Category: Journal

Can’t Wait! Want My Bonsai Trees Grow Faster!

Post author By Sandy
Post date May 31, 2011
2 Comments on Can’t Wait! Want My Bonsai Trees Grow Faster!

As you may know, I have a piece of 10 x 10 square feet land and a rack in the bonsai workshop (for more, check out the post My Bonsai Land Update – What is the Black Cloth for? and More Bonsai Trees on My Rack). I am growing a few big trees that need thicker trunks and more branch in the ground and putting the rest of my trees on the rack.

My bonsai rack and land (photos taken in early May 2011)

Among those on the rack, there were several big trees that I thought might have developed enough and could be potted for the final stage of development (development of fine branches). However, a year has passed and these trees haven’t grown much. I guess I probably have potted them a bit too early. So I decided to take these bonsai trees out from the pot and train them on the ground again. Hopefully, these trees will have their branches developed and can be potted in 2 years.

We can tell that the trees haven’t developed much in the past year with these photos (photo at the bottom is taken in early May 2011). Besides having a bit more foliage (mostly unwanted), the trees have not developed any suitable branches.

The tree surrounded with bricks in the middle is a bonus. It has been here before I moved my trees in.

Lingnan Penjing Show in Daliang China

Post author By Sandy
Post date May 24, 2011
3 Comments on Lingnan Penjing Show in Daliang China

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.

Lingnan Penjing – Introduced in South China Morning Post

Post author By Sandy
Post date April 27, 2011
No Comments on Lingnan Penjing – Introduced in South China Morning Post

Check out this article in South China Morning Post which introduces penjing (bonsai in Chinese) and the resources available in Hong Kong for those who want to learn penjing in this bustling rambunctious, cramped city.

The article also introduces Teacher Wong Chau-Shing and Institute of Lingnan Penjing. 😀

Chi Lin Nunnery – A Must-go for All Bonsai Lovers in Hong Kong

Post author By Sandy
Post date April 6, 2011
1 Comment on Chi Lin Nunnery – A Must-go for All Bonsai Lovers in Hong Kong

Every once a while, I receive emails from bonsai lovers or family / friends of some bonsai lovers asking me for suggestions of sightseeing location in Hong Kong. Of course, they are not expecting answers like Ocean Park or Times Square, but somewhere with trees and bonsai pots and accessories that can make bonsai lovers all happy and excited. And one of the few places that I would suggest is Chi Lin Nunnery.

You can find more photos in the album of Chi Lin Nunnery – Bonsai Garden in Hong Kong in Happy Bonsai Gallery.

Chi Lin Nunnery is located in Kowloon. The closet subway station is Diamond Hill.

Chi Lin Nunnery does not have the largest bonsai collection, but the trees that grow in the nunneary are so beautiful. When I was in there, I felt like I was in a magnified landscape bonsai.

In Chi Lin Nunnery, trees that are grow on the ground are also trimmed beautifully, as those in a bonsai pot.

Besides bonsai trees, there are also a suiseki gallery.

Some beautiful bonsai in the nunnery.
RIGHT: This Fire-thorn ( Pyracantha crenulata, 火棘 in Chinese) is protected by a tent so to avoid the birds from eating the fruits on the tree.

Journal

Bonsai Garden of 雅石盆景協會 (Rock Penjing Association)

Post author By Sandy
Post date February 1, 2011
3 Comments on Bonsai Garden of 雅石盆景協會 (Rock Penjing Association)

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit the remarkable bonsai garden of 雅石盆景協會 (literal translation: Rock Penjing Association) with Mr. Wong Chau Shing – the President of Institute of Lingnan Penjing and Mr. Liu Chuan Gang – the President of Hainan Penjing Association. The bonsai garden, itself, was a beautiful place that has been used for shooting several movies and tv programs. Among the several hundreds pots of penjing in the garden, we can find some beautiful penjing by the late penjing master, Mr. Wong Kee Mein, as well as some award-winning penjing by some of the committee members of Rock Penjing Association. Here I would like to share with you some photos I took in the bonsai garden.

For more photos, please visit the Rock Penjing Association Tour in Happy Bonsai Gallery.

The design and landscape of this Chinese garden express the formless, indefinable asymmetry with a curvilinear layout derived from the nature.

Many beautiful bonsai trees 🙂

Bonsai Events Featured Articles

2011 Bonsai Show List

It is the beginning of another year, and I have made a list of bonsai shows that will be held in 2011 (excluding bonsai shows in Japan) so for all bonsai lovers to mark their calendars and plan ahead. While this is a long list with most of the major bonsai shows listed, it is not fully comprehensive. To complete the list, I would need your help. If you find a bonsai show that is not on the list (especially those big major ones) or any information on this list that isn’t correct, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know the details.

Thanks in advance and Happy Bonsai!

What?	Where?	When?
Consurso Bonsái Paterna 2011	Paterna, Spain	12-13 February 2011

Noelanders Trophy XII International Bonsai Show	Heusden-Zolder, Belgium	22-23 January 2011

9th Swindon Bonsai Winter Show	Swindon, UK	20 February 2011
Swindon & District Bonsai will host its 2011 Winter Show in The Stratton Community Centre.

“Shohin Off” presented by The British Shohin Association	Norhumberland, UK	19-20 March 2011
Workshops, lectures, critiques, forums, exhibitions, bonsai traders and more

National Bonsai Expo	Coventry, UK	26 March 2011
Bonsai Traders Association holds 3 trade shows every year.

Mistral Bonsai	Spain	2-3 April, 2011
Two days of bonsai workshops, plus Chinese tea tasting, ikebana, live martial arts demonstration and more

Best of British Bonsai 2011	Birmingham, UK	9-10 April 2011
Workshops,exhibitions, and trade fair

Bonsai Slovakia 2011	Slovakia	14-17 April 2011
Bonsai, suiseki and tea exhibition with international cultural and art show, also bonsai demonstrations, tea Ceremonies, music, workshops and more

28th Annual Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Societies Spring Festival	PA, USA	15-17 April 2011
“Renowned international professional bonsai artists will present lecture/demonstrations, workshops, and critiques of bonsai”; plus exhibition and bonsai vendors

26th Arcobonsai Convention	Arco (Trentino), Italy	6-8 May 2011
“Exhibitions of bonsai and suiseki. Featuring Takashi Iura and the 10th So-Saku Bonsai Award and the 1st Masahiko Kimura Award. Concurrently there’s the 13th Arcofiori.”

Lone Star Bonsai Federation 2011 Convention “Gateway of Bonsai”	TX, USA	13-15 May 2011
Hosted by the Corpus Christi Bonsai Society; Featuring Ed Trout, Bill Valavanis, Sean Smith, and Terry Ward. Details from Yvonne Padilla at myforest@sbcglobal.net.

“West Meet East – East Meet West”	Poland	20-22 May 2011
Demo: Taiga Urushibata, Kevin Willson, Robert Kempinski, Jarek Lenarczyk

24th National Bonsai Convention – Come Together	Perth, Western Australia	20-23 May 2011
Featuring Min Hsuan Lo (Taiwan), Megumi Bennett and Yasuko Aoki; 3.5 full-days of demos and workshops

Atelier do Bonsai	Ribeirão Preto, Brazil	27-29 May 2011
Atelier do Bonsai Mario A G Leal is proud to present its 6th annual BONSAI. Demonstrators Nacho Marin from Venezuela and Bernie Callaghan from Namibia.We have International visitors like Marita Gurruchaga from Argentina, Daniel Daza from Chile, and Louis Nel from South Africa and other Brazilian masters.For more information go to http://www.atelierdobonsai.com.br or contact by E-mail:mario@atelierdobonsai.com.br

National Bonsai Society Annual Show	Southport, UK	29-31 May 2011

6th International Bonsai & Suiseki Exhibition and 2nd Japanese Festival	Vilnius, Lithuania	9-12 June 2011
Hosted at Commerce and Entertainment Centre “OZAS”, Ozo str. 18 LT-08243, Vilnius, Lithuania. Featuring Salvadore Liporace, Vaclav Novak, Keiko Borjeson, and Sae Won Kim. (Thanks Tomas Adomaitis for the information)

38th BSF Convention	FL, USA	10-12 June 2011
Demonstrations and workshops by Ryan Neil and Florida artists; also, bonsai exhibition, auction, vendor night, and more

Bonsai South West 2011	Exmouth, UK	12 June 2011
Exhibits by bonsai societies, traders, sales, etc. More info: Roger on 01392 623 842 or e-mail: brancheseverywhere@live.co.uk

Bonsai in the Bluegrass: BCI/ABS 2011	KY, USA	16-19 June 2011
A joint bonsai event held by American Bonsai Society (ABS) and Bonsai Clubs International (BCI); Demonstrations by international bonsai artists from Europe, Asia, Mexico, and the United States; Bonsai traders and large exhibition

National Bonsai Expo	Middlesex, UK	26th June 2011
Bonsai Traders Association holds 3 trade shows every year.

34th Mid-America Exhibit	IL, USA	19-21 Aug 2011
“One of the largest bonsai shows in the US, attracting over 100 trees, in Chicago Botanic Garden, with its world-class bonsai collection, features the CBG’s bonsai collection, competition, workshops, demos, and over a dozen of the top national vendors from around the country.”

Bonsai World 2011	West Sussex, UK	3-4 September 2011
Leading Bonsai Artists, Marc Nöelanders, John Armitage, Ken Norman and Rammon Hamers, will be holding demonstrations and workshops in the bonsai show. In addition, there will be a variety of Bonsai Trader Stands, together with displays from Sussex Bonsai Group and other bonsai clubs.

African Bonsai Convention	Durban, South Africa	22-26 September 2011
International Headliners: Robert Steven, Bill Valavanis

National Bonsai Expo	Sheffield, UK	25 September 2011
Bonsai Traders Association holds 3 trade shows every year.

European Bonsai Association Annual Convention and Exhibition – “Bonsai in the middle of Europe”	Ratingen, Germany	30 Sep – 2 Oct 2011
Demos: Othmar Auer, Werner M. Busch, Aurelio De Capitani, Serge Clemence, Udo Fischer, François Jeker, Hartmut Münchenbach, Christian Przybylski, Ralf Steiner, Jürgen Zaar; Lectures: Willi Benz and Peter Krebs

Carolina Bonsai Expo	Carolina, USA	8-9 October 2011
Exhibits by bonsai enthusiasts from a six-state region, renowned bonsai marketplace, workshops, demo, Ikebana exhibit, and more

Golden State Bonsai Federation 2011 Convention XXXIV: Bonsai Full Circle	CA, USA	27-30 October 2011
Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF) promotes the art of bonsai throughout California with vendor area, demos, workshops, and more.

Bonsai Events Featured Articles Gallery

1st Institute of Lingnan Penjing Competition

Post author By Sandy
Post date January 13, 2011
1 Comment on 1st Institute of Lingnan Penjing Competition

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.

Bonsai Events Featured Articles

Opening Ceremony of 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition

Post author By Sandy
Post date November 30, 2010
1 Comment on Opening Ceremony of 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition

The 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition has just ended in the past weekend. This penjing exhibition, as one of the major cultural events during the Asian Games this year, took “Celebrating Guangzhou Asian Games, Promoting World Penjing Culture” as the theme, and invited many famous bonsai artists across the country and all over the world to exhibit their works. With the high attendance in the bonsai exhibition and the interest in penjing generated, the bonsai show was a great success.

Go to post – Beautiful Trees in Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition (Part 1)
Go to post – Beautiful Trees in Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition (Part 2)

On Nov 10, some bonsai friends and I together attended the open ceremony of the exhibition which took place in Guangzhou Dr. Sun Yet-Sen’s Memorial Hall – a significant landmark in Guangzhou.

In the opening ceremony, besides an award ceremony, there was also a presentation session demonstrated by several excellent bonsai artists.

With nearly 800 penjing, the 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition was the largest bonsai show in Guangzhou ever. This bonsai show had successfully demonstrated the charm of penjing, particularly Lingnan penjing – an ancient and unique treasure that reflects the essence of Lingnan garden culture.

I will share more photos of these beautiful bonsai very soon. Please wait a little 🙂

Besides bonsai, there was also a suiseki exhibition, showing some amazingly beautiful rocks. I surely will post more photos of this suiseki exhibition in the coming posts.

Bonsai Events Featured Articles

2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition

Post author By Sandy
Post date September 27, 2010
3 Comments on 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition

Besides the 3-in-1 exhibition in Guangzhou, China in October, there is another big bonsai event in Guangzhou that is highly anticipated by many bonsai enthusiasts; it is the 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition (2010年广州国际盆景邀请展).

To celebrate the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in November 2010 and promote bonsai to the world, a bonsai and suiseki exhibition – Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition – will be held from November 10 to November 27 in Guangzhou Zhongshan Memorial Hall (广州中山纪念堂). Among the 500-800 bonsai that will be shown in the exhibition, there will not only be beautiful bonsai of Lingnan and other Chinese penjing styles, but also a large number of bonsai from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and other countries around the world. Moveover, according to the press release, there will be presentations and discussion sessions with well-known bonsai masters and bonsai experts sharing their bonsai tips and techniques, as well as their thoughts on the up-coming development and changes in the world of bonsai.

I am very much looking forward to this bonsai exhibition, especially since my bonsai teacher – Lingnan penjing master Wong Chiu Shing – and a few other senior bonsai members will also showcase their masterpieces in this exhibition. Indeed, many of us in the Institute of Lingnan Penjing, Hong Kong (香港嶺南盆景藝術學會) will together take a trip to Guangzhou on November 9th to attend the open ceremony of this exhibition. And definitely I will share what I have seen and learned in the exhibition when I am back from Guangzhou in November.

Here is the official website of 2010 Guangzhou International Bonsai Invitation Exhibition. Too bad that it’s only in Chinese…

Bonsai Events Featured Articles

3-in-1 Exhibition in Guangzhou, Oct 2010

Post author By Sandy
Post date September 15, 2010
No Comments on 3-in-1 Exhibition in Guangzhou, Oct 2010

There will be a very interesting art exhibition of bonsai, suiseki, painting, and antique furniture during the golden week national holiday next month in Guangzhou, China. This is so tempting and it keeps luring me to go regardless of my overly packed schedule and the extremely unpleasant traffic and inevitable crowd during the country’s busiest travel season in the year. While I am still debating whether or not I should go, I know I should share what I have learned about this art exhibition with other bonsai, suiseki, and art lovers. One should definitely check out this art exhibition if possible.

Chencun Flower World, Guangzhou — Chencun Flower World

This event is a combination of the 2010 China (Chencun) International Art Fair (2010中國（陳村）國際藝術博覽會)and the Eighth Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Bonsai Art Fair (第八屆粵港澳臺盆景藝術博覽會)and the Retrospective Exhibition of “2006 China (Chencun) International Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition” (“2006中國(陳村)國際盆景賞石博覽會”回顧展). The art exhibition will be held September 30 to October 4 in Chencun Flower World (陳村花卉世界).

The art festival held in Chencun will have three themes: art fair, international bonsai exhibition, and rock appreciation expo. The bonsai show will feature 250 top class bonsai, brings together bonsai school of Lingnan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, and others. The bonsai exhibition will also show the “18 Luohan” (十八羅漢) – the Ficus bonsai which costs over a million renminbi.

Art collectors, bonsai and stone professionals of over 30 countries and regions will attend this art fair in which the fourth China (Chencun) International Art Fair will be held in the newly built 1,500 square meters Flower World Art Pavilion A (花卉世界藝術展覽A館). This particular art fair is currently one of the three most influential national art fair in China. Exhibition includes Chinese painting, calligraphy, antique furniture and a variety of stones, jade, crystals and other minerals.

This art exhibition will also show some very valuable national art treasures, including a 5000 year-old Thuja root carving, and the very famous “Along the River during the Qingming Festival” (清明上河圖) which is the work of Song Dynasty artist – Zhang Zeduan. In addition, there will be a large-scale of calligraphy and painting showing in the art exhibition, including art works by famous masters such as Qi baishi (齊白石), Zhang Daqian (張大千), and Yang Shanshen (楊善深).