On the Sea | Ni Zan and Shanghai - A Study of Shanghai Figures over Two Thousand Years

When he lost his son, his wife, his friends, his job, his home, and even his last place of residence was burned by the war, at the most dangerous, most displaced, and most chaotic moment in his life, Ni Zan made a 362-day trip to Shanghai. .

After this trip, he painted bamboo again and again for three years - judging from the "Ni Zan Chronicle" compiled by Huang Miaozi and Hao Jialin, he still only painted bamboo, and wrote the word "Yiqi" in one of them. From then on, the history of Chinese painting With the famous "Yi Qi theory", the theory and realm of Chinese literati painting have reached the highest level. From then on, like Huang Gongwang, he came back again and again after coming to Shanghai.

And a closer look at his whereabouts shows that his "escape" is not escape. The journey to despair did not fall, but instead blossomed into flowers of artistic conception, rising upward in the pure void.

When I started writing this article, I came across a copy of "The Temple of Earth and Me" in a bookstore, which contained Shi Tiesheng's words:

“As soon as you step over it, you will feel the pure air rushing towards you.

As early as when he was 33 years old, Ni Zan painted a painting for Shanghai, which should be about the area around today's Yangpu Senior High School in Shanghai.

Quan Sicheng, a Shanghainese living here at that time, talked about the beautiful scenery where he lived, so Ni Zan started painting for his friend. This is the first painting he painted for Shanghai that the reporter knows, and it is also his first interaction with Shanghai. He is extremely talented and draws from his imagination. It is said that Dong Qichang imitated this painting. There are trees, water, people and thatched cottages. It may be what Shanghai Yangpu looked like nearly 700 years ago.

Ni Zan has been fascinated by Shanghai from the beginning.

He is also always sincere to his friends in Shanghai. At the age of 48, he lived in Suzhou. He also painted for Qu Zhongxian, a Shanghainese who came to visit relatives there.

He also benefited the people of Shanghai. His friend Zhang Dechang was an official in Songjiang Prefecture, and Ni Zan specifically told him to remember his duties and be kind to the people who were "hungry people are easy to feed".

When he was still planning to abandon his home, he was suspected of having visited Shanghai - he was blocked by wind and rain and drowned in Maoshui the day after Qingming Festival. Qingming falls at the end of February and beginning of March of the lunar calendar. According to historical data, Cao Zhibai died in February of this year and was buried in March. Did Ni Zan come here because of this? What is certain is that Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen also passed away last year. At this time, Ni Zan was 50 years old. He lamented that he had failed to achieve anything, and was forced to rent by the government. He was "angry and worried about abandoning his farmhouse." So that day in the wind and rain of Maoshui, he read poetry and painted, feeling quiet and empty. He had a half-day of leisure, and temporarily forgot about the camp.

This is also the first time that reporters know that he is suspected to be in Shanghai. He may have been here before, and later at the age of 59, he walked into the Baogu Zhai of Cao Zhao, a Shanghainese, in the riverside area of ​​​​now Xuhui, and observed the "Authentic Relics of King Lin Wang Youjun of the Tang Dynasty". Cao Zhao, a master of maritime collection connoisseurs, wrote "Essentials of Ancient Ancient Art", which is known as "China's earliest existing monograph on cultural relic appraisal". This rare observation and exchange made Ni Zan write down a lot of his feelings: "When a calligrapher comes to bed, it is like copying a painting. The so-called painting stroke by stroke, with its spirit of looking forward, the brushstrokes are continuous..." At this moment, An important milestone in Chinese literati painting - Zhao Mengfu's theory of the same origin of calligraphy and painting was inherited from Ni Zan's interaction with Shanghai.

Here are his favorite antiques and open-minded friends. Another friend of his, Shao Guan, is also "the erudition and elegance person in Huating". Ni Zan had always had a favorable impression of Shanghai throughout his life, and he always left behind a trace of his visit and a sincere trace of his heart.

A few days ago, he went to Wusong Academy, and now it is the Confucius Temple in Jiading, Shanghai? When he was about to leave, a fellow from Wuxi stayed overnight, so he stayed behind to talk late at night. It's a temperament, and it's also the homesickness of "seeing fellow villagers in a foreign land" in wandering in troubled times.

A few days later, he wrote another long poem, further revealing his mood: In troubled times and strife, how can the people deserve it? This year he gave himself a pen name: Qu Quansou. The poem he wrote under this pen name is: The high winds and high moral standards are now swept away. The situation he was in when he wrote these poems was: it had been a year since his beloved wife passed away, and he still left his hometown, "bearing the pain of burying himself in a deserted village."

My wife passed away in September last year. In the same month, Zhang Shicheng, who had occupied Soochow for 7 years, was demoted to the Yuan Dynasty. However, he was unable to seek the title of king, so he called himself King of Wu again.

Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang was also called King Wu. In the same month, Ni Zan wrote a poem on his wife's portrait: "In the autumn moonlight among the pines, only the cranes come and go in the late night." It is expected that the broken part of the heart will be cut off every year on a bright moonlit night, and the pines will be shortened.

My wife passed away very suddenly. It only took 3 days from the time she showed signs of illness to the time she passed away. Ni Zan lost his father in his early years. He married her, who was one year younger than him, at the age of 22. He lost his eldest brother a year later. Later, he worked hard for the family business. At the age of 46, he was inspired to write "The Situation Is Unfavorable" and "End This Illusion". At the age of 48, he left Wuxi with his wife and his family and lived in Suzhou for a long time. At the age of 50, he lamented that "long-term visitors are annoying". At the age of 51, he encountered Zhang Shicheng and Wu "people are panicked". At the age of 58, he lost his beloved wife again. At the age of 59, he came to Shanghai and walked into Baoguzhai to observe.

At the age of 60, in Suzhou, it was the Qingming Festival and the wind and rain again. He wrote a long poem in a "shuddering" mood: "Wandering in chaos and ending up old... I and I are alone and hanging in the shadows." Especially the last sentence, "I and I," So lonely.

At the age of 61, at the most dangerous moment, he fled to Shanghai.

Shanghai is his last refuge and the place where he has been proved time and again.

In many aspects, Ni Zan is probably a person who has been deeply misunderstood for a long time. Just like when he escaped from Wuxi, more than one researcher believes that it is not as cool as the legend says. He waved his hand and did not take away a single cloud. He himself wrote: "County officials seize people in alleys, and seize families as if they are out of hell." "County officials knock on the door at night to press for rent."

He fled to Shanghai at the age of 61 as a last resort.

Until the autumn of this year, he was still painting for a friend, so that he could take it to Yuanbu Field in Shanghai so that he could "draw pictures to soothe his thoughts" during the summer. Yuanbu Chang, an important salt field in the Yuan Dynasty, was located in the area of ​​Zhelin Town, Fengxian District, Shanghai today. My friend seems to have worked here. Ni Zan was very enthusiastic: since the other party came from "Wucheng", he painted "Maple Falling on Wujiang River" and wrote a poem "Nine Peaks and Three Bottles of Wine Filling the Sea", wishing his friends to enjoy Shanghai's good mountains, good water and good scenery. liquor.

From this poem, it seems that he did not foresee that he would leave Suzhou on November 19th and begin a 362-day trip to Shanghai.

The war raged, and on the 25th, Suzhou was completely surrounded. Zhu Yuanzhang "locked" Zhang Shicheng in the isolated city.

In September of the following year, the city of Suzhou was broken and Zhang Shicheng was defeated. In October, Zhu Yuanzhang's army went north to destroy Yuan Dynasty. In November, Ni Zan was "in Maozhu". On December 16, he left Shanghai and appeared in the Fenhu area, ending his 362-day journey.

This was an unforgettable solitary journey for him. He lived in Wuxi for nearly half a century, and then fled again and again: last time he fled from Wuxi to Suzhou, he had his wife and mother; this time he fled from Suzhou to Shanghai, he was alone.

During these 362 days, he successively created "Xiting Mountain Color Picture Scroll" and "Qingzhe Pavilion Thatched Cottage Picture Scroll". The former, judging from the inscriptions and postscripts of later generations, seems to depict his hometown in Wuxi. The latter, "Qingchen Pavilion" is his residence in Wuxi. Ni Zan, who was drifting in Shanghai, missed his hometown strongly. The former painting has a broad artistic conception, and is inscribed here as a reference to Ni Zan's famous comment about his love for painting "empty pavilions" - "Infinite scenery of mountains and rivers, all gathered in one pavilion". The latter painting was also titled "The Wonder of Delight and Far Away". From this we may get a glimpse of Ni Zan's mood: while he is really thinking hard, at the same time he regards indifference as "ease".

He wrote a poem summarizing his trip to Shanghai when he just left. It is worth noting that when the date was changed 2 years later, the original text "My heart is at ease and I forget to think about it" became "Let's talk about recovery and my heart is at peace in my apartment", and the original text "It is difficult to visit whether my old friend is alive, and I dreamed of hesitation beside me" became " It should be difficult to visit an old friend if he is still alive, so I write poems in sorrow to make myself forgiving." Obviously, it is more pessimistic.

When he was in Shanghai and when he first left, he was "at ease" and forgotten.

A piece of historical data handed down from generation to generation also shows a rare scene: In 21 days, Ni Zan met at least 10 friends in Shanghai in a row, and they were all only named in the historical data.

This historical data only contains the month and day, and the year is unknown. I asked teacher Ling Lizhong of the Shanghai Museum for advice and learned that Yang Kehan, a doctoral student under his supervision, believed that from the style of calligraphy, it should have been written after the Ming Dynasty. That is, after 362 days of travel.

From this historical data, we can fully feel the intensive and enthusiastic interactions between Ni Zan and his friends in Shanghai:

On November 20, he met his old friends Ye Cheng and Sun Zhao, whom he had not seen for more than a year, in Maozhu. Ni Zan's poem "Giving Leaves to the Taoist" seems to be about this "encounter in Maozhu" and "reunion after a lifetime". He lamented his own aging - "The scenery in the poor winter has faded away", and lamented that he was in a difficult and dangerous situation - "In order to say a word about the difficulties and dangers, my tears stained my clothes like springs."

From the evening of the 21st to the morning of the 22nd, Ye Cheng and Ni Zan went to Huating.

On the 25th, Ye Cheng, Xie Yangui and Ni Zan were at "Ruzhang's house, drinking with Erhan and others." Ruzhang, Cao Ruzhang, the grandson of Cao Zhibai?

On the 26th, "Ye came again with Liu Boyong" and left the next day.

On the 29th, Ni Zan wrote a poem "Ci Yun Reply to Xie Shiying". Xie Shiying, Tao Zongyi, and Shao Hengzhen all wrote poems about them. From Zhang Xian's poem "Xie Gong drew his sword to kill Wu Song and captured a stream of water in the Canglang" and "Xie Gong's nature is quite scattered", it can be seen that he and Ni Zan have similar temperaments.

On December 9, Ni Zan wrote a poem "The people of Maozhu have left some stone wine and rice". It seems that his friend Lu Zihua from Shanghai gave him the stone wine and rice. Ni Zan, who loves antiquities, wrote: "Xiao Zhenchun was called Wa Zun in ancient times..." The use of the word "chungu" shows the joy in his heart. Friends in Shanghai understand him. Ni Zan also wrote in a poem: "For the love of the spring water and green water in the west of Mao, I have not been here for three years and now I am back... Zihua stayed with me for ten days..." Perhaps it was written about this stay at the Lu family - "Jing Xun Stay" , from November 29th to December 9th, exactly about ten days.

On the 10th, Ni Zan wrote a poem "Farewell to Cao Yuanbo": "...I miss my son in the west of Zhuzhou." Cao Yuanbo, a native of Huating, served as a county school teacher, and his "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu" was highly praised by Yang Weizhen. He and Shao Hengzhen have the same grandfather, He has the same father-in-law, and his father-in-law is Wang Congshan, the prefect of Songjiang, who was written in "An Examination of Shanghai Figures in Two Thousand Years". The epitaph written by Tao Zongyi said: Cao Yuanbo was "straightforward" in nature, but not arrogant. He opened his heart and soul when he met his close friends and read tirelessly until he was old. Such a person should also have the same temperament as Ni Zan.

Historical data shows that Ni Zan himself wrote these accounts carefully one by one. During these days in Shanghai, these friends should be particularly vivid in his heart.

These historical materials also suggest that at least at this time, he did not seem to be as cold and eccentric as the legend, and he was also very affectionate.

He has many legends. For example, when a person reaches middle age, he suddenly seems to be very interested, so he spends all his wealth and travels around, as if he has taken a spontaneous trip. It is also said that he was foresighted and foresaw that the war would destroy big households. He, Kunshan Gu Ying, and Shanghai Cao Zhibai are known as the three richest families in Jiangnan.

Another example is mysophobia. When he fled, he hid by the water. However, searchers discovered that there was a scent of incense wafting from the reeds, so they captured him and almost beat him to death. He asked the boy to carry spring water home, use the bucket in front of him to make tea, and use the bucket in the back to wash his feet, because the bucket in the back "may be contaminated by discouragement." He let the courtyard be covered with moss and was not allowed to step on it. When the leaves fell, he asked the boy to put a pin on the head of the wooden stick and pick them off one by one. When a friend came to visit, he took a shower and changed clothes, but the result was still delayed. The chef who served the dish had a long beard and he left the dinner on the spot at his friend's house. The guest who stayed overnight coughed in the middle of the night. He asked the boy to look around early in the morning. He heard that there were spit marks on the sycamore leaves outside the window and "he ordered the leaves to be cut more than ten miles away."

Another example is being aloof, eccentric, and unkind. He was almost beaten to death, but he remained silent because "it was common practice to speak out." He used walnuts and pine nuts to make his own "Qingquan White Stone Tea" and entertained the children of the Song Dynasty clan. As a result, they "continuously tasted it as usual" and "didn't know the flavor", so they broke up with each other. He was staying at a relative's house. When he heard that a "Confucian scholar" had arrived, he hurriedly greeted him warmly. However, during the conversation, he became "furious" and even slapped the other person. Relatives were quite surprised. He said: "The appearance is disgusting and the language is tasteless. It is not worthy of my elegance, so I will rebuke him."

His affection is not only reflected in this trip to Shanghai. The teacher had no children, and he took care of them as if they were close relatives, and buried them "at any cost." Zhang Boyu, who was both a teacher and a friend, visited his house one time. It happened that Ni Zan had made hundreds of thousands of dollars from selling his land. He thought that Boyu would not come again, so he "pushed" everything to the other party without leaving any money. Looking up "Cihai", we can see that a thousand words are equivalent to one string. Qianmin is 1 million texts.

One netizen wrote: Ni Zan like this makes people feel warm.

He also stood up for his impoverished friend Chen Weiyin and raised money for rent in public: "The servant then said: Is there no need in this world to worry about people's needs and worry about people's worries? They undress and sell food, point out the roof to borrow houses, heroes and suave people are like the ancients. What's the matter with Lao Du's saying, "With tens of thousands of mansions, all the poor people in the world will be happy", please recite it for all the gentlemen.

Historical data shows that he was still ill at this time.

He had many close friends throughout his life. Friends who understand him, such as Mr. Zhou Nan, will clean their home before receiving him. People who did not accept him, such as a doctor, deliberately covered Ni Zan's beloved white horse with mud because he "hated his disease" and deliberately messed up the "literary and museum equipment" in his study.

The reporter counted, but it is not complete statistics: in Shanghai alone, he has at least dozens of friends, and there are only traces of them.

Shanghai warms Ni Zan and bears witness to Ni Zan. Like Huang Gongwang and Wen Tianxiang, Ni Zan also had a profoundly profound trip to Shanghai at the darkest moment of his life.

The difference is that after his trip, there was a wonderful scene.

When he left Shanghai on this trip, the first painting he painted as a commemoration was "Bamboo and Stone".

One month later, he painted "Ancient Wood, Bamboo and Stone" again. Two months later, he painted "Bamboo and Stone" again. Seven months later, he still painted "bamboo". It was also on this painting that he wrote the famous "Theory of Yiqi".

More than ten days later, at midnight in the dead of night, he painted "bamboo" for his friend again. In the first month of the following year, he painted bamboo again and wrote a poem: "I am strict about the frost festival, and I share the cold year with an open mind." At the end of the year, he painted "Garden with Stones and Junn" again, and the "jun" was still bamboo. The next winter, he returned to Shanghai and painted "Bamboo and Stone" for his friend Qiang Zhongduan from Maoxi...

In the Chronicle of Ni Zan compiled by Huang Miaozi and Hao Jialin, it was not until the next year that he finally painted "Pictures of Xishan Immortal Pavilion" instead of bamboo.

From this calculation, Ni Zan painted a total of 8 paintings over a period of 3 years, each of which was made of bamboo or bamboo and stone.

For any painter, this scene may be called strange. Before and after this, he often painted bamboo. Bamboo and stone were a common theme in literati paintings, but does it mean that it was so concentrated and unique during this period?

When he was 59 years old, he once inscribed a sentence on a painting with "Cong Huang": "The heart of a gentleman is the sound of bamboo and stone." Huang, bamboo.

The wonderful thing is that during one of his paintings of bamboo, he wrote an inscription that had a profound influence and was repeatedly quoted by later generations, proposing the important "Yi Qi theory": "Every love in the bamboo is painted with bamboo. The remaining bamboo is , when we talk about the joy in our chests, how can we compare the similarities and differences, the number and sparseness of leaves, the slanting and straightness of branches? "I paint bamboo, just to describe and express the joy in my chest, why should I do it? Do you care whether it looks like or not, whether the leaves are numerous or sparse, whether the branches are slanted or straight? !

He also said angrily and helplessly: If others don't think I'm painting bamboo, I can't argue. I really can't do anything to them. Yizhong, Zhang Yizhong, the son of Zhang Dechang, had a close relationship with Ni Zan, so he vomited it quickly.

Obviously, he painted bamboo, or at least painted bamboo during this period, to express his inner feelings.

It is worth noting that during the most dangerous period of his life, he spent a long 362 days in Shanghai, during which he was alone after all. He repeatedly painted and felt intensely homesick; later he returned to Suzhou, and on the Chinese Valentine's Day, he wrote the extremely lonely "Dandian" "The moss is growing on the shirt" and "the deserted village is lonely and sparsely populated"; it has been five years since his wife passed away, and this September, the anniversary of her death, he still misses Zhang Yu, who has passed away for a long time, and his long-lost friends... In October, he wrote "Elegance" "Two words.

In other words, after more than a year of wandering around, faced with loneliness and emptiness, and the loss of all his relatives and friends, the spirit in Ni Zan's heart that he wanted to express was nothing else but "emotion."

This is a change of one word and a qualitative change. He has a saying that is often quoted: "The so-called painter is just a carefree brushstroke, not seeking resemblance in form, just for his own entertainment." Here is "free brushwork" and "self-entertainment". Before the 362-day trip, he also wrote a word to praise Wang Danyou's "Bamboo and Stone Pictures", which was "Yiyun".

"Yi Bi" refers to the painting method, and "Yi Yun" refers to the rhyme of painting, both of which refer to the object - painting.

"Self-entertainment" refers to the subject, but it is more like the common understanding of literati painting at that time - ink play, using ink as a play and playing games. This is different from painters and emphasizes the difference between literati paintings. But "Easiness", directly above "ink play", points out the value orientation of literati painting and highlights the painter's subjective awakening.

The crucial reason why Chinese literati paintings are known as the "crown jewels" of world paintings is that they reflect the awakening of the painter's subjective consciousness, that is, the awakening of "people".

If Su Shi proposed "scholar painting", it was the first milestone in determining the theoretical system of Chinese literati painting; Zhao Mengfu's proposal that "calligraphy and painting have the same origin" and "nobles have ancient meanings" was the second milestone in laying the theoretical foundation of Chinese literati painting; Then Ni Zan's "Yi Qi theory" unprecedentedly demonstrated the subject status of the painter, directly broke into the value level of literati painting, and entered the highest realm of "Yipin" and "Yige", which can be said to promote Chinese literati painting Another milestone in the theoretical realm.

The ancients often said that painting can be divided into four categories: "Easy", "Shen", "Wonderful" and "Neng". "Easy" is the most difficult, and "Easy" is the highest. After Ni Zan appeared, he became synonymous with it.

What is "yi"? "Cihai" explains "Yipin", the key word is "unconventional". When the ancients explained "Yige", the key word is "get it naturally". Mr. Wang Jiqian talked about the vividness of Qi Yun: "Both Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy and Ni Zan's landscape paintings can be said to have no movement, or only very little movement. Ni Zan always painted a few stones and some trees, but the way of arranging trees and stones But it makes people feel comfortable. In other words, the works of Yan and Ni show natural interest, rather than artificial ones. In short, they all show a natural effect and have a human personality or posture. People feel comfortable when they see their work.”

He also said: "Ni Zan's great quality is that he looks simple and natural."

If a simple explanation is allowed, perhaps it can be understood as follows: "Nengpin" means good at, I can, "Miaopin" means wonderful and interesting, "Shenpin" means brilliance and magic, and "Yipin" means nature and is Innocence, in a sense, cannot be learned. It is related to personality, talent, and luck.

Therefore, Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty said that Ni Zan should not be imitated. Wang Jiqian said that he could not learn from it.

Mr. Chen Gaohua, who has carefully compiled historical materials, said: There are many misunderstandings about the legend of Ni Zan, but his works pursue "writing about the spirit of the heart" and "not seeking resemblance in form" - "This kind of painting theory and creation will be recognized by future generations. The impact is huge and deserves careful study.”

So, why Ni Zan? And why now?

The loose threads are hidden in the two words he wrote.

In the spring of that year, a friend brought 100 of his poems to meet Ni Zan in the "empty valley with no sound of footsteps". Judging from the description and whereabouts, the two may be in Shanghai. Ni Zan lived in a thatched hut, basked in the sun, drank porridge from a clay pot, and recited the poem "Eternal Sun" happily. In the preface to the collection of poems, he wrote: Chanting requires "correct temperament."

These are the four words he wrote over and over again in the last 10 years of his life.

When talking about Ni Zan now, the first thing that comes to mind is a painter. In fact, back then he was first and foremost a poet. The epitaph written by Wang Bin only talks about his poems: "The names of his poems are in the pavilion in his prime years", and in his later years, "I wrote poems while drifting, which made me happy". The epitaph written by Zhou Nanlao also repeatedly mentioned his poems: diluting the desolation, especially the integrity...

Ni Zan actually has a very "righteous" side.

He was "motivated to study since he was a child, to abide by righteousness and to live in chastity". At the age of 13, he wrote the poem "Orchid" by Zheng Suonan: "Only Suonan's heart remains unchanged, and his tears and ink are used to write about Li Sao." Zheng Suonan, a painter of the Southern Song Dynasty, died in the Song Dynasty Later, he lived in seclusion and painted orchids instead of soil and roots, which symbolizes the fall of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Mengfu, an official in the Yuan Dynasty, asked to see him several times, but Zheng did not see him until his death.

When he was 40 years old, he painted the famous "Six Gentlemen". Huang Gongwang's inscription and postscript read, "Compared to the Six Gentlemen, he is upright, upright and unbiased." The first half of the sentence gave the painting its name, and the second half, "upright and upright" also resembles It's Ni Zan.

He once praised his friends several times for "relying on Confucianism, relying on the elderly, and escaping from Zen." He also praised his friends like this: "Clouds are always moist without rain, and jade is crafted but engraved."

The ancients said that Ni Zan: Poetry is better than painting, and people are better than poetry.

If you read deeply between the lines of his complete collection of poems, especially his comments on several friends, you can also reflect on Ni Zan:

He praised Chen Weiyin: he was poor and ambitious, and he lived in Wu City for twenty years. He was truly "confused with light and dust on the outside, divided into Jingwei and Jingwei in the middle, but he was really not moved by foreign things." He would also confide to the other party: "The honor and disgrace in the world, the long words, do not taint my teeth and tongue." "How can I be so easy to control with other people's words!"

He praised Zhang Dechang: He was so upright in his conduct and so loyal in his words. He will also write letters to criticize the other party, and he bears the unshirkable responsibility for the villain's slander against him: one person praises him and respects him, and another person denigrates him and thus becomes angry. Is that okay? I would like to ask a question, but I would be very happy to reply with a few words.

He wrote about Xie Zhongye, emphasizing that he lived in troubled times and had a cheerful look, and his poems did not express sadness or boredom.

When he wrote about Chen Weiyun, he valued that the other person's poems were leisurely and far-reaching, with a calm and smooth atmosphere. Although he touched on the matter and felt deeply, he did not express any urgent and angry words.

He wrote about Mr. Zhou Nan, who valued the other person's seeking friends and disciples, and not fearing thousands of miles. His poems and articles made people with low ambitions feel compassion, shame, and feelings of right and wrong after reading them, and "benevolence and righteousness came naturally."

The latter three all asked him to write prefaces, and he wrote all of them - "The Righteousness of Temperament".

He himself is undoubtedly a person of "temperament" and is passionate, positive and aesthetic about life. At certain times, he may be more noble than cold, and avoid the world rather than the world. Yang Weizhen's famous line about him is also "Mr. avoids the world as he avoids hatred." He has a high pursuit of beauty and the quality of life, including making friends. Do some of his stories look like life aesthetics today? He would also cook his own delicacies and write down secrets: steamed swimming crabs stuffed with honey, oriole steamed buns, steamed spring cabbage hearts, cooked lotus root, lotus tea... He brewed wine with rosin, and his friend Lu Ming originally wanted to carry it on a boat.

He is very particular when he is rich and can be content even when he is poor. In the early summer of his 64th year, he returned to Suzhou from Shanghai. The weather was suddenly hot, so I gathered with my friends. After lunch, everyone was very hungry. My friend bought a bottle of wine, 2 pieces of gluten, and some water rice, soy sauce and garlic, etc., and everyone was "like enjoying the delicious food from the heavenly kitchen" . Later generations felt sad: "Wandering is boring, two or three old friends meet by chance, why not Zimei Qiang Village, looking at it is sad." Zimei and Du Fu wrote three poems "Qiang Village" about the gatherings of chaos and separation.

He also lamented and suffered, and there must be depression in his chest. In the early summer when he was 64 years old, he was in an extremely miserable situation: it rained all the time, and the roof of the hut was leaking and wet. "Sitting alone, I could only lament." . As mentioned at the beginning of this article, when it comes to mourning, I am afraid no one is more mournful than him.

However, his poems, paintings and himself have not declined in the end, but have shown a positive and upward side. His poems are "savory to everyone" and are cherished and cherished. His paintings are beyond "divine quality" and are top-notch "top-notch" paintings. His fans praised him as "the best among the best". The latest edition of "Ci Hai" said: "He has a noble character."

A year before his death, he was still emphasizing: "It is good to have a righteous temperament."

The integrity of temperament - or the kind of person Ni Zan himself is, is the foundation that supports the "Yi Qi Theory".

Antenna is another word he wrote: creation.

This appears at the end of one of Ni Zan's poems: "Knowing that creation is deeply intertwined, he hastily sent the rivers and lakes to sail away." Creation is heaven. To be with, to associate with or to be together.棹, row.

The whole poem is very long, and the main idea is: It has been 15 years since I traveled back and forth along the waterway from Lize, and my family, friends, and friendship have become increasingly scarce day by day. The thief comes again and again, what do I have? The mediocre scholars ridiculed me in groups, and I reflected on my mistakes. Let's leave it at that, is that it? Then I knew that God was deeply connected with me and was with me, so I hurriedly rowed my boat to leave here, go to the rivers and lakes, and go elsewhere.

Obviously, this "heaven" and "creation" are his outlet.

A closer look at the historical data shows that Ni Zan lived in Suzhou with his wife and family at the age of 48, and traveled back and forth along the waterway from Lize for 15 years. This was the year when he wrote "Yi Qi Shuo" in October at the age of 63, and A major change happened: from then on, he no longer settled in Suzhou, but kept traveling to Huating, Tongli, Zhejiang East, Maoxi and other places.

This poem is very much like what he wrote before or on the occasion of his departure.

In other words, he decided to devote the rest of his life to having a close relationship with and being with this "heaven" and this "creation". The object in his heart was the nature of Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Then he seemed to come to Shanghai. On March 1 of that year, he wrote: "How can I stay in a boat for a long time, let alone admire Huating in a quiet place?"

The word "secret appreciation" expresses the beauty of Shanghai in Ni Zan's eyes.

Dong Qichang said that Ni Zan's paintings are "based on innocence and tranquility". Internet searches also show that "the writing is simple and the meaning is quiet", "the beauty is quiet and elegant"... quiet has almost become Ni Zan's label.

Wang Jiqian said: In this aspect of strength, Shen Zhou showed more power than Ni Zan and went too far, losing Ni's "inner quiet interest". He further explained that the difference is not in the speed of writing or the amount of force used, but in the expression of objections in the same way. Some are explicit: "This is an obvious mistake." Some are implicit: "This may be wrong. It seems a bit inferior to that one." "It's not whether you say it loudly or quietly, but how you say it. This has to do with the processing of lines and personality. Therefore, it cannot be learned.

Dong Qichang also said a very famous saying, to the effect that: Wu Zhen has a "spirit" spirit, Huang Gongwang has a "wonderful" style, and Ni Zan's paintings can be called "excellent" works; among the four Yuan Dynasty families, Wu Zhen, Huang Gongwang, and Wang Meng are all There is a "vertical and horizontal habit", but Ni Zan is the only one who is "innocent and innocent in the past, and just a person who is crazy about rice".

The innocence of ancient times, the indifference of ancient meanings, the authenticity of "creation". The former requires ancient customs, such as a correct temperament. The latter needs to be in deep communion with heaven and assimilate with creation.

Mi Fu, Mi Fu. Interestingly, Mi Fu has also been to Shanghai.

If Huang Gongwang was in Shanghai and saw the sudden openness and vastness of "the place where the middle of the sea opens to the sea" and the true peace diluted by the flying waves, just like what he showed in "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", then Ni Zan is a secluded admirer, It's naivety and ease. Huang Gongwang spent most of his life seeking an official position but could not get it. What he sought was advancement and exaltation. Ni Zan ran away again and again but could not escape. What he sought was escape and tranquility. Huang Gongwang saw the sea in Shanghai, and Ni Zan saw the quiet world in Shanghai. Huang Gongwang made a breakthrough in the grand plane, and Ni Zan made a leap in upward artistic conception.

A thousand people have a thousand Shanghais, and a better version of themselves after being here.

After coming to Shanghai, Ni Zan came back again and again, just like Huang Gongwang.

At the age of 64, he returned to Suzhou from Shanghai in April, and seemed to be in Shanghai again in August. On the 26th, after the rain and the sky cleared, he sent a poem to Zhang Dechang: "I should go from now on, and wait for peace at sea." On the same day, he titled himself "Heroes of the past who spent money, but now they are ascetic Tutu". On this day, he also painted "Mao Mountain Picture" for Shen Wenju and wrote a poem: "On the west bank of Huating Road, I came to visit the traces of the old days. The moon is half-immersed in the river water, and the lotus blooms on nine peaks. ”

Shen Wenju, also known as Shen Xuan, was a native of Huating. He lived in seclusion in Maobin and built a house called "Yeting". Yang Weizhen wrote that outside Jiaoguan, in the vast wilderness, "the door has no ropes to rent officials." This should be consistent with Ni Zan. There is a common language. Looking at Shen Xuan's poems and articles - "Everything in the world is like a fleeting eye" and "A husband must be upright in his career" should also resonate with Ni Zan.

It seems that Ni Zan was sending poems to Zhang at the Shen family where he was staying at home after the rain and the sky cleared up.

When he was 65 years old, Ni Zan spent at least the winter in Shanghai, painting for Qiang Zhongduan of Maixi, and wrote a poem "It's time for spring waves to be green again." He likes the spring water in Maoxi and the spring in Shanghai very much. He also wrote "For the love of the green spring water in Maoxi". He also wrote to Shen Wenju that "Mao River is suitable for cultivating bad weather". The ancients went out to the waterside to pray for blessings on the third day of March, which was called auspiciousness. Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Lanting Collection" is about "cultivating evil spirits". The water and sky of Shanghai are pure and clear in Ni Zan's heart. He once said to a friend in Shanghai: "Stay far away from the vulgar atmosphere."

In the same year, he seemed to have seen Qian Shunju's famous painting "Dwelling in the Floating Jade Mountain" in Shanghai. Two lines in the poem are worth noting. The first is that "the perfect person does not change with things, but often transcends two realms." From the deep unity of creation to transcending beyond two realms, his "escape" is deepening.

The second is to "cleanse the mind and meditate on the wonders and hidden secrets, and see the world for a thousand years as one day." This poem by Ni Zan echoes Zheng Yuanyou's poem on the painting. Zheng lamented that "only ink stains last forever", and Ni wrote "Cleaning the mind and meditating on the wonders and retreating to the hidden secrets". "Book of Changes" says that saints "wash their hearts" and "retreat to the secrets", emphasizing the need to understand the principles of heaven. In the same year, Ni Zan also wrote in "The Poems of Qulu": "The world is waiting for passers-by, and the world is like a Qulu." He also said: The realm of life and death, the place of profit, loss and reputation, those who are restrained from it observe it, and there are It's extremely sad; if you look at it from an optimistic perspective, it's almost not worth a smile... Obviously, it's more optimistic.

At the age of 66, it was also the Qingming Festival. Ni Zan was at Pan Yiren's house in Huating and wrote down the Shanghai in his eyes: "Xiao Xiao Feng Bamboo and You Yin." "Secret" again.

From the winter of last year to the spring of this year, he seemed to have been in Shanghai, "traveling to three lakes and nine peaks", calling Chen Dejia of Huating a master, and painting "Picture of Clouds and Pines" for him.

This year he also visited Xie Boli in Shanghai. Xie served as a magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture and lived in "Shihutang West" - which seems to correspond to the area of ​​Shihudang Town, Songjiang, Shanghai today. He also built Guanglu Pavilion in Huatingmao Lake for banquets. He has Zhao Mengfu's "Picture of Men and Horses" in his collection, and specially asked Zhao Mengfu's son Zhao Yong to "also paint the picture of people and horses at the end of the volume", which became the famous "Picture of Men and Horses of Three Generations". Maybe Ni Zan came here for this purpose? But Xie was not there, so Ni Zan wrote melancholy: "The mountains in front of Xie Tiao's house are dense, and the mountain clouds are flying into the ink pond. I took my family with me to dream of a foreign country, and when I returned home, I was still accompanied by the wind of fallen leaves. The cranes entered the dim smoke, melancholy and vast, and the gulls floated The thought of distant water is empty. Looking for you without meeting me becomes melancholy. The grass on the river bank is green and the polygonum is red."

This was Ni Zan's last sight of Shanghai as far as the reporter knew.

The mountain color is thick, the clouds are flying, the leaves are falling, the wind is blowing, the boat is sailing further and further away, and the water birds floating on the waves are also getting further and further away... What remains in his eyes is the green grass on the river and the red flowers on the shore, and what remains in his heart , is "empty".

At the age of 68, he painted a painting called "Songjiang Mountains", which may be related to Shanghai. The mood of the poem is: "The body and the idle clouds have no coming or going. The weather is clear on March 6."

At the age of 69, he finally returned to Wuxi. He was "homeless" and stayed with relatives in Jiangyin. During the Mid-Autumn Moon Appreciation Banquet, he wrote: "I was born in clouds and flowing water, and my life boiled beans and burned withered buds." At this time, he had "white hair and a sad autumn," and he died not long after.

The first sentence of this poem - "Lying sick for ten days and covering the mountain" provides a clue.

When the reporter was investigating his relationship with Quan Sicheng, he saw a poem he wrote to Quan: "I have been lying sick for a long time without feeling depressed, and I started to chant when I was slightly depressed. There is no trace of moss on the path, and the river is deep when I go out. I cherish my lifelong friend, Jin Ranchi." We are of the same mind. We want to share a drink, but the distance is too long... we can write poems about cutting wood to comfort our loved ones."

Judging from the combination of being sick for ten days and lying down for a long time, the mountains and moss on the path, going out to see the river, cherishing his life, and being unable to do anything, the poem he wrote to Quan Sicheng may have been written in the last years of his life.

"Logging", the title of "Poetry·Xiaoya", is a metaphor for deep friendship. He sent poems to his close friends in Shanghai, and he was still fascinated by them just as he was when he first painted based on imagination. The last thing he felt about Shanghai was the friendship and warmth that remained unchanged throughout his life.

He died in Xia Zhijia's family in Jiangyin. Xia's father served as the chief registrar of Shanghai County, but this was not the last indissoluble bond between Ni Zan and Shanghai.

There is a saying that Dong Qichang removed Zhao Mengfu from the list of "Four Yuan Dynasties" by his predecessors just to put Ni Zan in it.

The twelve-volume version of Ni Zan's "The Complete Works of Qingchen Pavilion" handed down today was supplemented and compiled by Shanghainese Cao Peilian.

In 1981, Shanghai collector Liu Jingji donated "Six Gentlemen" and other treasures to the Shanghai Museum, which became "the most sophisticated batch of paintings and calligraphy collected by the Shanghai Museum in the 1980s."

On June 21, 1980, the fourth page of "Liberation Daily" published an article introducing Ni Zan's painting "Six Gentlemen" donated by Liu Jingji to Shangbo.

Today in Zuibaichi Park in Songjiang, Shanghai, the famous "Portrait of Yunjian Bangyan" is engraved with dozens of Yunjian celebrities, with Quan Sicheng in the first place, followed by Ni Zan.

Mr. Tao Yuzhi of Shangbo said: This is to treat Ni Zan as one of his own, and to accept him as a member of Songjiang's local sages, "even though the heavyweight literati like Ni Zan who lived in Songjiang were criticized. , but Xu Zhang's "Portrait of Bang Yan" seems to be the only one who received special treatment, which shows that Ni Zan's position in Xu Zhang's mind is also extraordinary."

Ni Zan wrote to his friend Lu Zihua in Shanghai: "Don't be humble, just look up to the sky and laugh away."

——————————————————————————————

[The first picture in this article is Ni Zan in the portrait of Matsue Kunihiko]——————————————————————————————