Painting Peony

China may be known today as a global economic powerhouse and an industrial giant, but it still takes immense pride in its thousands of years of rich culture and heritage. Even at the enterprising port city of Ningbo (in the Northeastern Zhejiang province) where the focus stayed on the city’s economic and technological advancements, we were given a first-hand taste of Chinese culture, in a masterclass on traditional Chinese painting.

A delegation of journalists from all over Asia (including this correspondent), were given a taste of painting peony flowers in watercolour, at the ‘Focus on Ningbo’ leg of the Discover China trip organised by leading Chinese newspaper China Daily on October 12.

The Red Peony Chinese Painting and Caligraphy Academy, located at the city’s University Zone Library, is founded and operated by Jiang Hongsheng, who prefers being called Jack.

The academy particularly takes in visiting foreigners and expats for free lessons in traditional Chinese Peony painting, in an effort to promote Chinese culture.

The item on the trip itinerary listed as a ‘visit’ to painting/calligraphy studio was enough to get me excited, but I realised I would get much more than what I wished for, when I saw palettes, paper and brushes were set on rows of tables, and Jack said we were going to be getting a hands-on experience.

With a quick introduction to Peony watercolour, the ever-so-energetic painter gave us a quick demonstration of the basics in fluent English (not the most common skill in China). From getting the right amount of water on the brushes to mixing colours and doing simple strokes and dabs, a thorough walkthrough got us all in gear for the ‘practice’ session.

As we sat down, it quickly became evident that it was not as easy as Jack had made it look – particularly for journalists, who Yuen Meikeng (a journalist at The Star newspaper in Malaysia) described as more much more ‘literally’ adept than visually.

But Jack, with his experience of giving lessons to first-timers, kept our enthusiasm at a high -- walking around, helping us hold the brush properly and answering questions.

After a few sheets of practice paper, we were ready to do our final work – on a Chinese fan-shaped paper on which peony painting is traditionally done. By the time we finished up and put our signatures on the piece, one hour had passed without anyone noticing. What we did looked nothing like the beautiful artwork framed around the studio, but we were all rather impressed by each others’ (and our own) work over such a short span. Jack then handed out gifts to us in a lottery, which included his own signature peony watercolours, brush holders and painting accessories.

But then came my most special moment of the afternoon. Jack asked us all where we came from, and his eyes lit up when I said “Bangladesh!” Jack keeps a big world map at his studio, and whenever someone from a new country gets a peony lesson, he gets to put a small peony sticker on the country on the map. Of all the delegates, Bangladesh was the only non-represented country on the map, and it was a rather silly moment of pride for me to put a stamp on my country’s name. 

Photos: Fahmim Ferdous / Pang Xiaoqiao