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Jao Tsung-I – courtesy name Xuantang – was born in Chaozhou, east of Guangdong. A literatus of the contemporary era, he is well versed in the ancient classics and possesses an extensive knowledge of many subjects. His immensely distinguished accomplishments have won him high esteem and recognition, with the scope of his academic research tremendously broad and exhaustive. Excelling in exegesis, etymology and phonology, Jao has also mastered the doctrines of Taoism and Buddhism and understands the essence of detached joy through meditation. For his outstanding attainments, he is often put on a same par with great scholars such as Qian Zhonglian, Qian Zhongshu and Ji Xianlin. His academic research has contributed many original and innovative ideas; in particular, his contributions to the Dunhuang Bianwen and Chinese calligraphy are illuminating. Without question, he is the ‘epitome of Confucianism’.
Jao Tsung-I’s profound knowledge is interconnected. His brilliance is particularly evident in poetry and literary studies: whether the prose styles of Pianti, Liti or Santi or calligraphy or painting, Jao seems to have been gifted by heaven. In this regard, he is very similar to Dong Qichang; indeed, such a gifted person is extremely rare on Earth. In the modern era, Guangdong poets who have been able to shake the world are only Zeng Xijing whom Liang Qichao had praised as ‘the perfect master of the generation’. Jao Tsung-I is undoubtedly Zeng’s successor. Jao once completed Changzhouji in merely seven days to echo the 82 poems in Yonghuai by Ruan Ji.
In the past, people despised the poems of scholars of textual criticism as ‘a deliberate act to treat copying as composing poetry’, criticising their insipid language. Weng Yungang is an example of this. Nonetheless, Jao’s poetry is at the heels of the hundred schools, covering those from the Wei Jin dynasties and the Tang and Song dynasties. His lyrics are finely structured, embracing the rhyming qualities of the lyric writer Zhou Bangyan of the Song Dynasty. It is his extensive knowledge and thriving endowment that enables him to achieve such refinement and follow the thread of the ancient literati to garner equal status.
In terms of calligraphy and painting, Jao’s brushwork and conceptions are largely emulations of ink wash paintings by maestros from the Yuan Dynasty; he also occasionally follows the style of Xu Wei, Bada Shanren and Li Shan and has a special regard for Jin Nong’s brushwork. He is a master of various styles of calligraphy, with his running-cursive script integrating the styles of various renowned calligraphers from the late Ming Dynasty, reflecting his free command of calligraphic strokes. His clerical script inherits the charms of the Han Dynasty, embracing the script styles of Zhuan and Zhou. Indeed, after Jin Nong and Yi Bingshou, Jao is undoubtedly the foremost clerical script calligrapher.
Both ancient and modern scripts can be found within his poetry, which is a perfect embodiment of his mastery of diverse styles: bright and vivid, elegant and noble, simple and well-structured, unrestrained and free, strange yet magnificent, wild and impetuous, near yet remote. The titles of his calligraphy and painting exhibitions are also very meaningful. Pure Land expresses his inner world, Scholar’s Vision is representative of his broad-mindedness, Immortal Lotus his purified thoughts, Xuantang’s Literati Gathering his extensive friendships, while Scholarship along with Art follows the threads of the realm in Touring between Past and Present.
When Wang Shizhen completed his Ruan Ting Shi, Qian Qianyi wrote the preface dedicated to his publication together with 28 other literati. The reputation of Jao is broadly known to all and is unnecessary to justify. Humble as I am, I dare not utter any trite observations but what is true is that I sincerely admire these poetry lines of Jao: ‘The long river of time does not wash away true determination; what flows in it is the free spirit of me’.
I believe that Jao’s determination and the spirit of his whole life lies exactly in these two lines. It is also my firm belief that his conceptions of the ‘epitome of Chinese and Western knowledge’ and ‘complementary relationship between Nature and humankind’ are the paths to knowledge and the arts. In fact, I dare not write a preface; what I write here is my sincere appreciation and deep admiration for this epitome of Chinese and Western cultures – Jao Tsung-I.
Chan Hou Seng
Director
Macao Museum of Art
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