Iron Pen Prodigy -- The Life of Zhu Fugang: The Life of Zhu Fugang

Author: Hou Xueshu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: I was a commoner from Jiangnan since childhood, deeply fond of stone and metal engraving. Hearing my ancestors' earnest words, I knew that engraving must first master calligraphy. I buried myself in studying Xu Shen's works, meticulously analyzing pictographs and ideographs. With nine thousand three hundred fifty-three strokes, I memorized them from head to tail. Writing Seal and Clerical scripts at will, I seemed to know Li Si from history, and from the Han and Wei dynasties onwards, I valued running script, as it originated from Seal script. Admiring Zhang Zhi for Seal-script running script, I immersed myself in the styles of Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, and Zhao Mengfu, in painting, I first learned from Yan Liben, and for landscapes, I favored the methods of Jing Hao and Guan Daoting. I indulged in this year after year, at ease and forgetting time. Looking around, I only felt the clarity of the distance, but suddenly, upon looking in the mirror, I was astonished to find my hair had turned white. The desire to ascend and create became urgent, but now the era has changed. With a thousand flowers blooming and the people rejoicing, I should contribute my lifelong learning to the motherland. When I help others, others help me, and suddenly, the path was cleared, and the world became vast. I was a commoner from Jiangnan since childhood, deeply fond of stone and metal engraving. Hearing my ancestors' earnest words, I knew that engraving must first master calligraphy. I buried myself in studying Xu Shen's works, meticulously analyzing pictographs and ideographs. With nine thousand three hundred fifty-three strokes, I memorized them from head to tail. Writing Seal and Clerical scripts at will, I seemed to know Li Si from history, and from the Han and Wei dynasties onwards, I valued running script, as it originated from Seal script. Admiring Zhang Zhi for Seal-script running script, I immersed myself in the styles of Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, and Zhao Mengfu, in painting, I first learned from Yan Liben, and for landscapes, I favored the methods of Jing Hao and Guan Daoting. I indulged in this year after year, at ease and forgetting time. Looking around, I only felt the clarity of the distance, but suddenly, upon looking in the mirror, I was astonished to find my hair had turned white. The desire to ascend and create became urgent, but now the era has changed. With a thousand flowers blooming and the people rejoicing, I should contribute my lifelong learning to the motherland. When I help others, others help me, and suddenly, the path was cleared, and the world became vast.