Zhang Daqian’s birth is quite legendary. On May 10, 1899 (the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu) (the first day of the fourth lunar month), he was born into a scholarly family in Xiangbizuiyantangwan, Anliangli, a suburb of Neijiang County, Sichuan Province. His real name is Zhang Zhengquan, also known as Zhang Quan. Legend has it that his mother dreamed of an old man sending a little ape into his house at night before he was born, so when he was 21 years old, he changed his name to Yuan, also known as Yuan and Ji Yuan. Later, because he became a monk with the Buddhist name Daqian, the world also called him "Daqian layman".
His ancestor once served as the magistrate of Neijiang County, and later returned to the fields to farm, study, write poetry and paint, and lived a leisurely pastoral life. It has been passed down to Zhang Daqian for the tenth generation. His father Zhang Zhongfa, named Huaizhong, and his mother's name was Zeng Youzhen. Zhang Zhongfa and his wife gave birth to nine boys and two girls, all of whom were highly educated. His brother Zhang Zhenglan is also a famous modern painter. When he was six years old, he began to read and read with his elder sister and brother. When he was nine years old, he officially began to learn painting and calligraphy under the guidance of his mother and elder sister. His sister Qiongzhi was good at painting flowers and birds, and had a great influence on him when he was young. Daqian has been very smart since he was a child, so he has made rapid progress in painting. A ten-year-old child can help his mother draw patterns, draw more complex flowers and characters, and write neatly. His fourth brother, Zhang Wenxiu, taught in a private school in Zizhong, so Daqian also studied ancient books from his fourth brother. After school, he often accompanied his brother to visit scenic spots in Zizhong, cultivating his aesthetic awareness of nature. The good family cultural atmosphere played a very good role in enlightening him and also laid a solid foundation for him in Chinese studies.
In 1912, he entered Huamei Elementary School, a missionary school run by Neijiang Catholic Evangelical Church, and began to receive modern education. When he was sixteen, he left his hometown Neijiang and came to Chongqing to study in junior high school. It is worth noting that the person who served as his physical education teacher at that time was the later famous general Liu Bocheng. In 1917, a strange thing happened when he was returning to Neijiang during the summer vacation. He was kidnapped by a group of bandits. Seeing that he was a scholar, the bandits asked him to stay and become a master. While in the bandits' den, he often read the book "Reading Poems in Hanying" and learned some rules and techniques for writing poems. He fled after a hundred days. At the end of the year, he bid farewell to his hometown and arrived in Shanghai via Chongqing, ending his legendary journey. As a boy, he truly embarked on his artistic life.
In order to copy the paintings from the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Mr. Zhang Daqian asked his friends to buy canvases, paper, pens and glue powder from Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai and other places, and imported them from Tibet (it is said to be imported from India or Myanmar). Mineral pigments such as azurite, lime green and cinnabar were transported, and daily necessities were purchased from Xining, Lanzhou and other places. Seventy-eight donkey carts were used to transport them to Dunhuang.
In 1942, Mr. asked the painter Lama of Kumbum Monastery to go to Dunhuang to help prepare the canvas and mix the paint. With the help of Tibetan lama painters, the canvas made with unique skills is seamless and smooth. The homemade Buddhist paints remain unchanged for a long time, and the brightness of the gold powder is unique.
After arriving at the Mogao Grottoes, Mr. Daqian was impressed by the colorful paintings and exquisite sculptures on the walls. He first numbered the caves according to the direction of the water flow in the Qilian Mountains, from south to north, from low to high, and then from It went back and forth from north to south, from bottom to top, like an English E-shape. It lasted more than five months, and it was No. 309. Later, on this basis, the 200,000-word "Dunhuang Stone Chamber" was completed.
Life in Dunhuang is poor and difficult. Daily necessities need to be purchased from other places. In order to improve the food supply, he opened up wasteland to grow vegetables and raise ducks. Due to the different eating habits of Tibetans, Hui people and Han people, he opened three kitchens. In winter, the temperature in Dunhuang is 20 to 30 degrees below zero. They have to go to the desert more than 200 kilometers away to find dead wood for cooking and heating. In order to prevent bandits from attacking, Mr. Hu also paid the local garrison to serve as security guards. In order to support the expenses of Dunhuang and his family, he rushed to make paintings late at night and sent them to friends in Sichuan for sale. After Dunhuang, he was deeply in debt and spent about 5,000 taels of gold. He reluctantly sold more than 200 precious ancient paintings.
The trip to Dunhuang changed Mr. Zhang Daqian’s painting style drastically, from the elegance and elegance of his early years to magnificence, and the ladies became graceful, charming, and charming. The caisson pattern on the top of the Dunhuang caves often appears in the paintings.
Zhang Daqian petitioned the state to protect Dunhuang and established the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Research Institute. In 1949, Zhang Daqian went to India to hold an art exhibition. No matter how high the bidders paid, he would not sell any of his more than 200 Dunhuang paintings. All of them were donated to the country and are now in the Sichuan Museum.