Two greatest artists of Chinese three perfections Historically in China, calligraphy is often included in paintings because painting and calligraphy are usually regarded as an inseparable and dependent whole. Typically, after a painter finished his work, he would put his name and seal on it. More importantly, sometimes he even wrote a short poem that expressed his current feeling on the painting. Those three, which include painting, poetry and calligraphy, are called three perfections and appreciated as a unique style in visual arts. Michael Sullivan, the author of The Three Perfections: Chinese Painting, Poetry and Calligraphy, once mentions an idea in his book, “Both poetry and painting are scholars’ occupations which help to express human moods and feelings”(Michael 1980, 17). Since the combination of painting and calligraphy, artists like Zheng Banqiao 郑板桥 (1693-1765) who is the most famous painter in early Qing, or modern painter like Qi Baishi 齐白石 (1864-1957) can express their feeling more fully. Although these two calligraphers are from different historical periods, they share remarkable similarities. Both of them are masters of expressing their feeling through nature images and poems. Also they both are excellent at regular and cursive script style. More importantly, using three perfections help them to express feelings more fully. I will discuss Mozhu Tutishi 墨竹图题诗 (a painting of bamboo with poem) by Zheng and Xia 虾 (shrimp) by Qi to demonstrate this. First of all, Zheng and Qi are totally different from historical period, degree of education, career and personalities. Zheng Banqiao 郑板桥 (1693-1765), who was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province, is known as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. When Zheng was born, his family had come down in the world. Although they were scratching a living, his father still sent him to private school for purchasing better education. At age eight, Zheng could write poems under his father’s guide. When he was twenty years old, he passed the civil examination and became a scholar. Because his father died after two years later, he was living in a worse life. Therefore, Zheng started to sell his works on the market in Yangzhou. After that, he went to Beijing. Because he always discussed academics with other scholars or Buddhists, he made the acquaintance of Shen Junwang 慎郡王 ( Prince Shen of the Second Rank). Luckily, at that time the government lacked a magistrate. Therefore, Prince Shen recommended Zheng and Zheng began his career. However, Zheng was indifferent to fame and wealth. He didn’t care about power and money at all. As a result, he offended his boss and dispatched to countryside. On the other hand, Qi Baishi was totally different from Zheng Banqiao. In 1864, Qi Baishi was born in Changsha, Hunan. Because his family was so poor and could not afford his tuition, his grandfather started to teach him writing words. When he became older, in order to support his family, he started to work as a woodw ...

1. Two greatest artists of Chinese three perfections
Historically in China, calligraphy is often included in paintings
because painting and calligraphy are usually regarded as an
inseparable and dependent whole. Typically, after a painter
finished his work, he would put his name and seal on it. More
importantly, sometimes he even wrote a short poem that
expressed his current feeling on the painting. Those three,
which include painting, poetry and calligraphy, are called three
perfections and appreciated as a unique style in visual arts.
Michael Sullivan, the author of The Three Perfections: Chinese
Painting, Poetry and Calligraphy, once mentions an idea in his
book, “Both poetry and painting are scholars’ occupations
which help to express human moods and feelings”(Michael
1980, 17). Since the combination of painting and calligraphy,
artists like Zheng Banqiao 郑板桥 (1693-1765) who is the most
famous painter in early Qing, or modern painter like Qi Baishi
齐白石 (1864-1957) can express their feeling more fully.
Although these two calligraphers are from different historical
periods, they share remarkable similarities. Both of them are
masters of expressing their feeling through nature images and
poems. Also they both are excellent at regular and cursive script
style. More importantly, using three perfections help them to
express feelings more fully. I will discuss Mozhu Tutishi
墨竹图题诗 (a painting of bamboo with poem) by Zheng and Xia
虾 (shrimp) by Qi to demonstrate this.
First of all, Zheng and Qi are totally different from historical
period, degree of education, career and personalities. Zheng
Banqiao 郑板桥 (1693-1765), who was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu
Province, is known as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.
When Zheng was born, his family had come down in the world.
Although they were scratching a living, his father still sent him
to private school for purchasing better education. At age eight,
Zheng could write poems under his father’s guide. When he was

2. twenty years old, he passed the civil examination and became a
scholar. Because his father died after two years later, he was
living in a worse life. Therefore, Zheng started to sell his works
on the market in Yangzhou. After that, he went to Beijing.
Because he always discussed academics with other scholars or
Buddhists, he made the acquaintance of Shen Junwang 慎郡王 (
Prince Shen of the Second Rank). Luckily, at that time the
government lacked a magistrate. Therefore, Prince Shen
recommended Zheng and Zheng began his career. However,
Zheng was indifferent to fame and wealth. He didn’t care about
power and money at all. As a result, he offended his boss and
dispatched to countryside. On the other hand, Qi Baishi was
totally different from Zheng Banqiao. In 1864, Qi Baishi was
born in Changsha, Hunan. Because his family was so poor and
could not afford his tuition, his grandfather started to teach him
writing words. When he became older, in order to support his
family, he started to work as a woodworker. In his spare life, he
practiced painting flowers and birds. He also learned portrait
painting from a folk artist. After Qi found painting was his
biggest interest so he quitted his job and attentively followed
his master to learning painting. In 1909, Qi made a big decision.
He moved into the mountains in order to feel the real nature.
He observed insects, flowers and plants and all lives for eight
years. Most of his works represent his childlike personality.
Although their backgrounds are totally different, they have
more similarities in using the theory of three perfecions on
painting and calligraphy styles and respect to nature. Both of
them are masters in Shuimohua 水墨画 (Chinese Brush Painting).
They also are skilled at writing poems, using regular and
cursive script. Usually they write poems or calligraphy on the
paintings to express their feelings more fully. Most of their
works are nature images. Zheng spends his life on drawing
bamboos, orchids and rocks, while Qi’s favorate are shrimp,
flowers and birds. One of the most famous works of Zheng is
Mozhu TuTiShi 墨竹图题诗 (a painting of bamboo with poem). At
that time, people were suffering from the disaster and hundreds

3. of people died because of hunger. Zheng was nervous about
them and helped people day by day. However, the situation
didn't become better. As a result, he decided to write a letter
asking minister to help those suffering people. So he drew
bamboos, with different depth of black ink, hierarchically on
the left side of the paper. On the other side, a poem was neatly
written down. The meaning of the poem was that when Zheng
was lying in the study room of government office, the rustle
sound of leaves seemed to the cry from hunger and cold of
people. Although Zheng was only small officer, people’s every
move, which was like every bamboo leaf outside of the room,
affected his feelings. Under the effect of poem, the left side
bamboos looked bleak. Then Zheng sent this work to minister.
Since disaster getting worse and worse, without the permission,
Zheng resolutely took the decision to open the granary-grain,
relief victims and make every effort to alleviate the plight of
the common people. When minister got this painting and knew
that Zheng opened granary-grain without permission, he was so
mad at Zheng and removed his position. When he left that town,
he drew another painting, Bamboo and Rock. He drew many
bamboos growing from the foot of rocks. Those bamboos were
even higher than rocks. In this kind of terrible environment,
bamboos could also grow well. It seemed that difficulties could
not overthrow him. Seeing this painting, he felt his emotion did
not release fully. Then he wrote a short poem on the right side
of the painting. Every stroke’s shape looked like the leaf of
bamboos, thin but powerful and expressed he was indifferent to
fame and wealth. He wanted to live like bamboos, which were
plain but tough. If this work does not have calligraphy, only
bamboos will not show what Zheng wants to express. That
absolutely shows the theory of three perfections that
combination of painting, poems and calligraphy can help Zheng
to express his feelings better.
Another famous work called Jingjicong Lanshitu 荆棘丛兰石图
(The brambles, Orchids and Rock painting) are also talked about
this. In this work, orchids were growing from rocks. As a

4. common sense, rock cannot offer nutrition to support lives.
However, through the painting, those orchids grew well. In the
patch of orchids, there were some brambles. Some brambles
were even higher than orchid and tried to cover orchids. One of
Zheng’s friends asked him what’s the meaning of this painting.
Zheng suddenly realized that not everyone could understand the
meaning through the paints. Therefore, at the lower right
corner, he wrote some characters which said, “Without
brambles, orchid can not be good orchid”. The orchid
represented gentleman while brambles represented base person.
It indicated that only gentlemen had magnanimity to forgive
base persons. It also showed Zheng’s generous and gritty
personality. Michael also mentions Zheng’s Orchids and Rocks
in his book. Michael says Zheng knows how to achieve visual
harmony of painting and calligraphy by using the same brush
and ink, the same technique and the same fluent rhythmic touch
(11). He also says, “We can read Zheng’s inscriptions in praise
of the orchid”(11). Zheng’s works are not the same as the
traditional simple poems. Instead, he has achieved an
indispensable realm. Without poems, his painting lacks vitality.
Without painting, his characters and poems are difficult to
express his feelings. Without the calligraphy, people may think
that it is just a messy grass and won’t think the deeper meaning.
Similarily,. Qi Baishi, who uses his colorful painting and
writing to show his childlike innocence and respect for nature,
also follows the rule of three perfections. His famous work
Squirrel And Grapes, describes a squirrel is eating grapes under
a grape tree. Instead of only using black ink, he used blue ink
drawing the grapes to make the whole piece more colorful and
vivid. The branches of grape tree are crossed each other but
looks balanced. Several characters are written on the left side.
Those characters’ shape looks like a grape’s shape, rounded and
ordered. It feels like characters are contained into this grape
tree and expresses Qi’s childlike. Moreover, Qi is an expert in
drawing shrimp, using only black ink and water. Qi’s painting
Xia 虾 (Shrimp) shows morphological shrimps, which are lively,

5. sensitive, and alert. Qi can use few strokes drawing cruising
shrimps.showing theirs dynamic. Dark eyes, transparent shells
and slender feet test Qi’s painting level. In this kind of
painting, Qi uses a regular and cursive script. Each stroke looks
like the plier of shrimp, strong and sturctured. Many people say
that seeing Qi Baishi’s shrimp seems to see real one. Seeing Qi
Baishi’s words seems to know what the shrimp is doing. If only
look at the characters, it is hard to image a so lively picture.
Without calligraphy, only shrimps seem a little bit boring.
Through the combination of painting and calligraphy, Qi really
shows the shrimps’ living environment and shows his childlike.
He also liked to communicate with farmers. By talking with
farmers, he knew better about some characters in Chinese myths
like the God of longevity with lad, or God of wealth. Qi thought
God was also a part of nature. God leaded us to do the right
things. Thus, these characters were shown in his works many
times. He even drew Buddha’s fugures, which indicated Chan’s
idea. Chan, also called Zen in Japanese, is kind of special
thinking method. It focuses on life and soul. Chan encourages
people to pursue freedom of soul. As Addiss Stephen, the author
of the art of Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by Japanese Monks,
writes “Zen is individual, but usually requires a teacher; Zen is
everyday and down-to-earth, yet is traditionally practiced in
remote monasteries; Zen is profoundly serious, but full of
humor”(Stephen 1989, 6). Chan painting is one of way that
people like to share Chan’s idea. Usually Chan painting
contains a figure of Buddha and calligraphy. By Sylvan’s words
in his book Zen Ink Paintings, he mentions that Chan paintings
usually include deities, patriarchs, semi-legendary patriarchs or
holy figures (Sylvan 1982, 14). It is similar to Shuimohua
because both of them are created by ink and water and contains
some characters or poems. Qi Baishi was also an expert on Chan
painting. Both Qi’s idea and Chan’s idea were focusing on
feeling the nature and the soul. Qi He knew how to combine
Buddha and his poems. One of his works is Amitabha Buddha.
In this work, Qi wrote a short sentence on the left side of this

6. piece, using regular and cursive script like Zheng’s characters.
It means that one day in summer, when a person called Qi
Huang passes a temple, he sees an Amitabha Buddha. Qi also
draws a Buddha, who is kind with natural face, standing above
the cloud. On Buddha’s breast, there is a little “卍” sign, which
indicates Chan’s idea that Buddha excites everyone’s heart.
Combining with the words and painting, it vividly describes a
real Buddha, which is on the cloud, passing from Qi Huang
lightly. This work expresses as long as someone has pious
belief, he or she will see God. Another example is called
Amitayus Buddha. It shows that an Amitayus Buddha is sitting
on the ground, looking at somewhere and doing meditation. On
the top left corner, Qi writes four characters, which means
Amitayus Buddha. The characters are squared and arranged. The
shape of those characters looks like the scriptures of Buddhism
and works in concert with the painting. Because Amitayus
Buddha has infinite life, Qi draws this work to express people’s
hope that they want to live longer. It also presents Amitayus
Buddha will bless everyone. If Qi does not write those
characters, these works only contain Buddha and have no name.
For common people, they cannot distinguish many different
characters in Chinese myths. They may misunderstand what Qi
is drawing.Also, Qi’s work is full of his painting principle,
which leads to likeness and unlikeness. Qi Baishi as the most
outstanding painter of the 20th century, Chen Chuanxi, the
author of Collection of Paintings by Qi Baishi, mentions a
review of Qi’s student “The wonder of painting lies somewhere
between likeness and unlikeness. Too much likeness would be
fawning on the populace while too much unlikeness, would be
deceiving the world” (Chuanxi 2008, 25). Through drawing
Buddha and writing characters, Qi express his respect of nature
and god thoroughly.
No matter hos different the time and social class, the theory of
three perfections remain constant. By using three perfections,
both Zheng Banqiao and Qi Baishi express their respect to
nature and their ambitions. They have courage to pursue self-

7. development. Zheng once wrote how he draws bamboos. He said
bamboos in his heart are not the same as those he see. He had
already drawn bamboos in his heart thousands of times. He also
said his poems and paintings could not leave each other. Once
lacked one of them, the work became boring and meaningless.
On the other hand, Qi’s combination of painting and calligraphy
is naturally and balanced. His painting was impressive by its
elegance, simplicity, serenity and refreshment. He added details
to a free and bold painting. He advanced the development of
literati painting to reach a new peak. Therefore,
Work cited
1. Sullivan, Michael. The Three Perfections: Chinese Painting,
Poetry, and Calligraphy. New York: G. Braziller, 1980. Print.
2.Addiss, Stephen. The Art of Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy
by Japanese Monks, 1600-1925. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989.
Print.
3.Barnet, Sylvan, and William Burto. Zen Ink Paintings. Tokyo:
Kodansha International, 1982. Print.
4. Chen, Chuanxi. Baishi Liu Yun = Collection of Paintings by
Qi Baishi. Beijing: Ren Min Mei Shu Chu Ban She, 2008. Print.