Chapter 82 Zheng Xie

Among the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", Zheng Xie is the most famous and familiar one.He has a seal "Kangxi scholar Yongzheng Juren Qianlong Jinshi", which is his early study and examination process.He is one of the "Eight Eccentrics" who was an official and then abandoned his official position to sell paintings.The officials did not do much. Fan County Magistrate and Wei County Magistrate, which he called himself "some small county officials in Caozhou", were honest and upright, and they did some good things for the people.Dissatisfied with the darkness of the officialdom, he resigned and went to Yangzhou to sell paintings.Since it is selling paintings, of course there is a charge, so I wrote a witty "Runge": "Six taels for large, four taels for medium, two taels for small, one tael for book couplets, and five yuan for fans. Anyone who gives gifts, Food is not as good as silver. What the father gives may not be what the younger brother likes. Giving silver brings joy in the heart, and calligraphy and painting are good. Gifts are entanglements, and credit is especially reckless. Old people are tired, and it is useless not to accompany gentlemen. Language also. Painting bamboo is more than buying bamboo, and the paper is six feet high and costs three thousand. Let Qu talk about old theories, just let the autumn wind blow by your ears." Very individual.

Zheng Xie (1693-1765), courtesy name Kerou, nicknamed Banqiao.Jiangsu Xinghua people.He is excellent in poetry, music and prose, and is famous for his calligraphy and painting.He claimed to only paint orchids and bamboos, and "hasn't painted anything else for more than fifty years", and believed that "An Zhijing is not as good as Bo Ye".Indeed, his orchids and bamboos are vigorous and elegant, and have a great influence. Zheng Banqiao was extremely dissatisfied with the real society, and he was also indignant about his personal experience. His thoughts of caring about people's livelihood and attacking society were embodied in his poems, calligraphy and paintings one by one.All of his paintings have inscriptions, and there are so many excellent poems and essays inscribed on them, which have been widely recited for a while.The most famous one is the song "Bamboo Cheng Nianbo Bao Dazhong Chengkuo in the Chinese Painting of Weixian County Administration": "The Yazhai is listening to Xiao Xiaozhu, which is suspected to be the voice of the people's suffering. These little officials of Caozhou County, one branch and one leaf are always concerned about love. "There are also some that show his integrity, such as "Inscription on Painting Orchid": "This is a kind of flower in Youzhen, and you don't want to be famous, but only haze. Picking firewood may be afraid of getting through the path, and it is even more cloudy and mountain-covered."

Many of Zheng Banqiao's paintings have been handed down from generation to generation, most of which are orchids and bamboos, so I won't list them one by one today.