Qigong (artist)
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Qigong (July 26, 1912 — June 30, 2005) (Simplified Chinese: 启功, Styled Yuanbai) was a renowned Manchu Chinese calligraphy artist and sinologist. He was an advisor for the September 3 Society. He declined to use both the Aisin Gioro or Jin surname, and went by the legal surname of "Qi", even though he was a descendant of the Yongzheng Emperor through his son Hongzhou.
Also known as Aisin-gioro Qi Gong, he was born into a Manchu family in Beijing in 1912. Both his great-grandfather and grandfather were Jinshi.
He grew up in extreme poverty and had to drop out of middle school when still a teenager. Yet he continued to pursue his love of art and knowledge and managed to become a private student of leading scholars and painters. He also began to develop the eye of an art connoisseur by frequenting the Palace Museum. To support his family and buy books, he often had to sell his paintings and work as a tutor.
Initially Qi Gong was better known as a painter than a calligrapher. In 1935, he started work as a teaching assistant at the Fujen University in Beijing, which later became Beijing Normal University. He continued teaching Chinese classics and literature at the university and also taught the study of traditional Chinese antiques at Peking University. He tutored Master's and PhD students till a few years ago.
For nearly 30 years, Qi was so busy working as a college teacher that he almost totally abandoned painting and focused on calligraphy in his spare time. It was not until the 1980s that he again picked up a paintbrush. As a renowned artist, Qi Gong served as vice-chairman and later chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers' Association. An outstanding connoisseur of Chinese calligraphy and painting, he worked as director of the National Relics Evaluation Committee.
Qi had lived alone in his home and studio on the university campus since his wife Zhang Baochen died in 1975. The couple had no children.
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[edit] Name
Qigong is the phonetic transcriptions (Qi and Gong) of two Chinese characters as shown in the title. Qi means literally air, which represents a kind of energy flowing according to certain routes in your body. Gong means the great effort or work put into the qi practice. Through working inside your body and mind, using the methodology of Qigong, you may achieve a perfect harmony in your body, mind, and spirit, so this may lead to a more energetic and healthy life.
Qi Gong, a descendant of China's last imperial family, is a renowned scholar, poet and wit. He creates calligraphy of seemingly effortless elegance through the skilful interplay between the proportions of his characters. For several years he served as chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers' Association.
[edit] Family and ancestors
Also known as Aisin-gioro Qi Gong, he was born into a Manchu family in Beijing in 1912. Qi Gong was originally surnamed Aisin Giorro, an imperial clan name of the "Eight Banners" of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). But Qi does have an orthodox noble ancestor. One of his forebears was the son of Emperor Yongzheng, the fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty and brother of Qianlong, the sixth emperor of the dynasty. But he has never used the regal family name to sign any of his calligraphy, paintings, letters, or articles. By refusing the noble surname, Qi wanted to show his resolutions to make a living by himself instead of depending on his noble ancestors. But Qi's father died at the age of 19, when Qi was just 2.
[edit] Marriage
Qi's marriage was arranged by his mother within the clan according to Qing Dynasty tradition. He married Zhang Baochen, a woman he had never met before, at the age of 21. Different from Qi, Zhang knew nothing about calligraphy or painting. She also brought to the family by her little brother. Zhang devoted herself to the family without any complaint. Gradually Qi's sympathy towards his wife turned into love. When Qi's mother died, he was so grateful for Zhang's devotion to the family that he kneeled down before her to express his gratitude. Qi was labeled as a "rightist" in 1957, and was much depressed. Zhang encouraged her husband to keep on working and sold her jewelry to buy books for Qi. During the "Cultural Revolution", Qi was arrested because of his family background and was forced to surrender his family's belongings. Fortunately Zhang packaged all Qi's works and collections and hid them well. So although the Red Guards searched their house several times they returned empty-handed every time. Before Zhang died of illness in 1975, she held Qi's hands and told him where she had hidden his manuscripts. Qi later recovered the pieces, which were as good as new - having been well covered in sheets of kraft paper.
Qi, whose pen name was Yuan Bai, was better known as a painter than a calligrapher and studied under the famous historian Professor Chen Yuan at a young age.
[edit] Final years
Even though Qi Gong has remained the best-known calligrapher in the public's eye. Since 1999, Qi Gong also headed the Central Research Institute of Chinese History. The institute currently has 29 members, all leaders in their fields of history, the humanities and the arts.
Despite the fact that he also chaired the Chinese Calligraphers' Association and served as a senior scholar on a team of national experts on cultural relics, Qi Gong was always unassuming, both among his peers and towards other artists. Before his passing away in 2005, he was the honorary president of Chinese Calligraphers' Association, director of Cultural Relic Authentication Committee of the State Council, professor of Beijing Normal University, and member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
At Beijing Normal University, where Qi Gong taught classical Chinese language and literature for more than 60 years, teachers and students mourned their professor's passing.
He learned calligraphy in his childhood, and studied various historical stone inscriptions of calligraphy in detail. He was deft in merging the characteristics of different eras and authors, and versatile in all the writing styles, especially the regular script (kaishu), the running hand (xingshu), and the cursive script (caoshu) styles. His style embodies the essence of great classical calligraphers like Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, yet unique in its own way. He was also a learned scholar in the areas of Chinese ancient song lyrics, phonology, semantics, and Dream of the Red Chamber study, and published extensively in these fields. He was also very versatile in poetry writing and appreciation, and used his own poems in his calligraphy extensively.
Later, Qi was also known as a cultural relics connoisseur who developed an art connoisseur's keen eyes by visiting the Palace Museum frequently. He authenticated, salvaged, and preserved abundant rare and valuable cultural relics for the country. He established himself internationally by attending various influential treasure-authenticating events and international academic conferences in countries such as Japan, Singapore, the United States, South Korea, Britain, and France, promoting international cultural exchanges. Qi Gong passed what he had learned from Chen Yuan, as well as his own selfless love, on to his generations of students. Qi Gong set up the Li Yun Grant in 1990 with 1.63 million yuan (US$196.904) of his own money, money raised at a sale of work in Hong Kong during which he sold out more than a hundred painting and calligraphic works of his own. .
Despite being an acclaimed teacher, it is true that Qi Gong was more famous as an artist. People will remember him as a humorous, modest, generous, and open-minded "old grandpa." Faced with the praise of "a living national treasure" due to his art, knowledge, and personality, Qi always joked that it sounded like he was "a giant panda." Qi wrote a large number of calligraphic pieces that can be seen on a host of landmark buildings, at scenic spots around China, and on many book covers alongside the book titles. To own a piece of calligraphy by Qi Gong is the dream of many of his admirers, let alone those sharp-eyed experts and other enthusiasts.
Although Qi Gong's full name was Aisin Giorro Qigong, he never put it on any of his paintings, books, essays, or letters. He once responded, tongue-in-cheek, "My last name is Qi and middle name is Gong. I do not take from my ancestors, nor do I associate with any 'Eight Banners' brotherhood. I rely on my own ability to make a living." But he was deeply grateful to his mentor Chen Yuan who led him towards a life-long career as a teacher and scholar and who never gave up on the talented Qi Gong, even though Qi lived in poverty and did not even complete middle school. What he also valued most in his life was the pure love and selfless support between him and his wife Zhang Baochen who died in 1975. From then until his death, Qi Gong lived alone in his home and studio on the university campus.
Qi Gong's death has been met with sadness by the public, and has been especially felt by the country's artists, calligraphers, and art collectors.
