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1-1-2009 Studies in the Literary Imagination, Volume XXXVII, Number 1, Spring 2004 Shirley Geok-lin Lim

Gina Valentino

Stephen Hong Sohn

John Blair Gamber

Katherine Hyunmi Lee

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Recommended Citation Lim, Shirley Geok-lin; Valentino, Gina; Sohn, Stephen Hong; Gamber, John Blair; Lee, Katherine Hyunmi; Higashida, Cheryl; Corley, Liam; Stocks, Claire; Partridge, Jeffrey F.L.; Jeon, Joseph Jonghyun; Diehl, Heath A.; and Zheng, Da, "Studies in the Literary Imagination, Volume XXXVII, Number 1, Spring 2004" (2009). English Department Publication - Studies in the Literary Imagination. Paper 11. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_deptpub_li/11

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English Department Publications at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Department Publication - Studies in the Literary Imagination by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Gina Valentino, Stephen Hong Sohn, John Blair Gamber, Katherine Hyunmi Lee, Cheryl Higashida, Liam Corley, Claire Stocks, Jeffrey F.L. Partridge, Joseph Jonghyun Jeon, Heath A. Diehl, and Da Zheng

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1. The Budai Monk (1972) by Chiang Yee. Printed by permission of Chien-fei Chiang. 09ZhengChinese.qxd 10/11/2004 4:05 PM Page 169

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THE TRAVELING OF ART AND THE ART OF TRAVELING: CHIANG YEE’S PAINTING AND CHINESE CULTURAL TRADITION

In the early 1970s, Chiang Yee held an individual art exhibition in Hong Kong. Among numerous calligraphies and paintings was The Budai Monk, or The Cloth-bag Monk. The figure of the Budai Monk occupies the central portion of the painting, with a Chinese poem and three small seals at the top and a large seal in the lower right-hand corner (see figure 1). While this painting may not qualify as a masterpiece or as Chiang’s best artwork, it is a particularly interesting and significant case for a number of reasons. First, Asian American studies has generally focused its critical attention on literary texts, mostly post-1970. In comparison, artworks and works of multiple media, which are an essential component of Asian American cultural productions, have been largely under-studied. Second, Asian American studies tends to emphasize the sociopolitical context of the literary works in relation to immigrant cultures in North America. The linkage between immigrant artists, writers, and poets and their indigenous cultural tradition (especially in art and religion) has not been adequately addressed. A study of the images and poem in the painting The Budai Monk illustrates the vital importance of such a link and adds a new facet to the complexity, diversity, and richness of Asian American experience in rela- tion to its cultural tradition. Third, such a study, while underlining the inseparable relationship between the immigrants’ cultural presentation and their cultural tradition, may lead us to recognize the significant role that the diasporic condition has played in the production of those cultur- al artifacts. In other words, with an emphasis on the diasporic nature of Asian American artists, we will gain a better understanding of them and their works. Chiang’s portrayal of a wandering monk, bare-footed, clad in a loose gown with his chest and belly exposed, constituted a conspicuously jar- ring presence in the late twentieth century, when modernist artists were experimenting with new media, exploring new venues, and inventing new fashions. This paper will address the following questions: What is the

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implication of Chiang’s persistent interest in depicting this ancient wan- dering monk after having resided overseas for nearly four decades and being known for his presentation of the West in art? What is the signifi- cance of the indigenous cultural tradition to a diasporic artist? What is the role of art in diasporic cultural presentation? While addressing these ques- tions, I would like to argue that Chiang’s reference to the Chinese tradition constitutes a distinctive mode of cultural representation (i.e., diasporic culture) that may be physically distinct from mainstream culture but that constitutes a vital component of twentieth-century immigrant culture.

TRAVELING BUDAI AND “THE SILENT TRAVELLER”

The Budai Monk is a popular legendary character in China. As the story goes, in the tenth century there was in Zhejiang Province an eccentric monk named Qieci (also known as Changtingzi), who traveled around car- rying a cloth bag on his staff; hence his name, “The Budai Monk,” mean- ing “The Cloth-Bag Monk.” He was short, scantily clad, and corpulent, with his protruding belly exposed. Often surrounded by children, he would beg for alms and sleep wherever he paused in his travels. According to the legend, when he slept in snow, his clothes would stay dry; when he wore wet shoes, it was going to rain; when he had wooden sandals on, it was to be a sunny day. In March 917, the Budai sat down on a rock in the Yuelin Temple and chanted the following hymn:

Maitreya, true Maitreya, Dividing himself into hundreds and thousands of bodies, Enlightens humans from time to time, While unrecognized by the people of his time. (Leng and Fan 431)

Having finished the hymn, the Budai Monk passed away in tranquility. It was after his death that people began to realize that the Budai Monk was the incarnation of Maitreya, a most respected Buddha among the pan- theon in many Asian countries. Nearly 2,500 years ago, Maitreya, born as Siddhartha Gautama in southern India of a Brahmin family, renounced the householder’s life. After a period of spiritual practice, he declared that he

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was to become a Buddha, and he then preached with Sakymuni Buddha. It is said that, after entering nirvana, Maitreya ascended to the Tushita Heaven, where he will stay as Bodhisattva for 5,670,000,000 years before his return to the earth to become the Buddhist Messiah, or the Future Buddha, giving sermons under the Dragon Flower Tree. Maitreya, whose name means “friendly” and “benevolent” and to whom the virtue of mag- nanimity is attributed, has become a symbol of future enlightenment and blissful salvation in Chinese Buddhism because he is the one who will lead people on earth to paradise. For that reason, Maitreya is the Buddha of the Future, whereas Dipankara and Sakyamuni are the Buddha of the Past and the Buddha of the Present, respectively. The origin of the Maitreya cult in China dates back to the fifth century. In art, Maitreya has generally been portrayed as Bodhisattva, preaching to the gods in the Tushita Heaven. He is typically presented in “the posture of the ‘thinker’”; that is, in Bodhisattva dress, seated with his right leg rest- ing horizontally on the throne, his left leg pendant, and his right hand supporting his head (Frederic 118–21). The image has undergone marked changes since the tenth century, when Maitreya began to appear more often in the Buddha’s dress. In addition, there came a new creation of a corpulent laughing Buddha, known as Laughing Maitreya, an image unquestionably based on the legend of the Budai Monk. Since then, the Budai Monk has often been placed in the entrance halls to the temples and has become an extremely popular image, its smile bringing unrestrained happiness to the public. The Budai, an incarnation of the Buddha of the Future, also became a popular subject of Chinese figure painting, begin- ning with the Song Dynasty in the tenth century. Typical examples include The Budai Monk Scroll by Liang Kai (see figure 2) and The Budai Monk Scroll by Zhang Hong (see figure 3). The Budai Monk, always wearing a disarming radiant smile on his face and carrying a bag on his shoulders, seems to be on the move all the time. The image and legend of the Budai Monk, while retaining their religious and celestial auras, have become popularized and secularized as Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. Chiang’s painting of the Budai Monk is an example of the Chinese artist’s reworking of canonized images and cultural legacy. It is common for an artist in China to (re)present an existing classical or canonized piece. Such a re-working presumes the viewer’s knowledge of the earlier work. Xie He (c. 500–35), for example, proposed that a good painter should “transform and perpetuate ancient models through copying” (H. Wu 240). Such an art istic tradition, however, cannot be equated with mechanical copying or imitation because the painter, aware of the earlier masterpiece or literary

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context, is re-creating—i.e., transforming and perpetuating—the ancient image. As art historian Wu Hung has observed, the artist is obliged “to revisit it in a different light by questioning the stability of the pictorial con- vention in the painting” (239–40). Such re-working is an inventive art. The Budai Monk in Chiang’s painting presents all the essential character- istic features and elements of the canonized figure, yet it appears notice- ably different from that of either Liang’s or Zhang’s painting. By contrast, the Budai Monk in both Liang’s and Zhang’s paintings is smiling or laugh- ing at someone or something absent from our sight; he is not in motion but is pausing for a moment from his journey, turning around with a smile. The Budai Monk in Chiang’s painting, in addition to being bald and fat, has long, bushy eyebrows and a thick beard under his chin and cheeks; he appears contemplative, determined, experienced, and wise, and he is in motion, traveling steadily all by himself. Chiang’s other painting of the Budai Monk, finished in 1934, is an exam- ple of his early efforts in re-creating the canonized image. The Budai Monk stands still against a background of a mountain slope with some wild plants, possibly taking a short rest from his travel and observing his sur- roundings. He fixes his gaze on some object in the front. Contrary to the legend and other similar images, the Budai Monk’s youthful face wears no beard, and he is con- templative rather than smiling unrestrainedly (see figure 4). Myriad descriptions and interpretations have been offered to explain the relation- ship between the Budai Monk and Maitreya and their celes- tial and terrestrial roles. I would like to stress two salient features pertinent to the dis- cussion of Chiang’s painting. First of all, transformation is a common subject in Buddhism, 2. The Budai Monk Scroll by Liang Kai. Printed by permission of the Shanghai Museum, and the Buddha is able to Shanghai, China. make “unlimited transforma- tions” (Sun 56–57). Seemingly

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deranged and disheveled as he wanders along the street, the Budai Monk, sometimes dis- guised as a beggar, is actually the incarnation of Maitreya. He is an embodiment of wis- dom, auspiciousness, and strength. Having been a prince in India, a Bodhisattva, the Future Buddha, and finally the Budai Monk at various stages, he has acquired numerous identities or, to quote his own words, he has transformed himself “into hundreds and thousands of bodies.” Second, the Budai Monk is displaced and travels incessantly. Indeed, traveling serves as the background for the Budai Monk after his descent from the Tushita Heaven, and against such a background of constant traveling he makes 3. The Budai Monk Scroll by Zhang Hong. temporary pauses and stays. It Printed by permission of the National Palace is his displacement that Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. engenders the Budai Monk’s new identities, enabling him to enlighten the world without being recognized as the Buddha. Distinct from European art, Chinese art employs some unique media and adopts poetic approaches to its subject matter. One of the essential dif- ferences that distinguishes the two is in the subtle, gentle, and inseparable emotional, often spiritual, connections with the artist that Chinese art emphasizes. A seemingly simple painting—of a natural object, a small creature, or a plant—often serves as an expression of the aspirations or emotions of the artist, indicating his subjective affiliation to the artistic creation. Or, as Chinese intellectual Lin Yutang has observed, “To an Oriental, a Western painter always seems to have painted the object from the outside, whereas the Oriental paints it with feeling and with identifi- cation of the artist with it from within” (qtd. in Northrop 318). In his

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choice of the Budai Monk, Chiang, who himself was known as The Silent Traveller, has undoubtedly discovered an appropriate subject to reflect his emotions and ideals. Like the Budai Monk, Chiang is a traveler who has set his footsteps in more than a hundred countries. In his childhood, except for an occasional excursion to the nearby Lu Mountain, he was confined to the family’s spacious compound in which he and his cousins received elementary education, played games, and grew up. In 1922, Chiang attended college in Nanjing, after which he traveled widely in China in the next decade as a student, teacher, revolu- tionary, and civil servant. His first trip overseas was in 1933 when he left for London via Paris. During the next four decades of his sojourn in England and the U.S., Chiang traveled con- stantly in Europe, North America, Asia, and South America. Chiang was an avid traveler but for one exception: he did not return to his homeland until 1975, forty-two years after first leaving the country. Chiang considers himself a traveler, one much like the Budai Monk. After his trip to China in 1975, Chiang wrote a poem responding to his friend Chow Tse-tsung’s greetings:

4. The Budai Monk (1934) by Chiang Yee. Printed by permission of Chien-fei Chiang.

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Having revisited my home country after half a century, I will be back in New York, talking to you about the trip. I have traveled to ten provinces, holding an alms bowl in hand, And witnessed eight hundred million people all sanguine and healthy. (Jiang and Liu 8)

In Buddhism, Bhiksunis (monks) are required to beg for alms from door to door with an earthen bowl in hand; the Budai Monk, according to the legend, always asked for alms with such a bowl, as exemplified by the chant:

With an alms bowl, I get food from hundreds of households, And by myself I travel thousands of miles. My black pupils rarely look at people, And I ask for direction high in the white cloud. (Ci 1905)1

Chiang’s self-portrayed image of traveling in China with an alms bowl in hand resonates with that of the legendary Budai Monk, but the phrase is definitely a striking surprise since in his paintings he does not make any explicit allusion to Buddhism or other religious practice. The phrase “with an alms bowl, I get food from hundreds of households” indicates Chiang’s symbolic identity as a traveler as well as a metaphorical identification with the Buddhist monk. In another poem to his friend in China, Chiang com- ments on his own art works:

Chiang Yee’s art works are of no significance, But they arrive here, pursuing no worldly fashion. Despite the denigration some people insinuate, I sleep at ease in either the city or the mountains. (K. Luo 68)

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The phrases “arrive here” and “in either the city or the mountains” under- line the fluidity in geographical locations and highlight the artist’s unyield- ing belief in a true expression of the self and freedom from social restraints. The overt pride and confidence in these lines find their coun- terparts in the Budai Monk’s chant calling for enlightenment and recogni- tion. Like the Budai Monk, Chiang has multiple identities that reflect his dis- placements, linguistic difficulties, and transformations. Soon after he left China, Chiang created for himself a new name: “The Silent Traveller” in English, or Yaxingzhe in Chinese. Like most of his contempo- raries, Chiang was given a school name in childhood, which was Zhongya , meaning “second (in order of birth)” and “grace,” from which he coined a new name, Zhongya , homophonous with the school name but loaded with various connotations.2 While the character stands for “mute” or “dumb,” carries several denotative meanings, including: “heavy, weighty;” “to place value upon, or attach importance to;” “discreet, prudent;” and “considerable in amount or value.” A combination of these two characters generates a rich variety of connotations, often coexisting yet contrasting and contradicting one another. And probably from Zhongya came the renowned Yaxingzhe , “The Silent Traveller,” a pen name that Chiang employed for his Silent Traveller series beginning in 1937. As the new names Zhongya and Yaxingzhe indicate, Ya , or “silence,” is both weighty and highly valued. Chiang seemed to enjoy utilizing the name “The Silent Traveller” playfully as a visible trademark in his letters, postcards, and articles. But the changes from Zhongya to Zhongya , and finally to Yaxingzhe or the single- character name Ya , unquestionably betoken Chiang’s predicament in a gradual loss of elegance and in his subsequent deployment of silence. Silence has been celebrated for centuries in China as a virtue of elegance, and connotes gracefulness, persistence, modesty, and steadiness; however, in the case of Chiang Yee, it serves as a witness to his uprootedness, dis- placement, alienation, and new cultural identities. His name’s evolution to “Ya,” or “Uncle Ya” by his close friends, confirms his transformation fol- lowing the changes in linguistic, ethnic, cultural, and geographical envi- ronments while underlining his reticent adherence to a (newly acquired) traditional virtuous quality. The following is a short poem of Chiang’s, describing his own identity in a somewhat self-derisive manner:

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There have been only three Travellers in the world, The first being Sun Wukong and the second Wu Song. Third comes the Jiangzhou folk, Who can neither subjugate a tiger nor display any superpower. (K. Luo 64)

Sun Wukong, also known as the “Sun Traveller” or “Monkey,” is a leg- endary character gifted with magic powers in Wu Cheng-en’s classic novel The Journey to the West. Sun Wukong faithfully and successfully accompa- nies the Buddhist monk Tripitaka to India in search of the sacred sutra. Wu Song, also known as the “Wu Traveller” in Shih Nai-an’s Water Margin, is a heroic character, extraordinarily fearless and stout, who fights bare- handed a monstrous tiger that has been terrifying the region. After identi- fying himself as one of the trio, Chiang quickly admits rather self-depre- catingly his lack of physical strength and prowess. Chiang is indeed markedly different from the other two. While Sun Wukong and Wu Song retain their surnames with their new Traveller titles, Chiang loses his surname in his metamorphosis into The Silent Traveller. When explaining why he has adopted the name , Chiang states that during his public service as magistrate in various counties in China he had to deal with numerous assignments and was frequently engaged in disputes with local bureaucrats; after his resignation, he was free from beaurocratic and political entanglements, and the ensuing peace he enjoyed in the West came as an immeasurable joy, especially after his arrival in England. In addition, he wanted to improve his English skills by immersing himself in the English language (Jiang and Liu 17). What Chiang has left unmentioned is the other side of the issue, characterized by pain and misery: silence results from the linguistic ineptitude of a Chinese emigrant residing in an English-speaking country. Silence is inter- preted as sinister; silence brands Chiang a perpetual foreigner. Silence, a void of vocal expression in any language, functions in this case as a new form of eloquent expression of the subject’s geographical displacement, linguistic impediments, and cultural predicament. In that sense, there is no better or more appropriate description of Chiang’s predicament than

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the common Chinese expression (“A dumb person tastes the bitter herb—suffering its bitterness in silence”).

BUDDHISM AND FORBEARANCE

At the top of his 1972 Budai Monk painting, Chiang has inscribed a poem that consists of four four-character lines, running vertically from right to left:

Budai, Budai, Having neither ties nor cares, Enjoys unrestrained freedom in the world, Gaining big and being comfortable.

Chinese paintings often bear inscriptions, either by the artists themselves or supplemented subsequently by collectors or other artists. These inscrip- tions, though generally self-sufficient as individually complete units, gen- erally complement the art work or its subject. While recognizing the pri- ority of the painting itself, the inscription may generate interplays with the image by commenting on the art work, alluding to other cultural or his- torical anecdotes, and creating new layers of meaning to the painting’s interpretation. Such is the case with the inscription on Chiang’s Budai Monk. An unmistakable resemblance in both diction and theme exists between Chiang’s inscription and a chant attributed to the Budai Monk:

I have a cloth bag, Void of either ties or cares. When open, it spreads out all over the world; Entering it, one enjoys oneself with much comfort. (Mile Zhuan 15)

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Both poems stress the dichotomies between material impoverishment and spiritual comfort, physical limits and mental freedom, through which the overall message is obvious in regard to Budai’s material contentedness and spiritual transcendence. Buddhism teaches people to put an end to suffer- ing by annihilating all cravings for material possessions. Only when one is freed from material desires and possessions can he or she gain the most precious gift, i.e., Buddha-nature, or self-nature, as characterized by limit- less comfort and ultimate freedom. As “Song of Enlightenment” says, “The penniless Buddhist monks say they are destitute; / Though they have noth- ing, they are not poor in Tao” (Yen 21). The inscription at the top of Chiang’s Budai Monk from 1934 is an interesting illustration:

Some monks love to eat animal meat; Some monks have excessive carnal desire. Truth does not exist in this world; A horse is deliberately identified as a deer. Why do women expose their legs? And men’s dreams are too shameful to describe. Highrises and mansions should be stately and handsome, But they all contain treachery and murders within. Oh, my, how nice it would be to become such a bald monk, Always being content and traveling with a cloth bag.

With unusually detailed and biting commentary on the world, Chiang is calling for a detachment from social hypocrisy and moral degeneration, a form of non-attachment in line with his aspiration for spiritual freedom expressed in his later painting in 1972. The Budai Monk is famous for his tolerance and magnanimity. A couplet in a temple in Fujian Province runs:

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Meeting people with a smile, no animosity will last; Having a belly so huge, he is capable of tolerating the entire universe. (W. Luo 123)

And a similar one in Taiwan:

????????????;

The tolerance of the huge belly resolves so many issues in humanity; The cheerfulness of the heart discards all the worries in the world. (W. Luo 124)

There are even some Zaju plays based on the Budai Monk legend, among which is one by Zheng Tingyu of the Yuan Dynasty titled A Story of Forbearance . The play is about Liu Junzuo, who was originally a Buddhist saint in heaven. He has changed to become a rich but greedy man since his arrival on the earth, and he yearns to accumulate money through exploiting people. Upon learning this, Maitreya transforms himself into the Budai Monk, coming to Liu’s home to admonish him. After various twists and turns, Liu gradually perceives his own mistake. The Budai Monk writes the character ren (“forbearance”) on Liu’s hand, advising him to resist the temptation of pursuing worldly gains and transient nota- bility. Eventually, Liu is convinced, becomes a monk, and attains enlight- enment. The play, underscoring the importance of tolerance and spiritual transcendence, used to be very popular in the Yuan and succeeding dynas- ties (W. Luo and Chen 4–5). Like many other plays of the Yuan Dynasty, A Story of Forbearance contains a thematic undercurrent advocating the Buddhist doctrine that “man is born into a continuous chain of reincarna- tions, each life being the fruit of seed sown in previous existences, with salvation attainable only through enlightenment—the realization of the pain of human existence and the cessation of earthly desires” (Shih 95). Buddhism has exerted some critical impact on Chiang’s worldview. His hometown, Jiujiang, is a famous city in the history of Buddhism, where some reputed Buddhist masters used to give lectures and some of the renowned Buddhist temples were established. In his childhood, Chiang

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often accompanied his grandmother, a pious Buddhist, to a nearby temple. Even though Chiang never became a Buddhist himself, he painted Buddhist subjects as early as the 1920s. In 1931, during Chiang’s term as the magistrate of Wuhu County, the newly appointed governor plotted a coup d’état and dispatched troops to besiege the local county government office building. Years later, Chiang recalled:

I sat in the main office and could hear frequent gunshots outside. I sent the orderly to dig holes with the female members of the fami- ly and to hide in the back of the building. Since they were women, it was not too difficult to help. I had no other choice but to start painting. The first painting I did was “Bodhidharma Facing the Wall in Meditation,” which marked the beginning of my Buddha paint- ings. (Memoirs)3

Fortunately, the coup was soon suppressed and the troops withdrawn. Chiang’s choice of Bodhidharma as his painting subject during the crisis might have been incidental, yet surprisingly enough it is pertinent to our discussion here, for Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, was a practitioner of forbearance. Born and raised in India, Bodhidharma, who was appointed the twenty-eighth Buddha due to his power of understand- ing, traveled hundreds of miles to China to establish a new religious sect, Zen Buddhism. He practiced meditation and believed that communication with God is possible through meditation, which aims at producing a state of perfect mental health, equilibrium, and tranquility. The original term in Sanskrit for “meditation” is bhavana, meaning “development,” and the Buddhist “culture,” or bhavana, is meant to cleanse the mind of impurities and disturbances, such as lustful desires, hatred, restlessness, and ill-will; furthermore, such qualities as concentration, energy, confidence, joy, and tranquility are cultivated, leading to the attainment of highest wisdom and the realization of the Ultimate Truth, nirvana (Rahula 67–68). Chiang had an extraordinary interest in Zen Buddhism. A number of his Buddha paintings of the 1930s are about Bodhidharma, including Bodhidharma Crossing the River on a Reed and An Indian Scholar-Monk in Meditation.4 During the late 1950s through the late 1960s, Chiang con- ducted research on Chinese poetry and Zen Buddhism in preparation for a book on Chinese Zen poetry.5 Zen Buddhism’s considerable influence on Chiang is also evidenced by one small but illuminating detail: in his New York apartment, as his son Chien-fei Chiang recalls, numerous sheets of paper were scattered on the floor or posted on the walls, on which one sin-

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gle Chinese character was written: , or “forbearance.” (146). As Chiang Yee has explained, every time he encountered something unhappy, he would write the character to remind himself of the necessity for restraint from anger, disappointment, despair, and distress (C. Chiang). Chiang presumably had mastered his disturbing passions and maintained a worry-free image in public, yet the great number of sheets containing the character proclaimed Chiang’s self-discipline and tenacity in the face of myriad obstacles and challenges. Ren , meaning tolerance, endurance, patience, and forbearance, is an important Buddhist principle. The Buddha himself was noted to have been of “a wonderfully tolerant nature” and displayed an unparalleled tolera- tion in overlooking insults or injuries inflicted by his religious adversaries, in forgiving the faults of his disciples, and in recognizing the meritorious doctrinal points of other religions and philosophical systems (Tachibana 237). The practice of the principle ren is aimed at enduring but not deny- ing or eradicating all social calamities and human evils. Recognizing and underlining the inevitability of adverse conditions, practitioners like Chiang attempt to overcome such negative elements by being completely detached. During his four decades of sojourning overseas, Chiang estab- lished his literary and artistic reputation and won the respect of numerous friends. Nevertheless, deep in his heart ran an unquenchable strain of nearly tragic sentiments, though he managed to sustain an overtly joyous image. The loss of his mother in his early childhood, for example, was quickly followed by the loss of his father when he was only fifteen. His elder brother by ten years became his mentor and supporter, but in the summer of 1937, soon after the Japanese invaded China, Chiang was bereaved once more by the news that his brother had died of a heart attack. To Chiang, sojourning overseas meant both displacement and the depri- vation of a normal family life, as he had left behind his wife and four chil- dren, whom, except for the two sons, he never saw until forty-two years later in 1975. As for Chiang’s teaching career, a lack of formal academic training and academic credentials was crippling, both in England and America, until he received the title of professor emeritus after retirement from Columbia and garnered several honorary degrees later in his career. In the eyes of the public, his reputation, accomplishments, publications, and general popularity accompanied Chiang all along; in fact, the honors of success had been secretly coupled with loneliness, pressure, discomfort, and homesickness, which could be only partially and temporarily lessened with the help of , forbearance.

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Situated inconspicuously to the right of the poem in the 1972 Budai Monk is a seal that reads, a (“Having also been the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou”). The phrase, though manifestly casual, is infused with intense emotions. It comes from Chiang’s own untitled poem, com- posed in 1938:

With disheveled hair, I traveled around the world in my middle age, Selling paintings and writings to sustain a living Having also been the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou I would not let my tears wet my black gown for the sake of a woman. (Zhongya 100)

Chiang’s phrase, with the word “also,” alludes to the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi (772–846), who was demoted and left the capital to serve as the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou, which is the present-day Jiujiang. Renowned for his refreshing and rhythmic poetic style, Bai composed some highly acclaimed narrative poems, among which is “The Song of the Lute-Girl.” It recounts the poet’s encounter on a late autumn night with a lute-player, who, through the medium of music, conveys the vicissitudes of her life from a beautiful prima, or “singing girl,” in her youth, to a lonesome wife in a loveless marriage, to a merchant. Mesmerized by the song, Bai sheds tears uncontrollably—partly because of the lute-girl’s story and musical skill, partly because of a remembrance of his own political career and exilic experience:

“Already moved by the music of your lute,” I responded, “Your story has pierced my heart with a personal note: For we are both castaways on the sea of life, And a casual meeting has found us in the same boat! “Since I left the Capital last year, I have lived as an exile in Hsun-yang. Illness and depression have taken hold of me. And throughout the year I have not heard a song.” (J. Wu 149)

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In Chiang’s line “Having also been the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou,” the adverb “also” serves as a link associating Chiang with Bai and highlight- ing their similarities. Apparently, Chiang is not only aware but also proud of this connection, as evidenced in his autobiographical account A Chinese Childhood, in which he states that many of his friends used to address him by Bai Juyi’s official title, “Master of Horses of Chiang Chou,” or “Chief Officer of Jiangzhou” (5). Chiang is likely aware that the similarities between Bai and himself extend beyond the same official post to compa- rable diasporic and literary experiences. Bai’s demotion resulted from his fearless candor and loyal devotion to the imperial court; he had insisted that the assassin of the Prime Minister should be duly executed, thus incurring envy and exclusion by some other court officials. Bai’s poems, lucid and engaging, are often also biting and melancholic. Chiang’s use of “also” underscores his intention of identifying himself with Bai, yet he goes one step further and differentiates himself from Bai by claiming that he would not let tears wet his black gown for the sake of a woman. He is certainly not attempting to ignore or dodge social issues, yet he is not sen- timental either. The principle of ren, forbearance, is a way to confront and amend, if possible, a reality so far from his ideals. Placed alongside the inscription, the seal and the poem generate a sub- tle thematic and visual connection. When it is read from right to left, as a Chinese classic poem customarily is approached, the seal functions as a subordinate clause, supplementing the meaning of the poem as a modifier defining the Budai Monk: “Having also been the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou, Budai is enjoying the comfort of freedom in the world.” Budai, denoting the legendary barefooted traveling monk below, dons a new iden- tity (i.e., the Chief Officer of Jiangzhou), which then alludes to another subject (self)represented by the painting (i.e., the Budai Monk as Chiang Yee). Yet, the signature of “Jiangzhou Silent Traveller Chiang Yee” execut- ed in the floating Running Style of Chinese calligraphy appears ostensibly distinct from the poem, which is rendered in the graceful and well-bal- anced Official Style—a contrast in calligraphic styles that seems to suggest that such a merging of multiple indentities may be only idealistic at best.

DIASPORIC CULTURE: REFLECTION OF AND ON THE TRADITION

Like the inscription at the top of Chiang’s Budai painting, the seal in the lower right-hand corner, an integral part of the painting, poses some crit- ical, aesthetic, and thematic questions. The seal bears the line

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(“Admiring mountains overseas is never indulgent”), from a poem that Chiang composed in 1934:

??????

After departure, I revisited Kuanglu in my dreams, Remembering the days when we gathered in the south of the city. There is one thing worthy of boasting in the year past: Admiring mountains overseas is never indulgent. (Jiang Zhongya 70)

As the title of the poem indicates, Chiang composed it after his excursion to the mountains of North Wales. In an expanded edition of his poems published in 1955, Chiang appended a footnote stating that, when serving his term as the magistrate of Jiujiang from 1930 to 1931, he and some fel- low poets and artists organized Kuang-she, a salon where they met month- ly to discuss poetry and exchange ideas concerning art (Zhongya Jueju 70). However, the symbolic act of admiring mountains overseas offers only an ambiguous promise of satisfaction. To Chiang, mountains in Great Britain must have become a surrogate for the Lu Mountains in Jiujiang, and the act of “admiring mountains overseas” may have lessened Chiang’s intense nostalgia for artistic activities and friendship in Jiujiang by allow- ing him to enjoy an imaginary homecoming. Yet such a return is as unsat- isfying as the water and fruits of mythological Hades—perpetually out of reach, though always apparently accessible; the diasporic poet has no other choice but to accept its promises and indulge himself in the momen- tary happiness of imagination. Another of Chiang’s poems from the 1950s is relevant to the discussion here. In The Silent Traveller in Paris, Chiang narrates his visit to a park with his friend Francine. Among many beautiful scenes in the park is one at the water’s edge where Chiang and Francine observe two drakes playing near a crag. Inspired by the scene, Chiang recalls his hometown Jiujiang and composes two poems, one of which is the following:

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The crag is like another in Eastern lands; Its reflection in the water is more beautiful still. If another scene is just as lovely, Why should I think of Kiu-Kiang? (80)6

The poem is an attempt to search for balance and resolution between two conflicting sets of dichotomies: “Eastern lands… / Kiu-Kiang” (i.e., Jiujiang) versus “another scene” in Europe, and the “crag” vs. its “reflec- tion.” It appears rational and consoling to reason that the scene overseas should be at least equally beautiful, a fact that makes homesickness unnec- essary; yet, precisely because of the question posed in the last line—“Why should I think of Kiukiang?”—the possible outcome of a satisfying reso- lution evaporates and becomes a call for reconciliation between yearning and reality. The intertwined double meaning of “reflection” must also be consid- ered. To Chiang, the reflection of the crag in the water is “more beautiful” than the actual source. This seemingly aesthetic assertion in regard to the relationship between visual effect and the material substance creating that effect relates to “reflection” in the sense of meditating, pondering. In other words, the natural scene in the West, bearing some resemblance to the counterpart in China, reveals its charm in its reflection in the water when intermingled with Chiang’s contemplations and memories. In fact, during his visit to the park in Paris, Chiang seems to be reconstructing the phys- ical scenes around China so that his visit to the park becomes almost like a trip to China. The rocks in the cave remind Chiang of the Lion-Rock- Grove in Suzhou, a beautiful, scenic city in China, and he says to Francine repeatedly, “This is China, not Paris.” The sight of the Sybil’s temple is miraculously transformed into that of a Chinese bower or pavilion, and some sections, with a number of Chinese orchids added to the scene, resemble “a copy of a Chinese painting in the familiar composition of the Sung masters” (Silent Traveller in Paris 77–80). Hence, Chiang’s intellec- tual reflection accompanies and complements the visual reflection, negat- ing the geographical and temporal disparities between reality and imagi- nation. Further, it is his mental reflection that enables the visual reflection to perpetually tantalize yet only temporarily satisfy.

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The double meaning of “reflection” must have presented itself in Chiang’s admiration of the mountains, lakes, and even clouds in Europe. In a foreign place, Chiang discovers features of the natural landscape com- mon to China’s and recognizes the Lu Mountain of his homeland in the mountain areas of North Wales. In the meantime, the phrase (“over- seas”) divides the home-land and alien territory, imagination and reality, present and past. Chiang experiences this dichotomous coexistence as dis- turbing and his reflections as all the more painfully urgent and unsatisfy- ing. Commenting on immigrants’ identity formation and their new relation with the cultural/historical past, Stuart Hall asserts:

[I]dentities are about questions of using the resources of history, language and culture in the process of becoming rather than being: not “who we are” or “where we came from,” so much as what we might become, how we have been represented and how that bears on how we might represent ourselves. Identities are therefore con- stituted within, not outside, representation. They relate to the invention of tradition as much as to tradition itself, which they oblige us to read not as an endless reiteration but as “the changing same”: not the so-called return to roots but a coming-to-terms with our “routes.” (4)

Hall’s stress on the “invention of tradition” in the process of new identity formation is pertinent to the discussion here. The word “invention” high- lights the complexities and innovativeness in diasporic references—and reflection—to their cultural tradition, a step that furthers the contrapun- tal metaphor that Edward Said has proposed as a description of diasporic discourses (“Reflections” 159–72; “Third World” 27–50). I would like to add that such an “invention” involves reiteration and invocation. “Reiteration” suggests a direct equivalent relationship between tradition and the diasporic agent who claims authority and authenticity. On the other hand, “invocation” underlines innovativeness, flexibility, and sub- jectivity. In the process of identity formation, the two features—reiteration and invocation—often reveal themselves in the invention of new tradi- tions. As one of the few most successful Chinese writers in the English lan- guage before the 1970s, Chiang held on to tradition in a staggering man- ner of reticence/obstinacy. In his New York apartment, bookshelves along the walls were filled with thread-sewn volumes of Chinese classics. There

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were Chinese paintings and calligraphy scrolls, and on the desk were scat- tered painting materials such as brushes, colors, and paper. After teaching English-speaking students at Columbia, Chiang returned “home” and put on his Chinese robe, relishing the milieu of Chinese culture and tradition in this small enclave within the humongous modern metropolis of Manhattan. His apartment, an enclosed private oasis, stood in sharp con- trast to its Western environs, yet it provided Chiang with replenishing sources of cultural nourishment, to which he could always return for refreshment and enrichment. Surprisingly, Chiang, who appeared to have been fully mainstreamed and Westernized with his social circles and English publications, remained essentially traditional and Chinese. He persisted in writing Chinese verse in its classical form, utilizing classical images, metaphors, and allusions— to the Lu Mountain, the panda, Chinese food, or Chinese literature, for example. Chiang clung to tradition relentlessly. But being a diasporic Chinese, he could re-visit the past only in his imagination , and the connection he had established with his homeland was phantasmagoric and utopian. In that sense, art works and literary creation facilitated for Chiang a steady imaginary connection to his past through the ongoing process of traveling, globalization, and modernity. Chiang’s innovative deployment of the image of the Budai Monk reflects this Chinese diasporic artist’s views on religion, tradition, life, and travel culture. The spatial, thematic, and textual interconnections among the seals, the inscribed poem, and the figure of the Budai highlight Chiang’s multiple identities as the Budai, a Jiujiang native, and The Silent Traveller. His utilization and representation of a traditional subject overseas in the twentieth century is no other than an invention of a new tradition to anchor his new diasporic cultural identity, one that is inseparably related to and dependent on, yet invariably distanced from, its cultural origin. Diasporic artists like Chiang recognize the gap between their native cul- tural traditions and their foreign realities and understand that an imagi- nary return to tradition is the only way to reaffirm their new cultural iden- tities. That is ultimately the very “irony” Harry Levin has observed in the experience of the diasporic artist or writer, who must pay dearly for his wanderlust with his heimweh: “His psalm of Babylon is dedicated to his remembrance of Zion” (73). In the case of Chiang Yee, his paintings of the Budai Monk in the West have essentially served as a consoling tribute to his memory of the distant mountains in Jiujiang, his home in the East.

Suffolk University

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NOTES

1 All translations of the poems in this essay are mine, unless otherwise indicated. 2 While the character is a homophone of as it is generally pronounced “zhong,” it may also be pronounced “chong,” meaning “repeat,” “duplicate,” or “layer.” We cannot rule out the name’s many other connotative meanings as a result of using the character as “chong.” 3 Chiang Yee did a lot of Buddha figure painting, and he believed that Buddha paintings by earlier Chinese artists had their value in art history. He asserted this view in the 1930s and again in the 1950s to his artist friend Tan Tan-chung (Tan 71). 4 See Chiang Yee, Calligraphy and Paintings by Chiang Yee. 5 The manuscript was completed and is housed within the collection of Jiang Jianlan in Beijing; as far as I know, it has not been published. 6 The English translation is Chiang Yee’s own. Kiu-Kiang is a variant of Jiujiang.

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