Category: Relationships in Chinese Culture

Zhu Xiuli’s Scholar by a Stream brings the natural landscape and its spiritual energy to life. The tranquility of the piece contrasts the political turbulence of Zhu’s time. The painting pulls the viewer away from turmoil and into a world of healing through nature.

According to Daoist beliefs, man and nature are inseparable. Maintaining a deep connection with the natural world contributes to a clear, moral conscience and a healthy body. The inscription on the painting reflects this belief by relating how an old man’s connection to nature allows him to feel youthful and content.

In his poem, Li Shangyin explores similar values through vivid images of the natural world. Li expresses an appreciation of natural tranquility and suggests that true contentedness is found through a transcendental connection with nature. Zhu’s painting and Li’s poem intertwine to convey the ideal “happy life” that can only be found through a profound relationship with the natural world.

Poem selection and label by Gloria Cheng ’18, Molly Hurd ’18 and Sidney Lu ’17

Flowers have long been associated with feminine beauty in Chinese culture. The modern artist Yang Gang and the Tang poet Wang Changling are both part of this tradition. They both use the motif of the lotus to explore the intimate relationship women have with nature.

In Girl With Red Lotuses, the lotuses look to be sprouting not just around the girl, but from her. It is almost as if she herself were a blossoming lotus, growing out of the muddy depths along with the flowers. Wang Changling suggests a similar relationship in his poetic descriptions of the beautiful woman, Suo Fei. The only way he can distinguish between her and her “sister flowers” is by the song she sings. The connection between Suo Fei and her lotuses goes beyond their outward appearance. They share a bond so deep that it is almost familial.

Yang Gang was born in 1946 and lived through the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976); Wang Changling lived during the Tang dynasty (618–907). These two men are separated by hundreds of years and several dynasties. Nevertheless, their shared fascination with bewitching beauties allows for a dialogue between poem and painting that transcends the bounds of time.

Poem selection and label by Molly Hurd ’18

Friendship is not limited to people sharing collective memories or emotions. It transcends space and time. This painting reinterprets a drawing in Feng Zikai’s (1898–1975) New Interpretation of Old Verses. Xue Song shows his appreciation towards Feng by following the original piece closely, and employs new media to supplement his own understanding of friendship. He uses a collage of traditional masterpieces in the background to embody the transcendence of friendship, regardless of space and time. Instead of ink, Xue uses ashes to outline the landscape and figures to symbolize rebirth. He successfully creates a dialogue and constructs a friendship with Feng and other artists.

The couplet on the upper right corner expresses the gratification of having like-minded people regardless of the distance from them. Li Bai’s poem presents the insignificance of the external world when one is surrounded by friends. In contrast with the insurmountable physical distance between friends in Xue’s painting, Li visualizes both the physical and psychological closeness between friends. Xue and Li achieve a consensus on the meaning of friendship: “We finished our songs as the stars went down” because together we forget time; “The four seas hold our friendship” wherever we are, because together “we forget the world.”

Poem selection and label by Gloria Cheng ’18

Friendship is viewed as one of the most meaningful and eternal relationships in Chinese culture. The figures in Zhou Yingqin’s painting present an endless cycle of this unbreakable bond. Zhou was a late 19th- and early 20th-century painter who lived during a time of great political upheaval. The transitional nature of the landscape is indicative of this change. The river illustrates the continuous flow of life and weaves an emotional tale of separation and reunion between the figures. Zhou asserts the idea that true friendships will always withstand life’s challenges.

Wei Yingwu was a Tang-dynasty (618–907) poet who emphasized the value of lasting interpersonal relationships. His poem describes the reunion of friends who have endured many years of separation. Like Zhou, Wei constructs an eternal cycle of friendship through his portrayal of separation and reunion. The drifting clouds and flowing rivers symbolize the emotional inseparability of true friendship. This combination of poem and painting enables the viewer to become an active participant in the relationship. We are invited into a world where we experience for ourselves an ideal friendship that transcends time and space.

Poem selection and label by Sidney Lu ’17