郑板桥的竹韵人生
郑板桥是清代著名的画家，在扬州八怪中影响力最大，其作品别具一格，诗书篆画相得益彰，尤其擅长画 “竹”“兰”和“石”，深为后世喜爱和景仰。
郑板桥画竹，道法自然。他常在夏日躺在院中小榻上乘凉赏竹。风和日暖的秋冬之际，他最爱透过纸窗看风中的竹影摇曳。郑板桥画竹，无所师承，多感悟于纸窗粉壁上、日光月影中。
郑板桥借竹寓情，托物言志，把自己的人品、见地、抱负、爱憎都融于笔墨纸中。他出身于书香门第，乾隆元年中进士，为官时爱民如子。当他任山东潍县知县，曾作画题诗云：“衙斋卧听萧萧竹，疑是民间疾苦声，些小吾曹州县吏，一枝一叶总关情。”郑板桥从衙斋萧萧的竹声，联想到百姓困苦疾声。他是这样想的，更是身体力行减轻人民痛苦。
面对连年灾荒的苦难，面对流离失所的百姓，他发谷若干石，令民俱领券借给，拯救了近万平民的生命。他拿出自己俸禄，代交赋税，救民于水火。然而贪官污吏、恶豪劣绅对郑板桥的义举非常不满，暗用私权让郑板桥被贬官。郑板桥被贬官后离开潍县，三头毛驴一车书，两袖清风而去。他还写诗开玩笑说要画一枝清瘦的翠竹，在秋风阵阵时在江上当作渔竿用呢！他借竹抒发了自己弃官为民、淡泊名利、豁达洒脱的心境。他还作画，画上有三两枝瘦劲的竹子，从石缝中挺然而立，坚韧不拔，遇风不倒。郑板桥借竹抒发了自己刚正不阿、不畏艰难的骨气。
郑板桥画竹风韵超然，得之于其喜竹爱竹，知竹之深，得竹之贤，因得竹之情而尽竹之性。他认为竹子刚强，无论风吹雨打还是严寒烈日，都是身板挺直、青青郁郁；竹子 “虚心 ”，不论山野巨竹还是房前青枝，都空心如一，从不妄自尊大；竹子有 “节”，从数寸嫩笋到参天巨竹，始终拔节生长，初心不改。竹子的风格与板桥的脾性契合，物我交融。
这正是郑板桥作品不同于传统花鸟画、不同于前人之处。传统的兰竹画作大多数表现出欣赏性的、娱乐性的主题，画面主要追求自然形象的真与美、绘画技巧的高超、笔墨运用的娴熟雅致，而到了郑板桥的笔下，题画诗还赋予题材新的思想内容和深邃意境，给人以深刻的感受，回味无穷，思绪万千 ……不仅如此，郑板桥在日复一日的画竹中，还领悟提炼出很多影响深远的美学原理。
板桥画竹，崇尚艺术创造而非单纯模仿。秋日清晨，板桥和朋友一同早起看竹。那烟光、日影与露气，都浮动于疏枝密叶间。他胸中顿生感动，想要提笔作画，而突然意识到自己心中之竹，已然不是眼中之竹。当他磨墨展纸，落笔时又恍然意识到自己笔下之竹又已不是胸中之竹了。意念产生在落笔之前，这是无可置疑的法则；但情趣流溢在法则之外，则全凭个人对艺术的独特理解了。“眼中之竹”“胸中之竹 ”“手中之竹 ”，三者层层递进，板桥创作出比现实更具独特风韵的竹。这是从观察到构思最终实现的客观规律，这也是所有中国艺术创作的必经历程。
板桥画竹，简约笔墨勾勒灵魂，守正出新，境界超然。郑板桥晚年画的《竹石图》，用笔极简、毫不着色，却使人感到劲拔有力、翠色欲流。删去所有的繁杂，只留下清秀劲健的风骨。当画出的作品如同最初学画般青涩新鲜、不落窠臼，才是绘画真正成熟的时候。绘画如此，人生亦然，饱经磨砺后，依旧能拥有如婴儿般纯粹美好的心灵。
竹疏朗潇洒，如温润旷达的君子；竹修长挺拔，如昂扬绝俗的少年。竹四时常绿，象征着顽强不屈的生命；竹中通外直，象征着自律正直的操守。
郑板桥心中有一株竹，万千文人墨客心中，有一株竹。
每个中国人心中，都有一株竹。
The Bamboo
Zheng Banqiao and Bamboo
As a famous painter of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Zheng Banqiao (郑板桥 ) was also the most influential one of the “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.” With a distinctive style, Zheng excelled at calligraphy, painting and composing poetry. He was particularly noted for painting bamboo, orchid and stone, and was deeply loved and respected by later generations.
Zheng Banqiao based his painting of bamboo on what he saw in Nature. In the summertime, he usually lay on a couch in his courtyard, enjoying the shade and observing the bamboo. On the warm days between late autumn and early winter, he took great delight in watching the bamboo plants swaying in the wind and reflected on the window blinds. He never learned to paint them from professional painters; instead, he just painted them based on what he observed day and night.
Through his painting of bamboo, Zheng expressed his moral views, thoughts, ambitions and feelings. Zheng was born into a scholarly family. After he passed the highest imperial examination in the first year (1736) of Emperor Qianlong, he became an official who really cared about the well-being of his people. When Zheng was the magistrate of Wei County in Shandong, he composed this poem:
“Sitting in my office I heard the bamboo rustling/
And thought it was the masses’ plaintive crying/
A petty county magistrate though I am/
I always keep in mind the people’s well-being.”
The rustling of bamboo brought to Zheng’s mind the masses’ sufferings. But he cared about the people not only in thoughts but in actions as well.
Seeing the people starving after years of famine, Zheng saved tens of thousands of lives by distributing grain to those who had applied for and received food coupons. He relieved his people’s misery by paying their taxes from his own salary. Zheng’s altruism, however, incurred the dissatisfaction of corrupt officials and evil gentry. Through devious means, they had Zheng removed from his post. When Zheng left Wei County, all he had was a cartload of books pulled by three donkeys. Later, he said jokingly in a poem that he wanted something more – a slim bamboo stick that he could use as a fishing rod on windy autumn days. Thus, Zheng expressed his indifference to fame and fortune. One of his paintings depicts a couple of slim but strong bamboo plants growing out of a stone and standing firmly in the wind, symbolizing the painter’s uprightness and fearlessness of any hardships or dangers.
Zheng’s vivid depiction of bamboo in his paintings arose from his true love and thorough understanding of the plant itself. In his eyes, bamboo stands firm and stays green in all weathers; the “hollowness” of bamboo is a symbol of “modesty” whether growing in the wild or in garden; from an inch-long tender shoot to a towering plant, it grows section by section, and in Chinese culture “section” is a homonym for jie (节 ), a character that means “integrity.” Bamboo also symbolizes the upright character of Zheng.
That makes Zheng’s works different from the traditional flower-and-bird paintings. Previously, painters usually put emphasis on the accurate and beautiful depiction of natural things. The excellence of painting techniques and the skillful application of pen and ink functioned for mere appreciation and enjoyment. With Zheng, however, the poems inscribed on his paintings make them more than just works of appreciation, and therefore more impressive and profound in thought and artistic conception, leading to a lingering aftertaste. That is not all. In his day-to-day painting of bamboo, Zheng also summarized many principles of aesthetics that would have far-reaching influence.
In painting bamboo, Zheng advocated artistic creation rather than just pure imitation. One autumn morning, Zheng got up early to join his friends in admiring bamboo plants, and saw the morning mist and sunlight floating among the sparse branches and dense leaves. At that moment, he had the impulse to paint what he had seen, but suddenly realized that how he wanted to draw the bamboo was already different from what he had observed. Once he had both ink and paper ready, he realized that, yet again, what he was going to paint was different from what he had had in mind earlier. Of course, it is an undeniable principle that the idea of painting comes before the painting itself, but the painter’s unique perspective plays its part in conveying his feelings. From “observing the bamboo with the eyes” to “recreating it in the mind” and then to “painting it on paper,” Zheng depicted bamboo more gracefully than it really looked. That is an objective law of starting from observation to final painting, a necessary process for all Chinese art creation.
In painting bamboo, Zheng placed emphasis on highlighting its spirit by using simple strokes, but he also showed his innovation as well, in his uniquely fresh style. The Bamboo and Stone that Zheng painted in his later years shows simple lines and has no bright colors, yet one can feel the strength and greenness of the subject. With all unnecessary details removed, the elegance, beauty and strength of bamboo are best seen on paper. A painting that looks as fresh and unconventional as one by a beginner is actually a really mature work. That also applies to life. How rare is the one who can retain childlike purity of mind even though he has gone through a lot in life!
Bamboo, so pretty and graceful, is like a gentleman with a broad mind; bamboo, so tall and upright, is like a youth standing aloof from worldly affairs. That it stays green all year round reminds people of a soul unyielding to difficulties; that it is straight outside and hollow inside symbolizes self-discipline and integrity.
Zheng Banqiao had his own understanding of bamboo, just as many other ancient Chinese men of letters had theirs. Every Chinese man and woman has his or her own understanding of bamboo.
