"Zheng Qian's Three Absolutes" dot ink stained Vientiane

Author: Zhao Qiang, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Northeast Normal University

original:

Zhu Gong Gong Gong ascended to the stage of the province, and Mr. Guangwen was a lone official. Jia Di was tired of sorghum meat, and Mr. Guangwen did not have enough food. Mr. Xi Huang has the word, and Mr. Has talent over Qu Song. The Dezun generation is often kangke, and the famous has known what to use throughout the ages. Dulingye guests were even more scornful, and were brown short and narrow sideburns like silk. Five liters of rice in Taicang, when going to Zheng Lao's same period. When you get money, you can find each other, and there is no doubt about selling wine. Forget the form to Erru, and drink the true master. The night is heavy and spring drinking, and the drizzle in front of the lamp is falling. But jue gao song has ghosts and gods, and knows that starvation fills the gully. Just like Yicai pro-polyester, Ziyun literacy finally casts into the cabinet. Mr. Fu returned early, and the Ishida hut was barren and mossy. Confucianism is in my hands, and Kong Qiu is full of dust. Don't smell this misery, meet and hold the cup before you die.

——Du Fu's "Song when Drunk"

unscramble:

Du Fu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, who was later called the "History of Poetry", was actually a literati who was known for his talent, and he and his contemporaries Zheng Qian had the same illness and pity for each other. Judging from the description of the poem, Zheng Qian's official position was humble and his treatment was also very poor, and he often ate up and down. When such friends get together, they can't help but drink and complain so much that they even abandon the etiquette norms that should be followed in interpersonal communication. Du Fu's remark that "Confucianism is so good for me" is probably just a complaint filled with indignation and helplessness, but judging from Zheng Qian and his life experience, the morality, knowledge, talent, and fame of "having the Emperor of the Xi Dynasty," "having talent over qu Song," "the generation of virtue and honor," and "the fame of the ages" are indeed lamentable compared to their twists and turns in their careers and officialdom.

Traditional Chinese literati had a fairly firm belief in literary style. Liu Xun, a literary and art theorist during the Southern Dynasty, once said: "Wenzhi is also great for virtue, and it is born with heaven and earth..." That is to say, Wencai is an intuitive manifestation of the "Tao", which is born with heaven and earth and is beautiful with the sun and the moon. In this way, he found a reasonable way for his career - "the yuan of humanity, from Taiji". "Tai Chi" is the "Tao", the origin of everything in the universe - it turns out that beautiful words, pleasing pictures, gentle sounds, flexible calligraphy, etc., can not only bring people an intuitive experience of beauty, but also have a lot of potential, and even can connect with the Tao!

This is a bit of a "fox fake tiger" meaning. Why raise the banner as a tiger skin? I am afraid that it was a response to the popular "literati frivolity" at that time. No one is perfect, no one is perfect, no one is perfect, and the literati and celebrities in Chinese history have shortcomings in small sections, such as alcoholism, lust, greed, and mischief, which has caused the world's "hatred of the house and the Wu" feelings, first disgusted with a small number of literati, and then regarded these flaws as a common disease of the literati, and finally even the literati and literary cai were denied.

We don't care about it, but only look at the beauty of the literati, that is, the way in which the literary style is displayed, and whether it is related to the "Tao" as they themselves claim.

Here we would like to mention a famous Tang Dynasty scholar, Zheng Qian. Zheng Qian, weak Qi, Zhengzhou Xingyang people, erudite, good at poetry, books, paintings, astronomy, geography, military, history and so on. It is said that when he practiced calligraphy and painting in his early years, he suffered from the lack of paper, so he went to the Great Ci'en Temple every day, where a large number of persimmon leaves were stored and many rooms were piled up. Zheng Qian practiced writing on persimmon leaves every day, and for a long time, he actually smeared all the belongings accumulated by this Ci'en Temple for many years! (New Book of Tang Dynasty, Biography of Literature and Art) This is like Wang Xizhi's "ink pond", Huai Su's "pen tomb", etc., all of which can become famous when they are fine in their art. Zeng Gong once said in the "Memoirs of ink ponds":

The book of Xizhi is good in the evening, then it can be done, and the cover is also self-sufficient with energy, not Tianchengye.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy naturally has an element of talent, but if he does not have such diligence and persistence, I am afraid he will not be so exquisite. Zheng Qian also relied on such hard training and gradually emerged. Tang Xuanzong deeply loved his literary talent, and suffered from the lack of a suitable position, so he specially set up the Guangwenguan and ordered him to serve as the doctor of the Guangwenguan. This idle door and cold errands are naturally exciting. Zheng Qian approached the prime minister and complained, saying that even the official office of the Guangwenguan did not know where it was and was unwilling to take up his post. The latter was well versed in the psychology of the literati's good reputation, and advocated: "The emperor specially added the Cantonese Pavilion to accommodate elegant people with both talents and learning, and if you go to the post, you will be the first Guangwenguan doctor, which has the important value of opening up history!" ”

Zheng Qian believed it to be true and went to the Guangwenguan with the dream of creating history. This passion and impulse was soon washed away by a heavy rain. The history books say that "for a long time, the rain spoiled the house, there was no restoration, yuzhi Guoziguan, it was abolished" - reality made a joke with Zheng Qian, making him the first and last Doctor of Guangwenguan in history, and did not even have an exclusive office space. The coldness and depression of Zheng Qian's bureaucratic career are obvious to all, and his friend Du Fu described his difficult situation in "Song of Drunkenness".

However, if Zheng Qian's career was frank, he probably wouldn't have so much thought, time, and energy to chant and paint, and his literary style would be greatly reduced. Zheng Qian once painted a painting and inscribed a self-composed poem dedicated to Tang Xuanzong, who was amazed after viewing the case, thinking that his poetry, calligraphy and paintings were all wonderful, and wrote a line at the end of the scroll: "Zheng Qian Three Perfections".

This is the most appropriate affirmation and praise for the achievements of the literati! As mentioned earlier, the reason why literati are called "literati" lies in their artistic talent, attainments, and achievements. Although the emergence of literati as officials is one of the main ways out, it is difficult to find opportunities to display their skills. Just as the so-called "unevenness is sounding", this political frustration and the loneliness of life will push them to use their ingenuity and mind to create more impactful and groundbreaking works of art. Someone in the Song Dynasty once said that Zheng Qian was "a high talent among the Confucians, such as Chixiao Kongcui, drunk, searching for everything, driving into the millenary end, peeping into creation and seeing nature." Although the pieces of paper are dotted with ink, they are naturally gratifying."

This is not only to promote Zheng Qian's painting art from a technical point of view, but to think that "Zheng Qian's three absolutes" present the mystery and interest of the natural way of the universe - when Zheng Qian painted, he broke through the limitations of technology, was free, searched for everything, and presented a vibrant and vivid cosmic scene on paper!

It is precisely for this reason that the "three absolutes" of poetry, books and paintings have become synonymous with the artistic achievements of Chinese literati. As artists, literati naturally involve many fields, but poetry, books, and paintings are undoubtedly the three most basic and important art forms. Xu Wei, a great artist of the Ming Dynasty, once advertised himself: "Wushu is the first, the poem is two, the text is three, and the painting is four." This kind of master's way is probably credible, but when later generations evaluate Xu Wei, they are still more willing to comment on it from the perspective of poetry, books, and paintings, and inadvertently ignore his prose achievements. For example, Yuan Hongdao said that his calligraphy is "as bold as his poetry... Zhang Dai said that he "has paintings in books" and "books in paintings" - we all know that Xu Wangwei's works are called "paintings in poetry" and "poetry in paintings", and when Xu Wei arrived here, the boundaries of the three art forms of poetry, books and paintings were obviously all opened, and poetry, painting, and calligraphy were integrated into one, reaching the highest realm of the beauty of Chinese literati! (Zhao Qiang)