中国国画：千里江山

在世界历史上，出现了很多画画的手法。在这些手法之中，有一个有中国特色的画风，叫“国画”。 大多数国画都描绘风景或者自然的东西，拿“山水”这种画来说吧：它们表现漂亮的山和河。这类的画随常包括书法、工笔或者水墨的手法。表现风景的图画出现于五代时期，然后，到北宋时期一直很流行。我很喜欢这个时代的图画，特别是由王希孟画的“千里江山”。

这张图画的名字表示出图画的内容—你们一看千里江山就可见四处都是山和江。这张图画是画在丝绸上的；丝绸很长，几乎十二公尺，这给人们”江很长“的印象，因为这张画使人们的眼睛随着河走。这张图画是国画的一个很好的例子，拿这张画作表现出的山来说吧，它们表现出了“水墨”的手法。

我知道，在一般图画作中，很多的确又漂亮又复杂；可是，在内容上，千里江山看起来很简单。但千里江山这张图画连一笔乱画的画笔都没有，使这幅画很完美；而且，这张图画的内容使这幅画并不简单。比如说，颜色的用法出人意外：看起来，他以水色为山色、以山色为水色。出人意外的顏色，使人们以为画里可能有着更深刻的意义。

千里江山让我想到漓江的风景。几年前，我有机会亲眼看到那个非常漂亮的风景—从桂林到阳朔坐船看到的风景， 那次游览给我留下了终身的印象。王希孟用蓝色画出山，是为了注重山的神秘美，使我感觉到那个被雾包着的山。也就是说，王希孟的画表现出山水的精神。换句话说，王希孟想用山水的精神来让他画更真买，所以我特别喜欢。

Throughout history many painting practices have emerged. Among these styles is one characteristic to Chinese art, called “Native painting”. Most of these paintings display nature or scenery, take the “mountains and rivers” style for example—these show beautiful mountains and rivers. This style of painting usually includes calligraphy, detailed brushwork, or watercolor/ink techniques. The paintings of scenery emerged in the Five Dynasties Period, and continued to be popular in the Northern Song Period. I like the paintings from this era, especially “One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains” painted by Wang Ximeng.

The meaning of this painting’s name is a lot of rivers and mountains—one glance makes obvious that rivers and mountains are everywhere in the painting. The painting is on silk; the silk cloth is almost 12 meters long. This gives people the impression of the length of the river, as their eyes travel this way and that along the paining following the course of the river. This painting is a good example of native painting, take the painted mountains for example, they display the watercolor technique.

I know, for paintings in general, many are indeed intricate and beautiful; however, in terms of content, One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains appears very simple. But One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains hasn’t even one carelessly painted stroke, making it seem perfect; moreover, the content of the painting shows that it is in the end not simple. For example, the colors used are against people’s expectations; it seems that he used the color of water for the mountains and the color of mountains for the water. This strange use of colors makes people consider that the painting may have a deeper meaning.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see the beautiful Lijiang river scenery with my own eyes. I took a cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, and it left a lifelong impression on me: Wang Ximeng’s use of blue-painted mountains serves to emphasize the mysterious beauty of the mountains, making me feel as if I were standing at the foot of those foggy mountains. You could also say that Wang Ximeng’s painting’s feelling is almost the same as the feelling of the scenery. It’s apparent that Wang Ximeng used the feeling of the scenery to paint more authentically. I really like this painting.