Copying the "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" (partial) (photo provided by the interviewee)
Southern Song Dynasty "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" (partial) (photo provided by the interviewee)
On the final stage of the just-concluded "2022 Chinese Poetry Conference", han Zheming, a folk author, wrote a question by ordering tea and painting on the tea soup, which was elegant and chic, which attracted the admiration of many audiences. In the shot, I saw him using a long-handled tea spoon as a pen, using tea paste as ink, or tapping, or sketching, or smudging, and in an instant, an ink danqing appeared on the tea soup. In the picture, the distant mountains, light boats, and fishermen come to life, and the artistic conception of "lonely boats and lonely boats, fishing alone in the snow of the Cold River" comes to life.
Han Zheming was a researcher of tea culture in the Song Dynasty and was good at tea soup painting skills. In 6 years, he sketched more than 200 paintings on the tea soup. Through his works, many people began to become interested in the tea culture of the Song Dynasty, and then more deeply understood and explored the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty and even the spiritual interests of Chinese culture.
Compared with the common brewing method, modern people are not familiar with ordering tea. As a kind of ancient tea drinking in traditional Chinese culture, the concept of tea ordering was born in the middle and late Tang Dynasty to the fifth dynasty, reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, and gradually declined after the "waste group was dispersed" of tribute tea in the Ming Dynasty, and was replaced by the brewing method.
Han Zheming, 40, graduated from the China Academy of Art and was a former graphic designer. Influenced by his family's studies, Han Zheming has loved traditional Chinese culture since childhood, and also likes to collect Song Dynasty porcelain, many of which are tea sets. Why are the tea sets of the Song Dynasty very different from today's tea sets? Why did the Song people burn such artifacts? And how do they use it? All kinds of curiosity led him into the world of tea order culture.
In order to find out the appearance of tea ordered in the Song Dynasty, Han Zheming read a large number of Song Dynasty tea books, such as "Daguan Tea Theory", "Tea Record", "Dongxi Tea Test Record", "Xuanhe Beiyuan Tribute Tea Record", "Beiyuan Beilu" and so on. However, the content of the simple written record is limited, and the interpretation is also controversial. Therefore, from the "Tea Drawing", "Wenhui Diagram", "Five Hundred Luohan Diagrams" and other Song paintings, to the tomb murals of the Song, Yuan, Liao, and Jin Dynasties, and then to the excavated Song Dynasty tea sets... These intuitive images and physical materials have also become the reference basis for Han Zheming's research.
But Han Zheming is not "reproducing" the song dynasty's tea ordering technique, but combining song dynasty painting with tea culture, showing the unique and elegant beauty of Song yun.
Song Dynasty painting played a vital role in the history of art, and tea ordering also developed unprecedentedly in the Song Dynasty. In the Literature of the Song Dynasty, there is a description of the art of tea soup as "delicate and picturesque". "Song paintings are accurate in shape, rigorous in style, and the brushwork is even more subtle and meticulous. The picture presented on the tea soup should also be very close to the paintings of the time, rather than the abstract patterns as people understand it today. Han Zheming said.
Most of Han Zheming's works are copied from Song paintings. Compared with similar forms such as coffee pulling flowers, it is even more difficult to show the delicate elegance of Song paintings on tea soup. Tea soup painting is very demanding on the foam, thick enough, thin enough, white enough, but the foam fineness suitable for painting is maintained for a short time. The artist must complete the painting in one go, and complete the painting in 3 to 5 minutes. Although Han Zheming has a foundation in painting, it is not easy to get started. Brush painting on paper is "soft and hard", and tea spoon painting on tea soup foam is "hard to soft". It is difficult to imitate the techniques of splashing ink, lines, and pointillist painting of Chinese painting, but in actual operation. After exploring and trying again and again, Han Zheming gradually mastered the skills, copied out many works such as "Pingbo Mountain Bird Diagram" and "Lin HeJing Diagram", and reproduced exquisite ancient Chinese paintings on tea soup.
For his own works, Han Zheming is reluctant to use existing concepts such as "tea hundred plays" and "water danqing" to define, "From an academic point of view, with the historical data currently available, I cannot guarantee that this is a 100% restoration of the tea and techniques of the Song Dynasty." If the ancient name is easily used as a gimmick, it will inevitably cause misunderstanding and confusion. Han Zheming eschewed the existing title and named the technique he had studied and demonstrated after "Tea Landscape". He believes that his "tea landscape" is not only a kind of admiration for the culture of the Song Dynasty, but also a dialogue with the ancients.
In Han Zheming's eyes, tea soup painting is not only a skill, but also reflects the romantic poetry of Chinese from ancient times to the present and the thinking of mountains and rivers. "The tea itself comes from between the mountains and the water, and I 'returned' the landscape to the tea by painting on the tea soup." Han Zheming said that it is quite interesting and Zen to constantly taste and experience in this back and forth.
In 2019, Han Zheming threw himself into the promotion of Chinese tea culture. From leveraging new media platforms, to participating in the recording of TELEVISION programs, to opening courses and lectures, Han Zheming spared no effort. "What I did was to open a door to the culture of the Song Dynasty with a cup of tea." Han Zheming hopes that through his own efforts, the ancient Chinese tea ordering culture can be combined with the lives of contemporary people, so that tea culture can find a new balance in the ever-changing era.
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-03-23 Issue 07)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition