Manual of Painting, Opening Volume

Preface IX

Lush as the peach and plum blossoms, or as detailed as the duckweed, algae, rushes, and lotuses; from the gnarled ancients original: 檮杌 (taowu). While this term can refer to a legendary monster or a historical chronicle, here it suggests the vast, sometimes strange variety of natural forms found in ancient texts. to the myriad things, all are represented, including the plum blossoms.

It is not merely a matter of the chirping pheasants, pigeons, and orioles. Among the birds, deer, deep-water geese, sedge, chickens, bees, hedgehogs, chirping cicadas, and grasshoppers, there is not a single creature that is not taken as a subject.

Some paintings seize their physical form and posture, while others depict their very sounds and echoes. The nature of things and the sentiments of things are each rendered with vivid lifelikeness. Is this not the ultimate achievement of the art of sketching from life Sketching from life (寫生, xiesheng): A foundational concept in Chinese painting meaning to "write" or "copy" the living spirit of a subject, prioritizing its vital energy and natural character over mere photographic accuracy. across all time and the whole world? Its...