chapter four

The Chinese Collection

Although the Chinese art form of penjing is older by centuries than the bonsai in Japan it inspired, a large collection of penjing arrived at the U.S. National Arboretum ten years after the dedication of Japan’s Bicentennial Gift of bonsai in 1976. Dr. Creech had always intended to include penjing in the Arboretum’s collections, but it was his successor, Dr. Henry Marc Cathey, who accepted the gift.

In The Bonsai Saga, John Creech wrote:

On his way home [in 1974], John [Hinds] stopped in Hong Kong to meet with Dr. Yee-Sun Wu, a prominent Chinese banker and owner of a famous penjing collection. He had advised Dr. Wu much earlier about our plans for a national collection at the National Arboretum, including the concept of having Japanese, Chinese and American trees. While Wu was impressed with the concept, he hoped that the collection would be located in California. [In a footnote, Creech goes on to say] Dr. Wu undoubtedly was concerned about the colder winters in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, in 1983, Janet Lanman [a board member of the National Bonsai Foundation] wrote to Dr. Wu to renew our previous request that he donate some of his penjing for display at the U.S. National Arboretum, and Dr. Wu agreed, realizing that the Arboretum would provide adequate winter protection for his trees. In July 1986, ten years after the Japanese Bicentennial Gift, the National Aboretum received a collection of 31 penjing from Hong Kong—24 from Dr. Wu and seven from his colleague Mr. Shu-Ying Lui.

The curving top edge of a wall evokes the ripples of a dragon’s back and serves as a background for colorful blooms in one of the museum’s gardens.

The entrance gate to the Chinese Pavilion honors its namesake and primary donor, Dr. Yee-Sun Wu, whose gift of 24 penjing in 1986 made the pavilion possible.

A Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii), in training since 1936, was shaped by Dr. Yee-Sun Wu in a distinctive flowing style echoed in other Chinese arts.

Lady Under a Gnarled Pine Tree, ink and color on silk, 16th century, China, 27.8 x 24.2 cm, echoes the sentiment of Dr. Wu’s Japanese Black Pine.

A Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) from Dr. Wu has been in training since 1906. If planted in the ground, it could grow to 50 feet or more.

A Nepalese Firethorn (Pyracantha crenulata), given by Dr. Wu, has been in training since 1966 and changes through the seasons like its full-sized relatives.

The museum’s inaugural penjing gift from Dr. Wu and Mr. Lui included artfully stylized trees in pots or penzai, similar to Japanese bonsai, and small tree and rock compositions called penjing, evoking imaginary landscapes in the Chinese tradition, often celebrating the scholar-hermit. Today at the museum, all the Chinese forms of dwarf trees in containers, with or without rocks, or sometimes using only rocks, are referred to as penjing.

A gift from Mr. Lui, the Golden-larch (Pseudolarix amabilis), in training since 1971, is a deciduous conifer that turns brilliant yellow before dropping its needles each fall.

Stanley Chinn, a Chinese-American, trained a Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum) into a dragon shape. While historically significant, this style is not as popular now as it once was.

These images show how one of Chinn’s Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia) has been trained to create a more windswept appearance over several years.

Penjing added to the decoration in the room where President Richard Nixon toasted with Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai during his historic trip to China in 1972.

The scholar-hermit enjoyed a privileged position in ancient China. The ideal was that after serving in the bustling world, the scholar-hermit would retreat to an ascetic life, devoted to cultivating art and writing poetry, living close to nature. A penjing from Dr. Wu with a tiny figure beneath a Pauper’s-tea tree (Sageretia thea), in training since 1951, evokes this dream life, captured in a poem by the eighth century Chinese poet Wang Wei:

I sit alone in a bamboo grove,
Strumming on my lute while singing a song;
In the deep forest no one knows I am here,
Only the bright moon comes to shine on me.

President Nixon saw penjing during his historic visit to China in 1972 and it is believed that he was given some to bring back to the United States, though none survive. It was not until Dr. Wu’s collection, augmented by pieces from his friend Mr. Lui, arrived in Washington that the Chinese art form became accessible to the Arboretum’s visitors and they could experience the living arts that had inspired and evolved into the bonsai of Japan.

A Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii) from Dr. Wu’s collection is an excellent example of a tree penjing. It has been in training since 1936 and was styled by Dr. Wu himself. Dr. Wu was a master of the Lingnan School of penjing that uses the “clip and grow” method to shape the trees. The curvy lines of this example are typical of Lingnan School work, where the trunk and branches suggest a flowing image. “Clip and grow” stylists do not historically use wire to shape their trees’ trunks and limbs.

Chinese penjing are also closely related to other art forms as the image on page 41 of a painting from the Ming Dynasty shows. In it, a lady is seated under a curved pine tree, eerily similar to the Japanese Black Pine in Dr. Wu’s living work of art. It is easy to see that the penjing stylist and the painter are aiming to evoke a similar feeling in their works. The only differences are that the penjing is three-dimensional and is made of living materials, whereas the painting is a flat, two-dimensional image depicted with color on silk.

Trained by Stanley Chinn in the “Literati Style,” a Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii) resembles elements in paintings by Chinese scholars, with its thin trunk and scant foliage.

Looking at this landscape penjing of Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia), rocks and tiny figures of sages and a fisherman is like viewing a Chinese scroll painting.

Similar to Japanese bonsai, the illusion of age is prized in penjing. These examples of Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia) have gnarled or rutted trunks, typical of ancient, weathered trees. Also like Japanese bonsai, penjing can feature groups of trees, like groves found in nature. The Nepalese Firethorn (Pyracantha crenulata) planting was another gift of Dr. Wu. It has been in training since 1966, and it can be relied on to produce small red fruits that last through the winter, followed by fragrant white blossoms in the spring. The Golden-larch (Pseudolarix amabilis), a gift from Mr. Lui, is a rare and unusual conifer from China that turns bright yellow in the fall before dropping its needles. This penjing’s pot is unique for its depth and red color. It shows how in penjing every element, including the container and the stand, plays a role in conveying the spirit of the whole.

Some of the most eye-catching penjing on display at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum are the work of Stanley Chinn, a Chinese-American whose ancestors came to the United States to work on the railroads. Chinn used many different techniques to achieve his desired result, ranging from historical styles like the Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum), trained into a formalistic-style dragon shape, to the Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) that presents a vivid, windswept demeanor. Both the “dragon” and “windswept” penjing are good examples of small trees grown with or over rocks.

Pine and Rock, ink on paper, 18th–19th century, 107.2 x 47.6 cm, China, shares the slim trunk and sparse foliage of “Literati Style” penjing.

Past Director of the Penjing Research Center at the Shanghai Botanical Garden, Hu Yun Hua created the penjing at left during an Arboretum symposium in 2004.

Landscape with Tall Trees by Qian Weichang (1720–1772), painting on folding fan, mid-18th century, 18.4 x 54.0 cm, China, echoes the feel of landscape penjing.

A rock-only penjing, Dancing Dragon, made of Linglong stone from Anhui Province, China, portrays a mythic shoreline explored by sailors.

Penjing is also known for its “Literati Style” specimens—trees with tall, slender trunks and sparse foliage resembling the types of trees featured in Chinese scholars’ paintings and calligraphy. Stanley Chinn’s gift included a striking example of the “Literati Style” created with a Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii).

Whole scenes presented on trays of white marble are also considered penjing. The idea is that the viewer is looking at a big landscape, similar to one depicted on a Chinese scroll, only the materials used are taken from nature and artfully arranged to create an imagined vista in three dimensions. A show-stopper of this genre was created by Mr. Hu Yun Hua, former Director of the Penjing Research Center at the Shanghai Botanical Garden in China, when he visited the Arboretum in 2004. The trees are Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia) set among stones. The penjing depicts three sages gathered in the midst of a grove and another man fishing

Some landscape penjing have no plants at all, conveying their “story” through the artful selection and arrangement of rocks only. Spring Rain, composed of Qi stone from Jiangsu Province in China, was a gift to the U.S. National Arboretum from the Shanghai Botanical Garden, an important partner in the arboretum’s plant conservation and exploration efforts.

The various forms of penjing all evoke an idealized natural world, an imaginary realm where humans take their place within all of nature, including plants, animals and rocks. Because of the upheavals in China in the last century, however, not many antique examples of penjing survive, although images of penjing exist in ancient texts and paintings, confirming that it is an age-old art form. The work of recent and contemporary penjing practitioners is therefore invaluable in bringing the art form to life for audiences around the world.

Peach Blossom Spring by Shitao (1642–1707), ink and color on paper, Qing Dynasty, 25 x 157.8 cm, China, renders spring weather in two dimensions.

A gift from the Shanghai Botanical Garden, this rock-only penjing is made of Qi stone from Jiangsu Province, China. Its smooth surfaces evoke the fresh-washed feel of its title, Spring Rain.

A Pauper’s-tea (Sageretia thea) has been in training since 1951. In the wild, the leaves are sometimes used as a substitute for tea in China.

Another of Dr. Wu’s Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia), in training since 1956, seems ready to fly free of its pot, thanks to its elevated roots.

SPOTLIGHT ON Yee-Sun Wu

Dr. Yee-Sun Wu (1904–2005) was a native of Guangdong Province of China who made his way as a teenager to Hong Kong to support his family. He achieved tremendous success as a founder of the Wing Lung Bank. Following family tradition, he became an avid penjing practitioner and amassed a collection of nearly 400 specimens. He espoused the “clip and grow” or Lingnan School of training penjing, meaning that no wire is used to shape the limbs or trunk.

To encourage an interest in penjing, he established a public garden in Hong Kong where visitors could view the tiny trees. He also published two books, Man Lung Artistic Pot Plants, that provides a history of penjing in China, and Man Lung Penjing, that presents his collection, revealing his distinctive creative style. “Man Lung” means “literate farmer” or “scholar farmer” in southern Chinese, which Dr. Wu may have chosen to describe his ideal.

Before his death, he gave away most of his penjing collection. In addition to those found today at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, where the Chinese Pavilion is dedicated to him, examples of his work can be seen in Canada at the Montréal Botanical Garden and at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver.

Dr. Wu’s influence was truly far-reaching. An asteroid discovered in 1979 in the Main Asteroid Belt between Jupiter and Mars by the Purple Mountain observatory in Nanking, China, was named 3570 Wuyeesun in honor of Dr. Wu in 1997.

Red chopsticks inserted in the penjing pots mark those to be sent by Dr. Wu to the United States.

In 1986, Dr. Yee-Sun Wu of Hong Kong gave 24 penjing from his collection to the U.S. National Arboretum’s National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.