered "supports" and "platforms."
Selected Award-Winning Works of Zhang Zailiang
The most valuable thing about Zhang Zailiang is that, on the basis of understanding and inheriting the traditional style and theoretical essentials of Su-style bonsai, he can creatively break through the structural form of "six platforms, three supports, one crown" and pursue the natural beauty and artistic conception beauty of tree forms. Zhang Zailiang believes that the structural form of "six platforms, three supports, one crown" is an ideal form of bonsai art. However, among trees growing in nature, perfect ideal structures are very, very few. The large trees and ancient trees we see are in a thousand postures, including the majestic type, the strangely perilous type, the upright and elegant type and so on, so in "learning from nature," bonsai art must not stick to one pattern and must dare to create its own unique style.
He has a trident maple collected from Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui. The original tree was about 1.6 m tall. When it was dug up, most of the trunk was withered and only a small part was still alive. Calculated from the visible remaining annual rings, the tree age exceeds a thousand years. It was precisely such a remaining trident maple stump that, after Zhang Zailiang's careful pruning, binding and tending, surprisingly took root and survived, with new branches sprouting from the bark and putting out alluring tender green new leaves. A few years later, a large bonsai, verdant and ancient, gnarled and majestic, full of wild spirit, stood in "Cui Zhuang," its trunk covered with the traces of years tempered by wind, rain, cold and heat, leaving guests full of admiration. A certain organization wanted to buy it for a high price of 100,000 yuan, but Zhang Zailiang politely declined. For his award-winning bonsai "Dragon Dancing in Colorful Clouds" (Chinese juniper), a client was willing to exchange a "Pajero" car for it, and Zhang Zailiang likewise politely declined.
Striving for Perfection, Producing Fine Works and Winning Awards
To date, Zhang Zailiang has studied flower and bonsai art for more than 40 years, and his bonsai-making techniques are perfectly mastered. He has more than 1,000 pots of flowers and bonsai of more than 60 varieties, including black pine, Chinese sweet plum and azalea. He believes that no matter how ugly a bonsai is, after several years of correction it can become beautiful, because what bonsai displays is the unyielding spirit of life and vigorous vitality. Because nature is loved by people all over the world, the art of bonsai, which learns from nature, has no national boundaries. He also often tells his disciples: making bonsai requires perseverance, and one cannot fish for two days and dry nets for three. One should be indifferent to fame and gain and dare to innovate. Because Zhang Zailiang is modest and eager to learn, and constantly strives for perfection in art, his fame in China's bonsai circles has grown higher and higher, and at national-level bonsai exhibitions held over the years, Zhang Zailiang's exhibited bonsai have repeatedly won awards:
Selected Award-Winning Works of Zhang Zailiang
In February 1989, Zhang Zailiang was granted membership in the China Bonsai Artists Association. In October 1989, Zhang Zailiang participated for the first time in the "Second China Flower Expo and First China International Bonsai Works Exhibition Competition" held at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Hall. On the train to Beijing, in order not to damage a single branch or leaf of the Chinese sweet plum, Zhang Zailiang placed the bonsai on the sleeper berth during the day and beside his pillow at night. However, when he carefully carried the bonsai to the Agricultural Exhibition Hall, the preliminary judging had already been announced. After Zhang Zailiang left the bonsai in the care of the organizing committee, he went to his room to rest. Unexpectedly, the next day the judges said to Zhang Zailiang, your pot of Chinese sweet plum bonsai has a unique shape and won the praise of the experts present; unfortunately, you came too late, so this pot of Chinese sweet plum can only be granted, as an exception, the "Excellent Work Award."
In May 1991, Zhang Zailiang was invited to participate in the "First China International Bonsai Conference" and the "'Revitalize China Cup' Bonsai Works Exhibition Competition," and Zhang Zailiang's entry, an elm stump bonsai, won first prize. In October 1992, the China Bonsai Association held the "China Cross-Strait Bonsai and Potted Flower Seminar" at the Nanjing Workers' Cultural Palace, and Zhang Zailiang, entrusted by the association, was responsible for the layout of the bonsai exhibition. His exhibited Chinese juniper bonsai "Eventful Years" won second prize; the black pine bonsai "Shameful Soul" won third prize. In May 1994, Zhang Zailiang was elected executive director of the Jiangsu Provincial Bonsai and Root Art Aesthetics Research Association and senior bonsai master of the Suzhou Gardening Bureau. In April 1997, the Azalea Branch of the China Flower Association held the "Third National Azalea Exhibition" at the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, and Zhang Zailiang's exhibited azalea bonsai "White Branches" won first prize; "Yingshanhong" won second prize for cultivation.
In January 1999, Zhang Zailiang was elected director of the China Bonsai Artists Association. In March 1999, Zhang Zailiang was awarded the "Honorary Title of Cross-Century Outstanding Chinese Bonsai Artist" in Beijing. In May 2001, the "Fifth China Bonsai Evaluation Exhibition" was held at Tiger Hill in Suzhou, and all 5 bonsai provided by Zhang Zailiang won awards. Among them: "Old Cypress Meets Spring" and "Dragon Dancing in Green Clouds" won silver awards; "Accumulated Green," "Gnarled Exploration" and "Rugged Green Pine" won bronze awards. In April 2002, at the "Shanghai International Flower Festival Bonsai Masterpieces Exhibition," his exhibited bonsai won a commemorative award.
In May 2004, the China Bonsai Artists Association held the "China Xinyi Bonsai and Flower Art Festival Bonsai Exhibition" in Xinyi, Jiangsu, and the five-needle pine bonsai "Exploring Gnarled Branches" provided by Zhang Zailiang won a silver award; the black pine "Jiangyi Sentiment" won a bronze award. In March 2005, Zhang Zailiang was made an honorary villager of the "China Bonsai Art and Culture Village" (Zhujiajiao). In December 2005, Zhang Zailiang was elected executive director of the "China Bonsai Artists Association." In October 2006, the "Fourth China Flower and Bonsai Art Festival" and the "China 'Longevity Cup' Bonsai Masterpieces Competition" were held in Rugao, Jiangsu, and Zhang Zailiang's exhibited bonsai won second prize.
In September 2008, in view of Zhang Zailiang's positive influence and outstanding contributions in promoting the development of bonsai and stone art, he was elected by the World Bonsai and Stone Culture Association as a senior advisor of its advisory committee. At the "Seventh National Bonsai Exhibition," Zhang Zailiang's exhibited five-needle pine bonsai "Gnarled Exploration" won a participation award. In October 2010, the "'Winter Olympics Cup' China Bonsai Masterpieces Invitational Exhibition and Bonsai Creation Competition" was held at the Shanghai Botanical Garden, and Zhang Zailiang's exhibited boxwood bonsai "Canopy of Green Shade" won a masterpiece award.
Selected Award-Winning Works of Zhang Zailiang: title "Canopy of Green Shade," tree species white-bark boxwood, tree height 85CM, canopy spread 125CM, tree age about 100 years.
This bonsai was obtained by the author in 1992 from the Nanbei Lake Forest Farm in Haiyan, Zhejiang. After 18 years of careful design, shaping, maintenance and cultivation, it grows luxuriantly, with dense shade covering it. The bonsai's trunk is smooth and its posture is neat and natural, making it a rare masterpiece.
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