Painting with fire

A section of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival

A section of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival

As well as several times spent in carpentry, Zhang used to do decorative design before going to Germany. He was also involved in film production with notable cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding. A man of many professions, Zhang even operated a tower crane and worked as a swimming coach before his migration.

In 2003, his wife went to work for the local medical college, thus the whole family moved to Hanau, Germany, near Frankfurt. Because of the language barrier, Zhang spent most of time taking care of the family and the dog. “I had plenty of time at home. You could call me ‘Zhai Nan’ (Indoors man).” He picked up pyrograph again.

Now his pyrographs are scattered all over the globe in Germany, the United States, Canada, and Sweden. He has sold or given away all his completed works but one: the pyrography version of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival.

He came across the painting on a calendar and was fascinated by the sense of time. The idea of translating it into pyrography had always been in his mind. Life in Germany gave him the opportunity to make the idea a reality.

Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is considered to be the most renowned work among all Chinese paintings. Since it was produced more than 800 years ago, the authentic version has been the target of emperors and upstarts. It was brought into palaces five times, and was stolen out of these palaces four times. Now it is kept at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City.

In the over-5-meter long picture, there are hundreds of people, about 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 buildings, 20 vehicles, nine sedan chairs, and 170 trees. The characters in the painting are so small that Zhang had to use a magnifying glass to observe every person, every horse. He made a plan: one day he would draw these several carriages, the next day he would paint the people in this market. “My eyes used to be function well, but now they do not. I could not paint too much every day, it was too complicated and detailed.”

After three and a half years, Zhang Yalian’s pyrography version of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival came out. "It is quite similar to the original," Zhang said proudly.

An old German man once asked Zhang who his painting teacher is. Zhang asked a question in reply: “Do you know who were Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh’s teachers?” The German didn’t give an answer but selected several of his paintings to purchase. “People come to me for my artwork. Whom I learnt from is not important at all. ” Zhang said.

By Wen Yi

Contact the writer at wenyi@chinadaily.com.cn