Mr. Zhang Jun(courtesy name: Yushan) and Ms. Li Zhen (courtesy name: Jiayin)
were both graduated from Jinan Calligraphy College in 1988. They formally
acknowledged Mr. Wei Qihou who is famous among the artists in Shandong
province as their tutor studying calligraphy and painting from him at Jinyuanzhai
after their graduation.
At Jinyuanzhai, they were first taught Chinese calligraphy skills from Mr. Chu
Suiliang's Dazi Yinfu Jing by Mr. Wei to get rid of vulgar calligraphy style ; they
were taught Mr. Zhong Yao's Ronglu Biao and Tieshankeshi simultaneously, and
then Songjiangbenjijiuzhang and Mr. Song Ke's Shupu at the same time; they were
taught to write Mr. Wang Xizhi and Mr. Wang Xianzhi's(two great calligraphers
in ancient China) calligraphy refering to Hanjian to feel the beauty laws of writing
brush walking on the paper, but not to copy them. We have no reason to copy Mr.
Wang Xizhi's writing because Mr. Wang Xizhi will never ever repeat himself. The
purpose of leaming Mr. Wang Xizhi's calligraphy skills and beauty laws is to
show our own individualities.,which will lead to a new path.
During the learning period from Mr. Wei, his teaching methods made everything
new and fresh to us. Here are the examples of his special teaching methods: four- word epigram for leaming calligraphy is quiet, calm, noble, and wise; getting skill
matters quantity; follow your heart and intuition when writing; write Zhenshu(one
of calligraphic fonts)while referring to Lishu(one of calligraphic fonts) to feel the
transformation from Lishu to Zhenshu. More exciting thing was seeing Mr. Wei's
doing calligraphy that was like seeing pure and perfect ballet without any
affectation. Mr. Wei explicitly pointed out that Jiuchenggong written in dark ink
had not been successful since Ming and Qing Dynasties . Mr. Wei is not only anartist but also an ideologist. We considered ourselves most fortunate to have such
a great tutor like Mr. Wei.
In 2005, authorized by Mr. Wei Qihou,Yushan set up online museum of his
calligraphy and painting and published Mr. Wei Qihou on Art which has been
published ten times until 2015, which were well received by calligraphy's lovers
Ms. Jiayin's painting got Mr. Wei's high appreciation during the period of study at
Jinyuanzhai. Mr. Wei once said:" her Chinese lovebirds in ink is light and
ethereal, their flying sight like beautiful ladies singing merrily and dancing
gracefully."
In 2013, during the Tenth Chinese Art Festival, Yushan and Jiayin held an
exhibition named "Flying Wing to Wing of Two Artists" whose paintings and
calligraphies were respectively collected by Shandong Museum and Shandong
Gallery. In 2014, Zhang Jun's calligraphies were taken along when Governor of