When the clouds are thick, the sky looks like an undulating mountain peak.
This is a couplet written by Zheng Banqiao.
Zheng Banqiao (painter and writer in Qing Dynasty)? Zheng Banqiao (1693- 1765), whose real name is Zheng Xie, has a soft word,No. Lian, No. Banqiao, also known as Mr Banqiao, is a native of Xinghua, Jiangsu, and his ancestral home is Suzhou. Kangxi scholar, a juren in the tenth year of Yongzheng, a scholar in the first year of Qianlong (1736). He served as an official in Fan County and Wei County, Shandong Province, with remarkable achievements. Later, he lived in Yangzhou and made a living by selling paintings. He is an important representative of "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics".
Zheng Banqiao only painted orchids, bamboos and stones in his life, which is known as "orchids that never fade in four seasons, bamboos that never fall for a hundred days, and invincible stones that never change". His poems, paintings and calligraphy, known as the "three wonders" in the world, are more representative literati painters in the Qing Dynasty. His representative works include Zhuxiu Novelty, Guangqing Liu Zhao, Zhu Lan Fang Xin, Gangu Juquan, Cong Lan Ci, and Zheng Banqiao Collection.
The main achievements are poetry, painting and calligraphy.
Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy, which is a mixture of official script and running script, calls itself "six and a half books" and is called "Banqiao Book". Most of his paintings are bluegrass and bamboo stones, and Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy art with bluegrass and bamboo as its soul is unique in the history of China's calligraphy.
Judging from his 23-year-old Ode to Autumn Songs by Ouyang Xiu and his 30-year-old Poem of Xiao Zhuan, Banqiao learned books from Ou Yangxun in his early years. Its font is neat and beautiful, but slightly stiff: this is related to the neat and charming pavilion style prevailing in the book world at that time, and it is the standard font for selecting candidates in the imperial examination. In this regard, Zheng Banqiao once said: "The flies stop too evenly, fearing that the book will damage the spirit." After becoming a scholar at the age of 40, I seldom write again. Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy is most praised as "six methods and half a book", that is, "Banqiao style" with "eight-part essay" (a kind of official script) as its unique style.