Zheng Chengxing finally fulfills his dream of calligraphy and painting
Zheng Chengxing, a villager of Pushizhuang Village, Fengdengwu Town, Fengrun District, Tangshan City, has loved traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy since childhood, and becoming a calligrapher and painter has always been his dream. To realize this dream, he shut down a chicken farm he had run for more than 20 years and converted the chicken coops into a calligraphy and painting academy. Approaching seventy, he picked up a brush and devoted himself to painting traditional Chinese painting. He also holds exhibitions, making friends through painting, and has lit up his later years with his dream.
Zheng Chengxing's calligraphy and painting academy is located in a farmyard with yellow walls and a red roof at the entrance of Pushizhuang Village. Above the gate, six large gilt characters reading "Jiacunxuan Calligraphy and Painting Academy" are particularly eye-catching. The warm winter sun shines on the couplet written in thick ink beside the gate; golden corn kernels are drying in the open space in front of the yard; and several newly mounted traditional Chinese paintings are placed beside the courtyard wall, bringing a strong sense of pastoral poetry.
A single-story house of more than 250 sq m in the yard was once a chicken coop. After being repainted and decorated, it was converted into two calligraphy and painting exhibition rooms, one large and one small. More than a hundred pieces of calligraphy and painting hang neatly from the ceiling and along the walls, including works by Zheng Chengxing as well as treasured works by famous calligraphers and painters from Fengrun and Tangshan. The once noisy chicken coop is now filled with the quiet fragrance of ink.
Influenced since childhood by a man of culture in the village, Zheng Chengxing became fascinated with traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Although he never formally apprenticed with a teacher, the naturally gifted Zheng Chengxing painted with real style. He especially liked landscape painting and often copied his favorite paintings late at night by dim light. As a teenager, he painted wall propaganda pictures for the village and painted kang surrounds for villagers' homes. At that time, however, painting could not put food on the table; to support a family, one had to farm well. Later he set up a chicken farm with more than 30 chicken coops, and his busy life left him no time to study traditional Chinese painting again.
But Zheng Chengxing's dream of painting never died. In early 2015, at the age of 65, he made up his mind to give up the business and pursue his dream. This decision won his family's support, and his children also felt that their father was getting older and should "retire" and properly enjoy his later years. Although shutting down the chicken farm greatly reduced his income, Zheng Chengxing said that with his children's support, and by being more frugal in the future, he would not have to worry about food, clothing, medical care or old-age support.
In his own calligraphy and painting academy, Zheng Chengxing fully enjoys the happiness of painting. He gets up at 4 o'clock every morning to paint and stands in front of the desk for two hours at a time. The academy has attracted many calligraphers and painters, calligraphy and painting enthusiasts, and villagers to visit. Every day, in addition to receiving visitors, Zheng Chengxing often drinks tea and discusses painting with friends in the small room beside his studio, exchanging skills. Last September, together with the Yutian County Calligraphy and Painting Academy, he held a 15-day "Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the World Anti-Fascist War," displaying more than 150 paintings. During the exhibition, visitors came in an endless stream, and many calligraphers and painters also wielded their brushes and splashed ink in the academy, creating more than 80 calligraphy and painting works on the spot. The success of the exhibition exceeded expectations and made Zheng Chengxing extremely excited, further strengthening his dream of pursuing painting.
Painting has brought Zheng Chengxing endless joy, and the opening of the calligraphy and painting academy has allowed him to begin a new life. He said that rural life is now changing with each passing day, farmers' living conditions are getting better and better, their ideas are also constantly changing and improving, and they have more demand for cultural life. As long as you have a dream, it is never too late; if you are brave enough to devote yourself, there will always be rewards.
Zhu Dayong