In the spring of 1921, Zhang Daqian borrowed money from Li Mansion in Shanghai and saw Li Qiujun's "Lotus Picture" for the first time in the Ouxiang Pavilion. The ink rhyme was pure and clear, filling the room with light. She immediately pointed out the shortcomings of his imitation of Shi Tao's brushstrokes, and he blurted out, "Who made this painting?" This was the beginning of a relationship that spanned half a century.
The two used painting as a medium and got to know each other through poetry. However, Daqian already had a family, and Li's father wanted to marry him, but he knelt down and declined: "Li's family is a famous family, and we cannot make a daughter of a daughter a concubine; I have no reason to give up my wife and marry again." Once a promise is made, it will be a lifetime. From then on, we treat each other as brother and sister, and stay with each other as confidants.
He carved the seal of "Qiuchi" and lamented that it was too late to meet again; she gave Ou Xiang an inkstone and allowed him to take it with him to the end of the world. He went to Dunhuang to face the wall for three years, and she lit a lamp with him every night; he traveled around the country and sent back earthly letters, but she never opened them in his life. He and she chose adjacent longevity caves in Jing'an Cemetery and inscribed each other's tombstones, but in the end they were unable to spend a day together in the name of husband and wife.
In 2004, "The Wild and Green Picture" was put up for auction, and the "Autumn Late" seal was announced to the world. Only then did I know that the deepest love in the world is not with us day and night, but even though we are thousands of miles apart, between life and death, you are still the only one who can understand my writing.
"What starts with emotion, ends with etiquette" - a poetic elegy that captures the profound and deep feelings of the literati of the Republic of China.
