Abstract

Wen Zhengming is a typical scholar，who meant to be an official by imperial civil examinations，but failed for nine times．Helped by Lin Jun and recommended by Li Chongsi，he then worked as an official in Beijing，however，after having worked as Daizhao（an official post）in the Imperial Academy for over three years，he decided to leave Beijing，and to focus on literacy and calligraphy．Despite the economic embarrassments for most of his life and uninfluential family background，Wen Zhengming eventually achieved his life values and was highly praised．So what was his life behind those marvelous accomplishments？

This paper is divided into five chapters，with an attempt to unveil Wen Zhengming's life of writing，calligraphy and painting by studying his subsistent living in terms of family background，education，economic state，personal relationships，artistic creation and appreciation，teaching，taste of art，etc．Chapter one is on Wen Zhengming's family background and his education．First，it focuses on the educational influences on him from his paternal and maternal relatives as well as his wife's relatives．Second，it analyzes Wen Zhengming's educational background of literacy and calligraphy in terms of his communication with his teachers and friends，and his choices and learning of the ancient classics．Chapter two is on Wen Zhengming's leisure life and social life．It first studies the overall state ofhis leisure life，including his living conditions，physical and economic state，travelling，diet habits，family trivia，study life，etc．Then it analyzes his relationship with the officials in Beijing，Nanjing and Suzhou，and with the scholars in Suzhou area，as well as the connoisseurs around Suzhou area．Chapter three studies Wen Zhengming's writing，painting and calligraphic creation by analyzing the state quo of his poems，articles，calligraphy and paintings，the choices of writing subject and the motives for creation．Chapter four is on Wen Zhengming's artistic appreciation and collection．First，it reviews the books Wen Zhengming read in his life，analyzes his collection channels and his role in the circulation of calligraphy and painting．Second，it studies his experience in engraving the models for calligraphy，and represents the origin and course of ZhenShangZhaiTie and TingYunGuanTie．Chapter five is on Wen Zhengming's ideology and his interest in art．First，it analyzes Wen Zhengming's personality and studies his change from pursuing an official post into living a hermetic life．Second，it expounds his style and taste in literacy and art，which is seeking common ground while reserving differences．Third，it summarizes the primary reason why he could be versatile and creative in writing and calligraphy．The two appendixes after the text are respectively profiles of Wen Zhengming's friends and his comments on calligraphy and painting works in every dynasty．

Wen Zhengming is a representative of the scholars in ancient times．He made remarkable achievements in many fields such as poems，painting，and calligraphy，and so on．He is good－tempered，cautious in speech and action，fond of making friends and traveling，which led him to live a long life．He was born in an ordinary official family without excellent living conditions．He craved officialdom for most of his life，but finally lived a hermetic life for decades，and spent the last years of his life on literacy and calligraphy．