Zhao Qingquan - Forest Penjing: Enjoy the Miniature Landscape by Growing, Care and Appreciation of Chinese Bonsai Trees

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Copyright 2022 Shanghai Press and Publishing Development Co., Ltd.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

This book is edited and designed by the Editorial Committee of Cultural China series.

Text by Zhao Qingquan

Photographs by Zhao Qingquan, Wu Chengfa, Zheng Yongtai, Han Xuenian, Zhang Zhigang, Zhou Qijin, Liu Shaohong, Fan Yicheng, Huang Le, and Lu Zengqiang

Foreword by Lindsay Bebb

Translation by Zhao Gang

Cover Design by Wang Wei

Interior Design by Li Jing, Hu Bin (Yuan Yinchang Design Studio)

Copy Editor: Nicholas Choa

Editor: Wu Yuezhou

Editorial Director: Zhang Yicong

ISBN: 978-1-93836-857-8

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Fig. 5 Golden Autumn

Tree species: diamond-leaf persimmon

Tree height: 100 cm

Designer: Lu Zengqiang

Persimmon trees of varied heights growing out of the same root are planted in a shallow pot with good density and placement priority. This work depicts a standard forest.

I first met Zhao Qingquan at the 2nd World Bonsai Convention in Florida, USA in 1993 after winning a chance to see his huge penjing landscape demonstration of Chinese elms in the convention raffle with just 2 tickets! Prior to that, I had never seen him demonstrate live, but I was already very familiar with his excellent penjing creations.

Zhao Qingquan has been a great master of penjing works within China since 1985 and has been demonstrating and promoting penjing extensively both inside and outside China since 1988.

He has made an enormous contribution to the understanding of penjing outside China, not only through his demonstrations, but also through his several books on penjing published in English.

This book, Forest Penjing, is again a brilliant work. It explains in simple to understand dialogue, the different types of forest penjing and how to create and display them. of the book outlines the many factors that need to be considered in the creation of forest penjing and is not only thought provoking, but in itself provides both relaxation and energy during the creation process. I think that considering all of these factors while creating a forest penjing will make the experience much more rewarding, especially if the creator can employ most of them in one creation. Zhao Qingquan also supports his instruction with wonderful examples of forest penjing.

I am sure that if you follow the principles Zhao outlines in this book, you will not only thoroughly enjoy the creation process, but will also have a marvellous forest penjing to live with in your garden.

Lindsay Bebb

Chairman

World Bonsai Friendship Federation

Fig. 6Beauty of the flower: the flowering quince.

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P enjing, which originated in ancient China, has a history of more than a thousand years. Taking plants, rocks, soil, and water as its main materials and combining horticulture, craft production, and artistic creation, penjing exhibits the beauty of nature in pots.

Penjing is the advanced stage in the development of potted gardening. It condenses the scenery of the universe into a small pot and expresses artistic beauty and human emotion. It is a plastic, malleable art form, jointly created by man and nature.

Penjing possesses a natural beauty unparalleled by artificial works of art, as well as a natural charm lacking in many other works of the plastic arts, because its major materials are plants and rocks, which are precisely what it exhibits. The plants display the vital signs of nature, which change with the passing of the seasons.

Chinese penjing, based on the objects it manifests and the different materials it uses, can be divided into three types: tree penjing, landscape penjing, and water and land penjing. Tree penjing, which is known internationally as penzai (potted plants) or by its Japanese name, bonsai, uses woody plants as its main materials and focuses on the depiction of trees, with the compositions dominant elements shaped through wiring, pruning, and carving. Landscape penjing depicts a miniature landscape by carefully selecting and shaping rocks, which are usually placed in a shallow container in contact with water. Water and land penjing effectively combines the first two types and is itself a unique type of penjing in China. It depicts natural scenery in a comprehensive way by using plants, rocks, soil, water, and sometimes small ornaments as well.

When three or more trees are arranged in a tree penjing or a water and land penjing, it is called a forest penjing, which can take the form of a thicket or a dense forest.

Forest penjing can generally be broken down into four types based on structure: the multiple-tree forest formed by no less than three independent trees artistically arranged in the same container, the multiple-tree forest with roots interconnected, the forest consisting of a single tree with multiple trunks, and the crouching single-trunk forest formed by one tree lying on the ground with branches growing out of its trunk.

Of the different types of penjing, forest penjing possesses the strongest vital energy, forms the most striking contrast, and offers the most realistic impression of nature. It is also the most capable of presenting poetic and picturesque scenes and demonstrating the creators artistic cultivation. It can be considered a garden in miniature. When we view a fine work of penjing at home over a cup of tea with peace of mind, we may feel as if we were in nature amidst the tranquility of mountain forests, listening to a gurgling stream and chirping birds.