Qigong (artist)
Encyclopedia
- For the traditional Chinese meditative practice, see QigongQigongQigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...
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Qigong (July 26, 1912 — June 30, 2005) was a renowned Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
Chinese calligrapher, artist, painter, connoisseur
Connoisseur
A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...
and sinologist
Sinology
Sinology in general use is the study of China and things related to China, but, especially in the American academic context, refers more strictly to the study of classical language and literature, and the philological approach...
. He was an advisor for the September 3 Society, one of China's recognized political parties.
Qigong was born into a Manchu family in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in 1912. Both his great-grandfather and grandfather were Jinshi, the highest Chinese academic title roughly equivalent to a doctoral. He was a descendant of the Yongzheng Emperor
Yongzheng Emperor
The Yongzheng Emperor , born Yinzhen , was the fifth emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the third Qing emperor from 1722 to 1735. A hard-working ruler, Yongzheng's main goal was to create an effective government at minimal expense. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, Yongzheng used military...
through his son Hongzhou. Upon coming to prominence, he declined to use both the Manchu Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro was the family name of the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty. The House of Aisin Gioro ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a republican government in its place. The word aisin means gold in the Manchu language, and "gioro" is the name of the place in...
or sinicized Jin
Jin (surname)
Jin is a Chinese family name. It literally means "gold" and is No. 29 of the Hundred Family Surnames. The surname is also used in Vietnam and Korea, where it is romanized as Kim and in Hong Kong, in Cantonese, Kam...
surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
, and went by the legal surname of "Qi" to establish a name for himself removed from that of the Imperial family.
Name and Ancestry
Qi belongs to the Aisin GioroAisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro was the family name of the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty. The House of Aisin Gioro ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a republican government in its place. The word aisin means gold in the Manchu language, and "gioro" is the name of the place in...
clan, the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
rulers of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
in China. The character of Qi used in Qigong's name was a generation name
Generation name
Generation name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation share that character, unlike surnames or given names...
of the ruling Aisin-Gioro clan as dictated by the Qing Imperial Family during the time of the Xianfeng Emperor
Xianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor , born Aisin-Gioro I Ju, was the ninth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.-Family and his early years:...
. It is possible from this code to discern that Qigong was the 10th Generation descendant of the Yongzheng Emperor
Yongzheng Emperor
The Yongzheng Emperor , born Yinzhen , was the fifth emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the third Qing emperor from 1722 to 1735. A hard-working ruler, Yongzheng's main goal was to create an effective government at minimal expense. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, Yongzheng used military...
, his direct ancestor. Qigong, however, 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. He once responded, tongue-in-cheek, "My surname is Qi and given name is Gong. I do not take from my ancestors, nor do I associate with any 'Eight Banners
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
' brotherhood. I rely on my own ability to make a living." Qi's father died at the age of 19, when Qi was just two years old.
Qigong was legally known as "Qi Gong" with "Qi" being his legal surname, but many still regard Qigong as a name in singularity. Therefore in the English transcriptions of his name he can be variably called "Qigong" or "Qi Gong".
His style name (zi) was Yuanbai.
Biography
He grew up in extreme poverty and was forced to drop out of middle school while still a teenager. He continued to pursue his love of art and knowledge and managed to become a private student of leading scholars and painters. 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 began work as a teaching assistant at Fujen University in Beijing, which later became Beijing Normal University
Beijing Normal University
Beijing Normal University , colloqiually known as 北师大 or Beishida, is a public research university located in Beijing with strong emphasis on basic disciplines of humanities and sciences...
. He continued teaching Chinese classics and literature at the university and also taught the study of traditional Chinese antiques at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. He tutored Master's and PhD students until a few years before his death.
He learned Chinese 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
Wang Xizhi
Wang Xizhi was a Chinese calligrapher, traditionally referred to as the Sage of Calligraphy , who lived during the Jin Dynasty...
and Wang Xianzhi, yet unique in its own way. He was also a learned scholar in the areas of Chinese ancient song lyrics, phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
, and Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...
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.
He also began to develop the eye of an art connoisseur by frequenting the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
, the imperial palace of China's last Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. 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
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
during which he sold out more than a hundred painting and calligraphic works of his own.
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.
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. Qi Gong's death was also met with sadness by the public, and has been especially felt by the country's artists, calligraphers, and art collectors.
Marriage
Qi's marriage was arranged by his mother within the clan according to Qing Dynasty tradition. He married Zhang Baochen (1910–1975), a woman he had never met before, at the age of 21. With a lifestyle far removed from Qi, Zhang knew little about calligraphy or painting. She also brought to the family her little brother. Zhang devoted herself to the family. When Qi's mother died in 1957, a grateful Qi kneeled down before her to express his gratitude. Qi was labeled as a "rightist" in Mao's Anti-Rightist MovementAnti-Rightist Movement
The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China and abroad...
in 1957, and became depressed. Zhang encouraged her husband to keep on working and sold her jewelry to buy books for Qi. During the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
(1966–76), Qi was arrested because of his noble family background and was forced to surrender his family's belongings. Zhang had packaged all Qi's works and collections and managed to keep them away hidden. The Red Guard
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
s searched their house several times to no avail. Zhang revealed the locations of the manuscripts to Qi before she died, and Qi later retrieved the pieces, which had been well covered in sheets of kraft paper
Kraft paper
Kraft paper or kraft is paper or paperboard produced from chemical pulp produced in the kraft process.Pulp produced by the kraft process is stronger than that made by other pulping processes; acidic sulfite processes degrade cellulose more, leading to weaker fibers, and mechanical pulping...
.
Opinions and Legacy
Despite being an acclaimed teacher, Qigong was perhaps more famous as an artist. At the time of his death, people eulogized 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 pandaGiant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
."
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.
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.
Family
- Great grandfather: Puliang 溥良 (died in 1922)
- Grandfather: Yulong 毓隆 (died in 1923)
- Father: ? (died in 1913)
- Mother: Ke Lianzhen 克连珍 (died in 1957)
- Aunt: Heng Guihua 恒季华 (died in 1957)
- Wife: Zhang Baochen 章宝琛 (1910–1975)
- Relative: Pu RuPu RuPu Ru also known as Pu Hsin-Yu was a member of the Qing Dynasty ruling Aisin Gioro family and grandson the Daoguang Emperor. The last emperor of China, Pu Yi, was his cousin...
(1896–1963)