1. Shi Tao (1642-1708) was a painter in the early Qing Dynasty. His original surname was Zhu, and his given name was Ruoji. He was from Guilin, Guangxi, and his ancestral home was Fengyang, Anhui. His nickname was A Chang, and he had many nicknames, such as Dadi. Zi, Qingxiang old man, Balsam pear monk, Blind Venerable, their dharma names include Yuanji, Yuanji, etc. The son of Zhu Hengjia, King Jingjiang of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Yuanzong of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Together with Hongren, Kuncan and Zhu Da, they are collectively known as the "Four Monks of the Early Qing Dynasty". ?
Shi Tao is a very important figure in the history of Chinese painting. He is not only an explorer and innovator of painting practice, but also an art theorist.
After a coup in his childhood, he became a monk and settled in Guangjiao Temple in Jingting Mountain, Xuancheng, Anhui Province. He traveled around for the rest of his life and made a living selling paintings. In his early years, he followed the masters of landscape painting from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and his painting style was sparse, elegant, and clean. In his later years, he used his brushes freely, dripping with ink, and varied patterns, especially in album sketches; the flowers are free and bright, innocent, and refreshing; the characters are vivid Clumsy, simple and unique.
Excellent in calligraphy and poetry. His extant works include "Shitao Arhat's Hundred-Open Album", "Drawing Pictures of Searching for Strange Peaks", "Pictures of Landscapes with Silent Sound", "Pictures of Bamboo and Stone", etc. He is the author of "Bitter Melon Monk Painting Quotations". His famous sayings include "Theory of One Painting", "Search all the wonderful peaks to make a draft", "The pen and ink should adapt to the times", etc.
The compositions of Shi Tao's paintings are novel. Whether it is clouds and smoke in Huangshan Mountains, ink paintings in the south of the Yangtze River, cliffs, dead trees and jackdaws, or distant, far-reaching, and high-altitude scenery, he strives for novel layouts and innovative artistic conceptions. He is especially good at using the "interception method" to convey the depth of the scene with close-ups. Shi Tao also emphasizes momentum. His writing style is unrestrained, free and easy, regardless of small flaws. His works have a bold and vigorous momentum, and he wins with his unrestrained momentum. It had a profound impact on the development of Chinese painting from the Qing Dynasty to modern times.
There are "Drawing Pictures of Searching for Strange Peaks", "Huaiyang Clean Autumn Picture", "Huiquan Pictures Flooding at Night", "Landscapes with Soundless Sounds Picture", "Dry Rain and Qiu Pine Pictures", "Plum Blossom Pictures", and "Mohe Pictures". ", "Bamboo, Chrysanthemum and Stone Pictures" and other works handed down from generation to generation. The author of "Quotes on the Painting of the Balsam Melon Monk" expounded his understanding of landscape painting, put forward the One Painting Theory, advocated "borrowing the past to open up the present", "I use my own method", and "searching all the strange peaks to make drafts", etc., which is very important in the history of Chinese painting. It is of great significance.
2. Kang Youwei (1858-1927), whose original name was Zuyi, whose courtesy name was Guangsha, and whose nickname was Changsu. He was also known as Mingyi, Gengyi, Xiqiaoshanren, Youcunsou, and Tianyouhua. Kang Nanhai, a native of Danzaosu Village, Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, was an important politician, thinker, educator and representative figure of bourgeois reformism in the late Qing Dynasty in China.
Kang Youwei was born in a feudal bureaucratic family and began to come into contact with Western culture in the fifth year of Guangxu (1879). In the fourteenth year of Guangxu's reign (1888), Kang Youwei once again went to Beijing to take part in the Shuntian Provincial Examination. He took the opportunity to write to Emperor Guangxu for the first time to request reform, but was blocked and did not go through. After the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891), Wanmu Thatched Cottage was established in Guangzhou to recruit apprentices and give lectures.
In the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), I learned that the Treaty of Shimonoseki had been signed, and more than 1,300 people signed a letter with tens of thousands of words, which was called a "public letter".
The Reform Movement of 1898 began in the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898). After the failure of the Reform, he fled to Japan, claiming to hold the emperor's belt edict, organizing a royalist meeting, advocating enlightened autocracy, and opposing revolution. After the Revolution of 1911, as the leader of the royalist party, he opposed the Japanese peace system and had been planning Puyi's restoration.
In the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917), Kang Youwei and Zhang Xun launched a restoration and supported Puyi to the throne. Soon after, the crusade failed under the then Prime Minister of the Beiyang Government Duan Qirui. Kang Youwei always claimed to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty in his later years. After Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City by Feng Yuxiang, he personally went to Tianjin to visit Puyi in Jingyuan where he lived.
Died of illness in Qingdao in the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927). As an active member of late Qing society, Kang Youwei embodied the direction of history when he advocated the reform movement. But later, he and Yuan Shikai became the spiritual leaders of the restoration movement.
3. Tan Sitong (1865.3.10-1898.9.28), male, nicknamed Fusheng, nicknamed Zhuangfei, was born in Liuyang, Hunan, a famous politician, thinker and reformer in modern China. His book "Ren Xue" is the first philosophical work of the reformists and an important work in the history of modern Chinese thought.
In his early years, Tan Sitong initiated the establishment of the Current Affairs School and the Nanjing Society in his hometown of Hunan, sponsored the "Xiang Daily", advocated the opening of mines, built railways, publicized reforms and implemented the New Deal.
In 1898 AD (the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Tan Sitong participated in leading the Reform Movement of 1898. He was killed after the failure. He was only 33 years old and was one of the "Six Gentlemen of 1898".
Tan Sitong devoted his life to reform and reform, advocating that China could become strong only by developing national industry and commerce and learning the political system of the Western bourgeoisie. He was the most radical among the reformers who openly proposed reforms such as abolishing the imperial examinations, building schools, developing mineral deposits, building railways, setting up factories, and changing the official system.
In the early years, he organized the New Deal in Hunan and used the Current Affairs School to cultivate a large number of reformers; later he participated in the leadership of the Reform Movement of 1898 in 1898 (the 24th year of Guangxu), during which he actively assisted Emperor Guangxu in implementing the reform. , rectified the official system, eradicated bad government, and finally sacrificed for the reform with the determination of "willing to shed blood on the dirty government", spread the new bourgeois culture and new ideas, and criticized the old feudal culture and old ideas.
Although the bourgeoisie’s fraternity, equality, and freedom are false, they used fraternity, equality, and freedom to overcome feudal autocracy and feudal ethics. Under the historical conditions of old China, under the fierce anti-feudal In this regard, absolutism has its outstanding progressive nature.
4. Nalan Xingde (January 19, 1655 - July 1, 1685), Yehenala, named Rongruo, a native of Lengya Mountain, a native of Zhenghuang Banner in Manchuria, Qing Dynasty The poet in his early years was originally named Nalan Chengde. He changed his name to Nalan Xingde because he avoided Prince Baocheng. The eldest son of the great scholar Mingzhu, his mother is Aixinjueluo, the fifth daughter of Prince Azig.
Nalan Xingde read poetry and books since he was a child, and studied both literature and martial arts. He entered the Imperial Academy at the age of seventeen and was appreciated by Xu Yuanwen, who offered wine as a sacrifice. At the age of eighteen, he passed the examination and became a tribute scholar the following year. In the 12th year of Kangxi (1673), he missed the imperial examination due to illness. In the 15th year of Kangxi's reign (1676), he took the supplementary palace examination and passed the second, first and seventh place in the examination, and was awarded the title of Jinshi.
Nalan Xingde once worshiped Xu Qianxue as his teacher. In two years, he presided over the compilation of a Confucian compilation - "Tongzhitang Jingjie", which was highly appreciated by Emperor Kangxi and laid the foundation for future development.
Nalan Xingde passed away suddenly on May 30th (July 1, 1685), the 24th year of Kangxi reign (1685), at the age of only thirty (thirty-one years old) . Nalan Xingde's poems are characterized by their "truth", and his descriptions of scenes are lifelike and vivid. His style of poems is "clear, elegant, graceful, sad, and far-reaching, and unique." He is the author of "Tongzhitang Collection", "Zi Mao Collection", "Drinking Words", etc.
There are 348 poems by Nalan Xingde (one theory is 342). The contents involve love and friendship, frontier fortress in the south of the Yangtze River, chanting things and history, and miscellaneous feelings. He writes about landscapes, water, and lotus. Although he has a small number of poems as an author and his vision is not broad, because the poems are charming and emotional, and Nalan Xingde is a very temperamental person, his poems are all excellent. Kuang Zhouyi praised him as "the first lyricist in the early days of the Republic of China" in "Huifeng Cihua".
"Nalan Ci" not only enjoys a high reputation in the poetry circle of the Qing Dynasty, but also occupies a glorious place in the entire history of Chinese literature. Looking at Nalan Xingde's poetry style, it is fresh, elegant, and sad, which is quite close to the later masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He himself also admired Li Yu very much. He once said: "Huajian's poems are like ancient jade, precious but not applicable; Song poems are applicable but less precious. Li Yu's poems have their own beauty, and they are even more confusing." In addition, his poetry was also influenced by "The Collection of Flowers" and Yan Jidao.
5. Cao Xueqin (about May 28, 1715 - about February 12, 1763), named Zhan, courtesy name Mengruan, also known as Xueqin, also known as Qinxi and Qinpu, a Chinese classic The author of "A Dream of Red Mansions" was born in Tieling, Liaoning, and was born in Jiangning (now Nanjing). Cao Xueqin was born in the Zhengbaiqi wrapping family of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty. He was the grandson of Cao Yin, a weaver in Jiangning, and the son of Cao Yong (some say the son of Cao Fu).
In his early years, Cao Xueqin experienced a life of rich and romantic life in Jiangning Zhizao Mansion, Nanjing. Great-grandfather Cao Xi worked as a weaver in Jiangning; great-grandmother Sun worked as the nanny of Emperor Kangxi; grandfather Cao Yin worked as Emperor Kangxi's companion and imperial bodyguard, and later worked as a weaver in Jiangning, and also served as the salt inspector of Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers, and was highly trusted by Kangxi.
In the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign (1728), the Cao family was confiscated and ransacked because of a deficit. Cao Xueqin moved back to his old home in Beijing with his family. Later he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing and made a living by selling calligraphy and painting and providing charity to friends. From then on, the Cao family failed to recover and gradually declined. After experiencing a major turning point in life, Cao Xueqin deeply felt the harshness of the world and had a clearer and deeper understanding of feudal society.
He despised the powerful, stayed away from officialdom, and lived a difficult life of poverty.
Cao Xueqin has an open nature and a wide range of hobbies. She has studied epigraphy, poetry, painting, gardening, traditional Chinese medicine, darning, crafts, diet, etc. With perseverance and many years of hardship, he finally created a great work of great ideological and artistic quality - "A Dream of Red Mansions".
In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), his youngest son died young. He fell into excessive sadness and grief and became bedridden. He died on New Year's Eve (February 12) in the 28th year of Qianlong's reign (1763) due to poverty and illness without medical treatment. Regarding the year of Cao Xueqin's death, there are also theories about New Year's Eve in the 29th year of Qianlong (February 1, 1764) and the early spring of Jiashen (1764).