Wu Guanzhong's Bond with Zhangjiajie
Wu Guanzhong's Bond with Zhangjiajie by Deng Pingxiang. In October 1979, the famous painter Mr. Wu Guanzhong was invited to Hunan to create a giant landscape painting draft (a draft for a Hunan embroidery mural) for the Hunan Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Because the invitation came from the government, the relevant departments contacted the Hunan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, hoping to send a relatively young painter to accompany Mr. Wu. Thus I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Wu and to stay by his side day and night for more than 30 days. During that time, the artistic benefits I gained and the...
Wu Guanzhong and His Bond with Zhangjiajie
By Deng Pingxiang
In October 1979, the renowned painter Mr. Wu Guanzhong was invited to Hunan to create a giant landscape painting draft (a draft for a Hunan embroidery mural) for the Hunan Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Since the invitation came from the government, the relevant departments contacted the Hunan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, hoping to assign a relatively young painter to accompany Mr. Wu.
And so I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Wu and to stay by his side day and night for more than 30 days. The artistic enlightenment I gained and the inspiration I drew from Mr. Wu during that time are something I will never forget for the rest of my life.
For Mr. Wu, Hunan was a place he was revisiting. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he had moved inland with his alma mater, the National Hangzhou Art Academy, to escape the ravages of war, and had spent some time wandering through Hunan. What he could especially not forget was that as a young man, Wu Guanzhong had also had a youthful first love during one summer vacation. Decades later, Mr. Wu still could not let go of this romance, and even wrote a special article recalling it. A TV director with a nose for a good story even made a television feature based on it. After watching the TV program and reading the article, one cannot help but sigh again and again over the deep and beautiful emotions of an artist.
Mr. Wu worked intensively in Changsha for more than ten days, and the giant draft, 9 meters long and 3 meters high, was finally completed. Before coming to Hunan, Mr. Wu had already expressed his wish to visit Xiangxi. This was due to recommendations from colleagues in the art world, his longing for the border town of Fenghuang after reading Shen Congwen's novels, and his affection for the hometown of his old friend Mr. Huang Yongyu. Of course, all of this was tied to his sacred purpose of discovering and expressing beauty.
The relevant provincial departments gladly arranged Mr. Wu's trip to Xiangxi. Upon learning that Mr. Wu's wife, Zhu Biqin, was a native of Hunan, the relevant leaders even specially telephoned to invite her to come to Hunan to accompany Mr. Wu to Xiangxi.
In mid-November, the four of us (Mr. and Mrs. Wu Guanzhong, a student of Mr. Wu's working in Hunan, and I) set off in a Shanghai-brand sedan, heading west out of Changsha to begin our journey to Xiangxi.
Along the way, Mr. Wu was in extremely high spirits. He asked to sit next to the driver so that he could see the scenery by the roadside. After long hours of driving, even we young people in the back seat could not help feeling drowsy and falling asleep, but Mr. Wu was often excited like a child. He kept marveling at the scenery flashing past, and sometimes, moved by the sight, he would blurt out a line of poetry. Catching sight of the red and yellow frosted leaves still clinging to the branches, he suddenly exclaimed:
“Ah, the beauty of the dot, the beauty of the union of dot and line!”
What a true child and devotee of art!
Fenghuang was the best-preserved county town in Xiangxi. According to an article written by a man of letters in the 1930s, only two county towns in China had preserved their traditional cultural landscape so well, and Fenghuang was one of them. Fenghuang was the hometown of the famous writer Shen Congwen and also the hometown of Wu Guanzhong's old friend, the famous painter Huang Yongyu. Shen Congwen and Huang Yongyu were cousins. Through Shen Congwen's writings, Huang Yongyu's paintings, and historical materials, Wu Guanzhong had long admired Fenghuang. Therefore, while in Fenghuang, Mr. Wu produced many sketches from life and quick studies. Because of his literary ties, his ties through painting, and his ties of old friendship, Mr. Wu felt that Fenghuang was both familiar and regrettably late in coming to know.
During this time, Mr. Wu also made a special trip to see Mr. Huang Yongyu's former residence. According to Mr. Wu, before leaving for Hunan he had specially informed Mr. Huang Yongyu. During his trip to Xiangxi, Mr. Wu stayed for three days in Jishou, the capital of the Autonomous Prefecture. During that time he gave a lecture to colleagues in the prefecture's art circles and made sketches and quick studies in Aizhai and Dong River within the prefecture. After leaving Jishou, he stayed overnight in places such as Yongshun, Shimen, and Changde along the way.
The trip to Xiangxi was very complete and satisfying. Since Mr. Wu had also been invited by the Hunan Artists Association to hold a solo exhibition in Changsha during this visit to Hunan, and because the exhibition date was approaching, no visit to Dayong County (present-day Zhangjiajie City) was arranged on the return journey.
As it happened, there was a little episode in all this. While Mr. Wu was painting at Dong River, a farmer nearby looked on disapprovingly and muttered to himself: “Any random mountain in our Zhangjiajie is better looking than these mountains.” At first Mr. Wu did not pay much attention, but after the man repeated it several times, he turned around and asked: “Tell me, what are the mountains of Dayong's Zhangjiajie like?” The farmer thought for a moment and said: “The mountains in Zhangjiajie are big on top and small at the bottom.” That one sentence gave Mr. Wu quite a shock. But he still did not quite believe it. He said that he had traveled all over the world and there was no mountain left that could excite him. At
that moment, Hu Wanqing, a painter from the prefecture art gallery who had been accompanying him while he painted, also vigorously chimed in. He said that he had once worked in a work team in Zhonghu Commune in Zhangjiajie, had specially surveyed that land, and had made quite a few paintings there. The scenery was simply inexplicable and worth a visit.
Spurred on by Hu Wanqing, Mr. Wu was tempted, but still not entirely convinced. He asked what exactly the special characteristics were. Hu Wanqing said, “I can't quite put it into words right now, but compared with famous mountains like Huangshan, Huashan, and Guilin, it certainly will not be inferior.”
And so we temporarily changed our itinerary, deciding to make a detour to Dayong before returning to Changsha.
After bidding farewell to Fenghuang, we drove for a day and arrived in Dayong County toward evening, staying at the county committee guesthouse. At the welcome dinner held for Mr. Wu, the county party secretary was present. During the meal, the secretary did his utmost to introduce Zhangjiajie to Mr. Wu. Zhangjiajie was under the secretary's jurisdiction, so his intentions were understandable, but Mr. Wu was truly eager to return. The secretary pressed him repeatedly with great warmth, and Mr. Wu looked quite troubled. I remember that at the time he casually asked: “What is Zhangjiajie like?” The secretary, speaking hastily without choosing his words, said: “It's just like Guilin.” Hearing this, I knew in my heart that the secretary had answered poorly. Sure enough, Mr.
Wu said it was merely a little Guilin, and decided not to go. The secretary, however, was a thoughtful man, and after the banquet he again tried to persuade us. So we borrowed a county administrative map from the guesthouse and found Zhangjiajie on it. On the scale it was only two or three units away, which worked out to about 50 li, and if a small car drove there it would take only about an hour. So we discussed it with Mr. Wu and suggested that we might as well settle the bill and check out of the guesthouse early in the morning, pack our luggage and put it in the trunk of the car, and then go take a look at Zhangjiajie. If it really was a scenic wonderland, then we would decide what to do next; if not, we would turn the car around and head straight back to Changsha. When we put it this way, Mr. Wu finally nodded, though one could tell it was still out of reluctance to refuse such warm hospitality.
The next day we set off for Zhangjiajie at dawn. The road was a forest highway all the way, with frequent dangerous turns. At the time I truly regretted it somewhat, and the driver also complained a great deal, but Mr. Wu did not say a word the whole way.
After driving for nearly an hour, the scenery outside the car window was still quite ordinary. I could see a hint of displeasure on Mr. Wu's face. He said that we were already approaching Zhangjiajie, so why was the scenery before our eyes still so plain and unremarkable——but just as he was speaking, after we crossed a mountain ridge, the road suddenly turned and the extraordinary mountain scenery of Zhangjiajie appeared before us as if a curtain had been drawn back! Mr. Wu sensed it even faster than we did. He quickly pushed open the car door and almost rushed out! The scene that suddenly appeared before him greatly exceeded his expectations. He walked rapidly forward along the mountain path without regard for anything else, gazing all around as he went, as if his eyes could not take it all in. Along the way he kept saying hurriedly: “How is this like Guilin? It is more extraordinary and wilder than Guilin!”
We knew that we definitely would not make it back to Changsha that day.
That night, we stayed in a guest room at the headquarters of a small forestry farm. Dinner was a table full of mountain delicacies and game. Hearing that a great painter from the capital had come, the old farm director, warmed by wine, told many stories about Zhangjiajie.
Early the next morning, the farm director led several forestry workers to take down a thick wooden door plank to serve as Mr. Wu's sketching board, and two strong men carried it as they followed Mr. Wu into the mountains to paint. While painting, Mr. Wu was in excellent spirits and praised the scenery again and again. At that time Zhangjiajie was rarely visited, with no households in sight for dozens of li, and was still a place where wild animals roamed. It was precisely while Mr. Wu was painting that a large troop of monkeys was foraging and frolicking in the trees not far away.
Mr. Wu stayed another two nights in Zhangjiajie and painted for three full days, producing five large paintings on the thick door plank. If not for the approaching opening date of his solo exhibition in Changsha, Mr. Wu would not have wanted to leave.
After dinner that day, I accompanied Mr. Wu on a walk along a mountain path. The night scene of Zhangjiajie was yet another spectacle. Amid his exclamations, Mr. Wu said to me: I want to write a prose travelogue for Zhangjiajie, and the title will be taken from the Tang poem line “Raised in the deep boudoir, unknown to the world.” I will write it tonight. When I was in Beijing, the magazine People's China asked me to write a travelogue. Zhangjiajie really is a bright pearl of scenery lost in Xiangxi. After I return, I must also recommend it to my friends, especially to Huang Yongyu. Such wonderful scenery, and in his own hometown, yet I had never even heard him mention it.
In the car as we bade farewell to Zhangjiajie, Mr. Wu told me that the article was finished.
After returning to Changsha, Mr. Wu added five works to his exhibition, and these were the sketches from life that he had painted in Zhangjiajie.
I asked Mr. Wu for the article. It was truly a prose travelogue rich in both literary grace and emotion! With Mr. Wu's consent, I made a copy and recommended it to a friend at the literary supplement of Hunan Daily. I remember that Hunan Daily published it on New Year's Day, 1980.
It is said that after Mr. Wu returned to Beijing, he strongly recommended Zhangjiajie to Huang Yongyu. Huang Yongyu trusted Mr. Wu's discerning eye. The following year he visited Zhangjiajie with his wife, and Huang Yongyu's praise for Zhangjiajie was just the same. Huang Yongyu had an added feeling of hometown affection for Zhangjiajie, and his enthusiasm was even greater. He therefore strongly recommended it to friends in Hong Kong and overseas. Soon afterward, three great photographers from Hong Kong led by Chen Fuli came to Zhangjiajie. They took photographs of Zhangjiajie's scenery and held an exhibition of Zhangjiajie landscape photography. As a result, people from all walks of life came in droves.
In the blink of an eye, 20 years have passed, and the scenes of accompanying Wu Guanzhong in Zhangjiajie are still vivid before my eyes. But what a Zhangjiajie today's Zhangjiajie is!
Zhangjiajie is now a world-famous scenic destination, visited by millions of people each year. Railways have been built, an international airport has been constructed, and Zhangjiajie City has been specially established, and so on.
Since ancient times, stories of mountains and rivers becoming known through essays and celebrated through painting have appeared repeatedly in classics and local histories. Today, when people travel in Zhangjiajie, do they sometimes know that this is owed to an artist who is now over eighty years old?
Zhangjiajie is fortunate.