Zheng Banqiao was one of Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty. He was well-known for his calligraphy, paintings and literary works. He maintained that a good piece of artwork should be the result of combining nature with one's own understanding and comprehension. Zheng Banqiao believed that one should learn from nature and not be restricted by the old ways.
Background
Zheng Xie (1693-1765), courtesy name Kerou and pseudonym Banqiao, was a native of Xinghua, Jiangsu. Zheng Banqiao was educated at home from a young age. He left home to study in Zhenzhou when he was 17 years old. Banqiao had gatherings with Wang Shishen and other artists. As their style of paintings was very different from the conventional painting styles of the time, they often viewed as "eccentric painters". Collectively, they were referred to as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.
Zheng Banqiao was noted for his paintings of orchids, bamboo and stones. He also painted pine trees, plum blossoms, chrysanthemums and other plants.
Zheng maintained that one should not be confined to traditional ways of painting, but should learn from nature. Once one had fully mastered his skill, he would be able to freely express his true emotions in his paintings. Banqiao put forward a theary of three stages of painting which required that the painter fully master the bamboo in his eyes, hands and heart, combining careful deliberation with skillful techniques.
Zheng Banqiao died in 1765 at the age of 73.
Education
Zheng Banqiao was educated at home from a young age. He was a scholar of Kangxi, a provincial graduate of Yongzheng and a metropolitan graduate of Qianlong.
When he was 20, he learn about lyrics from Lu Zhongyuan, and made many friends with the same interest in poetry and painting.
Career
Zheng Banqiao, as an upright person, was affectionate towards the commoners, with a keen interest in local customs and practices.
Zheng Banqiao enraged his supirior when he asked for financial assistance. Subsequently, he was dismissed from his post. And he returned to Yangzhou in his later years. He earned a living by selling his paintings. Zheng Banqiao had frequent gatherings with Wang Shishen and other artists. Together they composed poems and painted, giving birth to what was widely known as the Yangzhou School of Painting.
Zheng Banqiao brought a breeze of freshness into the literary circles of the Qing Dynasty. His works were regarded as invaluable possessions by intellectuals and commoners alike, and were greatly sought after.
Zheng Banqiao stressed a combination of poetry, calligraphy and painting, adding lines from poems to his paintings to bring out their themes.