NBPCA Penjing conference

[GavinG]

Just my summary of comments from the stage at the conference. Very interesting.

The big question: what is the difference between Penjing and Bonsai? The Chinese answer appeared to be that it just wasn't relevant - we're Chinese, so Penjing is what we do. There may be many refinement techniques that have been adapted (read, taken from the Japanese bonsai tradition) but the aesthetic, philosophical and literary foundations remain the same. The Yi Jing (I Ching in the old transliteration) remains the basic analysis of natural forces, their balance, ebb and flow, and reflection of "reality" in the deepest sense. Because the roots of Penjing reach so deep into Chinese thought and culture, there is much that is untranslatable and indefinable in a nice crisp clear Western bonsai-as-a-hobby way.

In appearance, penjing must be "natural", but more than just natural. It must be expressive, have an essence, a spirit, something beyond just the way it looks. Lines must flow like water, and be harmonious but interesting, not straight or static. There needs to be a play between dense and open, hard and soft, and so on - read Zhao's book on Penjing for a comprehensive treatment of this. What we Westerners may see as boring theory or airy-fairy philosophy, the Chinese appear to feel is the basic level of meaning - the shapes and appearance is just a vehicle for conveying deeper meaning. (That said, I could see little difference between what was made in the demonstrations, and what usually comes up at "bonsai" conference. I will agree that it is a very shallow and quick-and-dirty way to try to understand the Chinese art.)

Robert Steven had an interesting perspective (he seems to move quite freely between Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Western angles):
In the Japanese tradition, "cascade" (for instance) defines a set of expectations defined by shape - one descending line, a head in proportion (or no head) vertical, branches in fairly clearly expected positions.

In the Chinese tradition, the closest word that is similar is something like "danger" or "peril" - it is based on expressive concept, not on an outward form, and you are free to express that concept in any way that is artistically satisfying - drama and energy, evoking a feeling. There's the thought that "styles" as forms and block creativity, where ideas can liberate.

Sorry about the length of the rant, but as a group we've discussed these concepts at some length, with more heat than light.

Here are a couple of photos. As I said, the results of the demonstrations were not radically different from those you've seen before, but there were some subtle changes. Forms were more open, with much more emphasis on line, and much lesson foliage masses. I remain convinced that the core, or foundation, or "soul" of the tree is the trunk, but there was almost no mention of how to make good trunks. The clear impression was that you get "stock" from those whose profession it is to grow it, and the one with the most money gets the best toys.

A red pine shaped by Zheng Zhilin - trunk as given, except for the top. My bonsai muscles howled at the top that moved away from the flow of the tree - it took me a good half hour to see the balanced grace of the composition. The presence of two large branches together low down (one turned back and down to be the back branch) was handled very skilfully, but that resulted in a viewing angle of about 5 degrees, in my bonsai-oriented brain.

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A largish juniper by either Ren Xiaoming or Wu Jicheng -I can't remember. It looked much better in the bark - I found most of the trees difficult to photograph well, I think because there weren't the foliage masses to "anchor" your perception in the 2-dimensional image. There is more shari-making planned for the straight top part of the trunk. It looked balanced and refined in reality - particularly considering all the branches came from the top! Once again, the trunk basically defines what you can do.

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A very interesting composition with a Baeckea - the only non-Pine-or-Juniper in the whole conference. The mossing around the base of the rock was very skilful, making a slightly clunky rock appear to "float" quite lightly. Just the finer branches were wired directly down. The figurine seemed to be a comment on something Robert Steven joked about "Oh if it's got a fisherman, it must be Penjing!" (internal groan).

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And finally a poor shot of a precipitous juniper brought by one hard1all (hope you don't mind Alan) - I thought that the branches had been arranged quite well, but Fan Shunli absolutely attacked them in the workshop and showed just how much dynamic energy you can put into a relatively slender branch - it wasn't "compression" to bring foliage closer to the trunk, it was just an explosion of angles and crumpling that transformed the tree completely.

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Once again, sorry about the length. I hope some of you find it useful.

Gavin

[LLK]

That is really great, Gavin, thanks. I would have missed or lost a lot if you hadn't recapitulated things so well.

Lisa

[LLK]

Remembering part of the Discussion which opened the 2nd day of the Conference:
Someone in the audience asked about the various styles of Penjing and whether these were still in use. The reply, as far as I remember was that in ancient times the huge distances between districts in China, and their isolation, had caused a gradual 'individualisation' of Penjing in the various regions. This was also influenced by climate and character of vegetation. Nowadays this isolation no longer exists, suitable stock can be got from anywhere, and the character of Penjing has gradually become more generalised. In broad terms, there is just some distinction between North- and South China, which is defined again by climate and vegetation.

Someone also asked about wiring in Penjing, and Robert Steven's answer was that some form of shaping had always existed in certain styles, e.g. by using strips of bamboo and ties. The wire used nowadays is just an extension of this. However, Robert specified, in Penjing wiring should only be used to give direction and branch shaping should be done by the Lingnan method, i.e. clip-and-grow. This allows acute angles, whereas wiring produces curves. This follows the customs of the Penjing artists in the South, with ties to Lingnan city, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Lisa