Here I have uploaded two videos taken in the Lingnan Penjing (Southern bonsai) show held in Daliang, China.
In this video, you can see how a bonsai tree has seamlessly grown into a rock in a landscape bonsai.
Visit this post – Lingnan Penjing Show in Daliang China – for more about the bonsai show in Daliang, China.
If you want to see more photos of southern style bonsai, visit Daliang Bonsai Show album in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
With other committee members of Institute of Lingnan Penjing Hong Kong, I attended the Lingnan penjing (meaning: Southern bonsai) show which was hosted by 大良盆景協會 (literal translation: Daliang Penjing Association) earlier this month. It was amazing to see so many beautiful southern style penjing all put together in one place. And here, let me show you some photos I took on the day of the bonsai show.
If you want to see more photos of southern style bonsai, visit Daliang Bonsai Show album in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
大良盆景協會 (literal translation: Daliang Penjing Association) invited over 500 bonsai enthusiasts all over China to attend its lingnan penjing show.
LEFT: The committee members of Institute of Lingnan Penjing Hong Kong
RIGHT: 5 renowned penjing artists has formed a group and called themselves 嶺南盆景痴友 (literal translation: Lingnan Penjing Maniac) 🙂
Entrance of the bonsai show venue
In the lingnan penjing show, one could find many penjing work by Mr. Han Xue Nian (韓學年先生) – the Chairman of Daliang Penjing Association. While Mr. Han’s specialty is pines (indeed, he is nicknamed as 松王 – the Pine King), he grows bonsai trees of different species and styles. Here is one of his creative work.
I especially admire this bonsai. Note how the trunk of the tree has fully grown into the rock. I wonder how many years has the bonsai artist – Mr. Zeng An Chang (曾安昌先生) – taken to get the tree to grow so seamlessly into the rock.
There’s an elephant under the tree 😉
Unlike Japanese bonsai, one can often find figurines in Chinese penjing.
If you are interested in learn more about the different bonsai styles, you should definitely check out these posts in Bonsai Style category.
For more photos of southern style bonsai, visit Daliang Bonsai Show album in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
The annual Hong Kong Flower Show was held from March 11-20 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay this year. While the flower show was more or less the same like last year’s, the bonsai exhibition inside the flower show was great. There were more bonsai displayed this year, and the overall quality of the bonsai was higher.
Here I would like to thank William Lee – fellow bonsai apprentice of Teacher Wong – for sharing the photos he took in the bonsai exhibition with us in Happy Bonsai.
For more photos, please visit the album of Bonsai Exhibition in HK Flower Show 2011 in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
Check out this post for Bonsai Exhibition in Hong Kong Flower Show 2010.
Besides all the 1000+ beautiful bonsai, suiseki stones and figurines, there also is a very long gallery filled with ancient bonsai pots in Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa’s amazing bonsai gallery in Shenzhen – Qu Yi Garden (趣怡园).
RIGHT: Entrance of the antique Chinese bonsai pot gallery in Qu Yi Garden
LEFT: I really like this wooden sculpture that is placed in the entrance of the gallery.
The pot on the left is made of peach clay (桃花泥) and the pot on the right is made of purple clay (aka zisha clay, 紫泥). Beautiful carving work, full of details.
These few pots are from the Qing dynasty. I remember I saw some bonsai pots in the gallery that are from period as early as the Yuen dynasty (A.D. 1271-1368).
Beautiful art this is, isn’t it?
There are also many figurines and suiseki rocks in the gallery.
You can find more photos in the album of Qu Yi Garden – Antique China Pots and Stone Art in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
You can check out this post – Visiting Qu Yi Garden – A Big Big Penjing Gallery! – for more about Qy Yi Garden and its bonsai displays.
And definitely check out this post – Suiseki Stones & Figurines in Qu Yi Garden – if you like beautiful suiseki stones and antique Chinese figurines.
As said in the post – Visiting Qu Yi Garden – A Big Big Penjing Gallery, the bonsai gallery of Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa (Chairman of Hong Kong Penjing and Artstone Society) does not only have thousands of penjing, but also a huge gallery of antique bonsai pots and a showroom of figurines and suiseki stones.
Doesn’t this suiseki rock look like a citrus cut in half?
Does this look like an old woman looking at a duck?
These daiza – the carved wood bases – are so beautiful; very well carved and perfectly conforming to the shape of the suiseki stone.
This carved stone is one of my favorite in Wu’s suiseki stone showroom.
I am told that many of these figurines cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Happy Bonsai Shop has this Zhong Kui – the Chinese Ghostbuster -figurine for sale too. Of course, not in a “antique and collection price”, but in a very affordable price haha 😀
What a great way to display a collection of figurines! It is easy, convenient, and interesting 😀 I definitely will give it a try with my figurine collection!
Check out this post –Antique Chinese Pottery and Figurines in Qu Yi Garden – to find out more about the antique Chinese pottery gallery in Qu Yi Garden. Lots of beautiful bonsai pots there 😉
Last Friday, with many fellow members of our bonsai club (Institute of Lingnan Penjing, Hong Kong), we visited Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa’s amazing bonsai gallery in Shenzhen – Qu Yi Garden (趣怡园 aka Tracy Penjing Gallery).
A corner of Qu Yi Garden
Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa is the Chairman of Hong Kong Penjing and Artstone Society, as well as WBFF international consultant. Obviously he is one bonsai enthusiast. But moreover, Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa is an art collector who has dedicated much of his time and wealth on promoting the art of Chinese penjing to the world.
With Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa (吳成發先生), the owner of this amazing bonsai gallery
With his large, beautiful collection of penjing, bonsai pots, and suiseki stones displaying in Qu Yi Garden, Mr. Wu Cheng-Fa invites fellow bonsai lovers and bonsai enthusiasts to his huge gallery/workshop, and together, share bonsai knowledge and ideas.
RIGHT: Teacher Wong shares some bonsai stories of his younger days with the club members.
LEFT: WBFF Chairman – Mr. Hu Yun-Hua – came over to our group and joined the conversation.
A group photo of our bonsai club members with Teacher Wong Chiu Shing (黄就成先生), Mr. Hu Yun-Hua (胡運驊先生), Mr. Liu Chuan-Guan (劉傳剛先生, Director of Hainan Province Penjing Society), and Mr. Zheng Zai-Quan (鄭在權先生, Vice-Chairman of Hong Kong Penjing and Artstone Society)
There are more than 2,000 bonsai, antique bonsai pots, and suiseki stones in Qu Yi Garden. And among the 2000 bonsai in the garden, more than 1000 bonsai have already been developed to a presentable stage. While there are bonsai of many different styles/schools in Qu Yi Garden, bonsai of Lingnan style take up the majority in the Wu’s gallery.
For more photos, please visit the album of Qu Yi Garden in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
There are also a suiseki stone gallery and large gallery of antique bonsai pots in Qu Yi Garden. I will put up photos taken in those gallery as soon as I can. Please hang on! Happy Bonsai!! 😉
In 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition, aside from the fascinating bonsai, there was also a suiseki exhibition, showing some amazingly beautiful rocks. I am sorry for the delay, but I am sure many of you would like to check out photos of the rocks in the suiseki exhibition nevertheless.
For more photos, please visit the album of Suiseki Exhibition in 2010 GZ Int’l Bonsai Invitation Exhibition in Happy Bonsai Gallery.
Suiseki Stone – 孔雀石 (Malachite)
Title – 人與自然 (Direct Translation: Men and Nature)
All the suiseki stones presented in the suiseki exhibition had very beautiful daiza. Not only was the wood base carefully carved to the details of the stone, it also integrated closely to the theme in such an harmony. How could one not love suiseki after seeing all these beautiful work of nature together with such skillful craftsmanship!
Suiseki Stone – 黄蜡石 (Chrismatite)
Title – 風山水起 (Meaning: Things will become striking, extraordinary)
Suiseki Stone – 青花石 (Don’t know the stone type in English, could anyone help?)
Title – 美人魚 (Literal Meaning: Mermaid)
Suiseki Stone – 紅壁玉 (Don’t know the stone type in English too, could anyone help?)
Title – 母子情 (Literal Meaning: Love of Mother and Child)
Suiseki Stone – 戈壁石組合
Title – 守望家園 (Literal Meaning: Guarding the Family)
Penjing lovers like using bonsai figurines to decorate their penjing (bonsai in Chinese). Most of these figurines are the traditional Chinese clay figurines of historical or mythology figures. But in the 1st Institute of Lingnan Penjing Competition, I found that beside my use of Doraemon in my penjing, some of my penjing club fellow members also used figurines for their bonsai decoration in some fun, creative ways.
Very tiny these figurines are. Yet, nevertheless, these full-of-details figurines haven’t failed to meet our expectation and bring in life and vivid scenes in our bonsai.
Traditional Chinese figurines always look great in penjing 🙂
For more photos of the 1st Institute of Lingnan Penjing Competition, you can visit Happy Bonsai Gallery.
As a step to promote penjing (bonsai in Chinese) to the public and add some spice and fun for our club members, Institute of Lingnan Penjing, Hong Kong (香港嶺南盆景藝術學會) held its 1st internal competition on December 12, 2010 at its workshop in Yuen Long. Every penjing club member was requested to participate in the competition. While every member must bring at least one penjing for competition / display, one could bring and show as many penjing as he/she wanted. For simplicity’s sake, there were only two categories in this competition – penjing less than 30cm and penjing over 30cm. While penjing of all sizes and styles were welcome, penjing-in-a-bottle, the non-traditional penjing / bonsai style, could not enter the competition, but only qualified for display.
Because of an important appointment on the same day, I couldn’t attend the whole event but only the setup stage of the competition. I missed not only the competition winner announcement, but also the pot-luck style luncheon afterward. That’s too bad for me 🙁
This beautiful piece is made by Teacher Wong. Teacher Wong calls this type of penjing “瓶景”, and I call it “penjing-in-a-bottle”.
This is my penjing-in-a-bottle, titled “The Adventure of Wherever Door – The World inside the Goldfish”.
You can find more information about the blue creature in my penjing (it’s called Doraemon by the way) in this post – Modern Bonsai – Doraemon Bonsai.
For more photos of the 1st Institute of Lingnan Penjing Competition, you can visit Happy Bonsai Gallery.
There is something that one can often find in a Chinese penjing but never in a Japanese bonsai. That is Chinese figurine. As mentioned in an earlier post – Figurines in Penjing, instead of focusing on the tree itself, Chinese penjing artists work on creating a miniature natural scene in a bonsai pot or on a marble slab. And with the use of Chinese figurines and mudmen, shacks and pavilion, cows and ducks, penjing artists can complete the illusion of a landscape in a very lively way.
And Chinese clay figurine itself is a valuable, antiquated folk art in China. Every Chinese figurine is handmade; kneaded and colored by hands. The art of Chinese clay figurine can be dated back to the Neolithic Period. However, it was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that the clay figurine had been substantially produced and became one of the main artworks in the mass’s cultural life.
In last month’s Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition, while I was admiring the beautiful bonsai trees displayed in the bonsai pots, I also noticed and very much appreciated the way many bonsai artists used Chinese figurines in their bonsai to enhance the power and strength of their bonsai trees, as well as to create a more balanced, lively scene.
Here, let me share with you some Chinese figurines are used in some penjing in the bonsai exhibition.
