Description Ancient Chinese literati held bamboo in profound esteem. Of all the painters in history, Zheng Banqiao (1693-1765) of the Qing Dynasty is believed to have been the best at drawing bamboo. Zheng Banqiao reveled in painting bamboo all his life. As a teenager, he put white paper on a lattice window, and observed the shadows of bamboo. His paintings focused on the vitality of the plant, portraying it as spare and aloof yet sturdy and proud. An inscription on one of his bamboo paintings reads: "Firmly cleave to the mountain, take root in a fractured bluff; grow stronger after tribulations, and withstand gales from all directions."
Biographical Details Zheng Xie(1693-1765), also called Zheng Kerou and Zheng Banqiao, was from Xinghua, Jiangsu Province. He was one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. His paintings, poetry and calligraphy have been called the "three incomparables". In painting, his best line was orchids and bamboo; in calligraphy, he was noted for his long vertical left-falling strokes in cursive style. As one of the Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics, Zheng was lauded both for his artistic accomplishment and moral character. Born into a poor but intellectual family, Zheng lost his mother at three, and learned the art of painting from his father. He passed imperial examinations at county, provincial and national levels in his youth, but was not granted an official post until reaching age 49. While serving as magistrate of Weixian County in Shandong Province, Zheng decried corrupt officials and the cruel rich, and showed deep concern for the masses. Such feeling can be discerned from his works during that period. For instance, one of his bamboo paintings bears the inscription: "Lying in my room in the office building, I hear the rustle of bamboo, and wonder if it is the sobbing of the people. For us local officials, everything we do, no mater how trivial it might be, focuses on the people." Zheng’s righteousness was resented by the influential and wealthy. During a severe famine he decided personally to dispense the government grain reserve to the starving people, and was subsequently removed from his charge. Rather than being angry, Zheng wrote the poem: "Orchids sequester in remote mountains and precipices, bamboos sway to make cool shade. I should give up this official post as soon as possible, so that I can lie down among them with a light heart." Zheng later returned to his hometown of Yangzhou, and made a living by selling paintings.
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