Bonsai of Lingnan style

The bonsai of Guangdong style, centered on the "Flower City" Guangzhou, is called the Lingnan Style because it is located to the south of Wuling. The climate here is warm, the sun is abundant, the rain is abundant, the vegetation is moist, and the unique natural environment provides extremely favorable conditions for the prosperity of the bonsai art. Although Lingnan bonsai art started late, it has a history of hundreds of years. In the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong, a famous poet Qu Dajun, has a more detailed record in his "Guangdong Xinyu".

However, the true formation of the bonsai art style of the Lingnan School was something after the 1930s of the 20th century. The traditional Cantonese bonsai, resembling the Northern School's "Flexuous Dragon" style, the trunk of the tree snakes upright, and the left and right arms are crossed, making five or seven brackets. The top of the tree is flat. It is also called the "ancient tree" or "general tree". This kind of bonsai is very laborious and time-consuming. It usually takes 30 to 40 years to form.

By the end of the 19th century, with the transformation of society and the development of culture and art, especially the influence of the Lingnan School of Painting, some Cantonese painters were both good at painting and bonsai. They made bold reforms in modeling, based on the concept of painting, and gradually expand the range of tree species and become the prototype of today's Lingnan bonsai.

After the 1930s, Guangdong bonsai is divided into three styles: one is a style headed by bonsai artist Kong Taichu. The tree is vigorous and thick, the canopy is dense, and the composition is rigorous, showing the style of the wildwood.

The second is a group headed by the Taoist priests at the Sanyuan Palace in Guangzhou, which mainly uses the stumps that will wither as materials, and has been carefully cultivated to grow new shoots from a certain part.

The third is a group headed by the priests of Suren Monastery in Guangzhou Haizhu Temple. They are sparse and tall, standing tall and clear. Although the technical support is few and unconscious, it is subtle and concise, elegant, and natural. It's a bit of Zheng Banqiao's poetic meaning of "remaining thin and tedious" and "Every branch and leaf is concerned".

After 1949, the Guangzhou Bonsai Association, with Kong Taichu as the technical guide, used Xiyuan as a research base to gather the advantages of the three schools and merge them into a complete and unique Lingnan style, making the Lingnan bonsai art more Unpredictable and varied. Such as the magnificent big tree type, the tall and tall towering type, the wild and natural type, the dry and dense leafy green type, etc., in terms of the overall artistic style, it can be summarized into 8 words: vigorous and strong, smooth and natural.

Kong Taichu, one of the founders of the Lingnan style, has been dedicated to the art of bonsai since the age of 19, and pioneered the "store branch technique" method. The specific operation method is: the first branch of the tree (that is, the side branch on the trunk) is cut when the required thickness is reached; at the same time, the second branch (or bud) with an appropriate angle and position is selected. When the second section is stored to the required thickness, it is cut again. Section three, section four ... all proceed according to this method. Generally, there are about two small tricks (or buds) on each branch, one long and one short. After many years of pruning, the proportion of the branches is well-balanced and strong, and the branches are "upturned like antlers and drooped like chicken claws", The ancient clumsy into the painting, there are jump branches, floating branches, spreading branches, the branch claws of the second, third, and fourth layers of each branch, require gradually thinner, evenly distributed. Zhituo (equivalent to the branches, clouds, and branches of the Northern Style) is the basic technique of Lingnan style, with high aesthetic value, spring, summer, autumn and winter, four seasons can be appreciated: spring buds, fresh green spots; in summer it is rich, green overlap; in autumn frosts, yellow leaves are pretty; in the cold winter, horn claws shine. Sometimes the leaves are deliberately removed in order to set off the beauty of the horns and claws of the branches. This is called "undressing", which is an artistic effect that is difficult to achieve in other bonsai schools.

The main tree species commonly used for stump bonsai are: Chinese box (Murraya exotica), Fujian tea, Elm, Pauper's-tea (Sageretia theezans), Banyan tree, Boxwood, Loblolly pine, Rhododendron, Plum, Ginkgo, etc.