Zhao Puchu wrote this work in 1969 to celebrate the 20^th birthday of the People's Republic of China. It extolled the remarkable achievement of PRC, and expressed a full confidence in China's rise in the global community. The golden-cloud patterned, red rice paper was used to convey a happy and harmonious mood in the work, and the calligraphy features sage-like quality and good brushwork strength. The scroll is considered a best work of his middle age when he was sixty-three.

In 1986, Zhao Puchu wrote a dedication to the 50^th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, to applaud this brilliant feat and express his hope for the Long-March spirit everlasting under the CPC leadership. The work, written by Zhao at the age of eighty, manifested a forceful vigor in rhythmic strokes.

The Shanghai Charity Union (in pinyin, Cilian) was established in 1937, and Zhao Puchu served as a member of its executive committee. In December 1939, the Union founded the Cilian Middle School for warphans. This impassioned poem, which Zhao wrote at the age of eighty-three, was a dedication to the 50^th anniversary of the Cilian Middle School. His calligraphy exhibited a good strength of brushwork.

Since late May of 1997, Zhao Puchu had been writing Lin Zexu's ci poem Destruction of Opium every day along with a qu poem of his own, to welcome the forthcoming return of Hong Kong and to support the constitutional principle 'one country, two systems'. This work was created by the 91-year-old gentleman on the day of the return, manifesting good brushwork strength in well-balanced structure of characters.

Zhao Puchu had long devoted himself to charity and relief efforts, and was the Honorary President of the Red Cross Society of China. This calligraphic work was written to celebrate the 85^th anniversary of the Red Cross Society of China, in which Zhao mentioned the great achievements by the Red Cross Society and expressed his sincere hope for world peace. Zhao wrote this work at the age of eighty-three, with an unaffected, rhythmic ease manifested in wet, thick brushwork.

When the National People's Congress proclaimed Teachers' Day in 1985, the 79-year-old Zhao Puchu copied his Ode to Teachers (Tune: Gold Threads Melody, composed seven years before) for the National Education Work Conference. The copies, extolling teachers' devotion to education, were given to teachers as gifts. This work, written with an uninterrupted flow brushwork and with compact arrangements of space, was one of the copies.

There are three beautiful flower scenes in Beijing, lilac in Fayuan Temple, peony in Chongxiao Temple, and begonia in Prince Gong's Residence. They are known as the 'Sea of Flowers in Buddhist Monasteries'. This poem, titled A visit to Fayuan Temple for Lilac Blossom, was composed by Chen Zengshou, a late-Qing poet and poetry teacher of Zhao Puchu. Zhao wrote this work in 1987 when he was eighty-one. The tranquil grace in this work was articulated in wet, thick brushstrokes.

This album, comprising works respectively completed in 1967, 1976, and 1977, eulogizes Premier Zhou Enlai's dedication to national affairs and conveys Zhao Puchu's hope for a bright future of China. Zhao rewrote these poems many times afterwards in small running script in an appropriate shade of black ink, featuring good brushwork strength. The 'sinew' writing is full of the calligrapher's emotion.

Zhao Puchu first met Deng Xiaoping when working in Shanghai. The text was taken from the speech made by Deng on December 25, 1980, Implementing the Adjustment of Policy and Ensuring Stability and Unity of the Country. Zhao's typical sinew-writing was manifested in good brush strength and in a style of ease and grace.

Many of Zhao Puchu's advice and opinions on the state affairs were accepted by Hu Yaobang and other state leaders. On Hu's passing in 1989, Zhao wrote an elegy in praise of his incorruptibility and daring of confronting difficulties on his own. The 83-year-old gentleman wrote this work full of emotion, with expressive brushstrokes conveying a dynamic momentum.

In 1991, to express his great joy at the CPC 70^th anniversary, Zhao Puchu highly commended the CPC's achievement in guiding Chinese people "out of the 5,000-year-long 'iron siege' to open up a new horizon for China". This work, written by Zhao at the age of eighty-five, is one of his best works in later years. In this scroll, the uninterrupted flow and rhythm of calligraphy is manifested in speedy, deft brushwork.

In 1938, Zhao Puchu saw off by the Huangpu River the best of refugees and the core members running the house of refugees on behalf of Cillian Hui (aka. Charity Union); those people would leave for the south of Anhui province via Wenzhou to join the New Fourth Army. Zhao composed this wuyan poem (a poem with five characters to a line) to commemorate the farewell, and rewrote it in 1997 at the age of ninety-one in remembrance of this event, with a steady, well-balanced brushwork conveying both dynamic strength and soft grace.

After the New Fourth Army incident occurred in 1941, Zhao Puchu wrote this poem to indignantly accuse the KMT of its meanness in passive resistance against Japan and active opposition to the CPC. The word '辛士', pronounced as xinshi, was a homonym to the word '新四', which means the 'New Fourth Army'. In 1997, the 91-year-old calligrapher rewrote this poem for the 60^th anniversary of the July 7 incident. Individual characters in this work were written in abbreviated forms with wet brushwork, exhibiting an uninterrupted flow and rhythm.

A native of Hanyang, Hubei Province, Zhang Zhiyi served as Vice Head of the United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, Deputy to the National People's Congress, and Member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Zhao Puchu wrote this elegy after Zhang's passing in 1983, to commend Zhang's high sense of responsibility being 'iron shoulders taking duties and brave hearts cutting thorns'. The work articulates the 77-year-old gentleman's great grief in deliberate and rhythmic brushstrokes.

On learning Chairman Mao Zedong's passing on September 9, 1976, Zhao Puchu had an overwhelming grief and wrote two elegies to commemorate Mao's great achievements and their friendship. This work, written with wet brushstrokes in thick ink, demonstrated Zhao's emotion to the great man. Zhao completed the work at the age of seventy.

Zhao Puchu gained recognition from Chairman Mao Zedong by his hard work and poetry accomplishment. He wrote a large number of poems throughout this life to show respect for Chairman Mao, including odes to the Chairman and poetry in reply to his poems, which were later compiled and published. This text, titled Changsha, is a popular ci poem (Tune: Spring in a Pleasure Garden) composed by Mao. Although it is an unsigned work written seemingly for practice, the work was highly prized for good arrangements of space between characters and vertical columns, and varying brushstrokes as well.

The calligraphic works included in this album were all completed in the 1960s. Both Ode to Yan'an and Shaoshan celebrated Chairman Mao's 'devotion to reverse China's situation' and conveyed Zhao Puchu's hope for 'using the form of classical poetry for the new content'. The work Three Wailings is a sharp-tongued satire on foreign politics, demonstrating Zhao's great accomplishment in poetry. It comprises three popular qu poems, written in a mixed tone of mockery and scolding. Well appreciated by Chairman Mao and received by readers, Three Wailings was published in the People's Daily on February 1, 1965. All of these works are considered calligraphy masterpieces for their legible, graceful genre articulated through deft brushwork and in thick black ink.

The artist Wu Zuoren once painted a picture titled Goldfish for the biologist Tong Dizhou to commemorate his successful breeding of a goldfish via genetic methods. Zhao wrote a comment (including a poem) on this picture at the request of Tong, and later Mr. Zhang Boju wrote three poems in reply to Zhao' comment. In 1987 upon receiving Zhang Boju's manuscript of the three poems from his wife Ms. Pan Su, Zhao Puchu rewrote his poem and comment around Zhang's text. He was eighty-one in that year.

In August 1987, a Chinese Buddhist delegation led by Zhao Puchu paid a visit to the Okinawa Prefectural Museum where a calligraphic work written by Zhao Puchu's great-great-great grandfather Zhao Wenkai, along with the history of his mission to the Ryukyu Islands, was introduced in details to Zhao Puchu. The text of the work was The Red Beans, a poem composed by Wang Wei. To echo his ancestor's calligraphic work, the 82-year-old gentleman wrote this poem in 1988, with angled, coherent brushwork exhibiting a dynamic momentum.

Zhao Puchu wrote this couplet for the Yu Mausoleum, which is now hung in the Temple of Yu the Great as one of the four couplets. Standardized and graceful wording is used to convey profound meaning in this couplet, and the calligraphy features a steady and neat manner, articulated through wide, thick-ink brushstokes and angled construction of character posture. The calligraphic expression conveys the text properly. Zhao created the work in the winter of 1986 when he was eighty.

Zhao Puchu was a hardworking calligrapher, often copying exemplary works from reputed calligraphers of the Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties for practice. This album is a fairly intact version among his many copies of Sun Guoting's work, A Narrative on Calligraphy. By using a worn-down brush, Zhao created a mature, unadorned genre of calligraphy with extraordinary deft brushwork. It should have been written in his later years.

In this scroll, Zhao Puchu wrote several poems composed by Li He, a Tang-dynasty poet. Although the scroll is not dated, we can still infer from its good brushwork strength and state of maturity that it was created in Zhao's later years. Compared to his other works, this scroll has characters constructed in slender shapes featuring densely-arranged strokes at their centers, sort of like Huang Tingjian's genre. Zhao's calligraphic expression agrees perfectly with the text of Li He's poems, indicating his great learning in poetry and calligraphy.

On December 7, 1980, to celebrate the 100^th birthday of Master Hongyi, the exhibition Master Hongyi: Painting, Calligraphy, Epigraphy, and Music was held in the Museum of Buddhist Books and Cultural Artifacts in China, an institution under the Buddhist Association of China (BAC). After a visit to the exhibition, Zhao Puchu composed a poem, which was written with wet, thick-ink brushwork in an uninterrupted flow of momentum. Zhao was seventy-four in that year.

This running-script scroll contains Chen Zengshou's poem Fallen Flowers and several other poems including Yuefu poetry. Zhao Puchu learned composing poetry from his teacher Chen Zengshou in Shanghai in the 1930s. The calligraphic scroll, written in a style following both Su Dongpo and Mi Fu's heritage, is a combination of brushwork norms with variations and deftness with some clumsiness. The work was dated 1992 when Zhao was eighty-six.

Zhao Puchu visited Mount Tiantai during his inspection of the flood-stricken areas in eastern Zhejiang province in 1952. After the inspection, he returned to Beijing via Mount Yandang, the Lingyan Resort, the Ou River, and Shaoxing city. This qijue poem (a four-line poem with seven characters to a line) was one of the five poems Zhao composed as a travel log to this eastern Zhejiang trip. In 1997, more than over forty years later, the 91-year-old gentleman rewrote the poems. Conveying a lively ease in style, this scroll is well-balanced in arrangements of space between characters and vertical columns, and considered a work of maturity in his later years.

The Ye-County Brush Factory lied in Laizhou, Shandong province, and brushes produced by this factory had been used by many Chinese celebrities, among whom was Guo Huaruo, a prominent CPC lieutenant general. Zhao Puchu wrote this poem to commend the Ye-county brushes and General Guo's calligraphy during his visit to the factory in 1982. The work exhibits a heroic and weighty style. Zhao was seventy-six years old at the time.

Cangqiu was a literary name of Chen Zengshou, whose niece Chen Bangzhi was married to Zhao Puchu. Zhao's mother Chen Zhongxuan had a sworn sister named Guan Jingzhi, whose father Guan Tang was Chen Zengshou's teacher. Cangqiu taught Zhao how to write poems and Zhao's poetry conveys a simple and refreshing elegance. The 93-year-old gentleman manifested his unaffected, 'sinew' writing in this work in 1999.

Zhao Puchu and Shen Yinmo were very compatible and both interested in Chinese classics, history, and calligraphy. They often wrote poems to each other. When Shen Yinmo passed away in 1972, Zhao recalled Shen's abundant erudition, extraordinary calligraphy, and respectable qualities such as open-mindedness and modesty. In 1976, Zhao wrote a postscript for the scroll of Shen's letters to Zhao, which centered on Chinese calligraphy. The postscript was written with wet brushstrokes in an uninterrupted flow and rhythm when Zhao was seventy.

The classical and new-form poems composed by Zhao Puchu dated between 1950 and 1964, were compiled into a few books, and deemed as a 'contemporary history recorded by poems'. Written in a steady and neat manner, Zhao's calligraphy features elegant, varied brushwork, and indicates the influence from Mi Fu. Because Zhao was copying poems instead of composing them, the calligraphy conveys a lively and relaxing ease.

A collection of Zhao Puchu's copies after Mi Fu's exemplary works, the album presented us another face of Zhao's calligraphy, using wetter, varied brushstrokes for a more-angled construction of characters to imitate Mi's genre. The contrast of black ink against gold-flecked rice paper, has brought an exquisiteness to the work. Zhao created this work at the age of eighty-four in 1990 when his calligraphy approached maturity.

Zhiyong, a Sui dynasty calligrapher and Buddhist monk, is said to have practised calligraphy so hard that he even buried stacks of worn-down brushes in a 'Mound for Retired Brushes'. The calligraphic works created by Zhao Puchu in his later years, feature the pursuit of good brushwork strength to bring out a 'sinew' writing effect, instead of a wet, fleshy genre. Zhao expressed his calligraphic views to the calligrapher Shen Peng in this poem. Zhao's calligraphy seems to have achieved the state of maturity, close to that of 'retired-brush mound'. He did the work in 1998 at the age of ninety-two.

Zhao Puchu composed this poem for Zhang Shizhao, a reputed democrat of the elder generation. They had known each for a long time and often wrote poems to each other. The red-colored and gold-flecked, waxed paper, along with the poem's tune name Celebration of Eternal Spring, indicates an atmosphere of great joy. Zhao's calligraphy, exuding a flowing grace, reveals his gentle and unworldly character. Zhao created this work in 1971 at the age of sixty-five.

In 1987, Zhao Puchu led a Chinese Buddhist delegation to Japan for a good-will visit. During his stay in Japan from August 1 to 27, Zhao attended the Summit of International Religious Leaders in Kyoto, participated in a commemorative activity of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, and paid visits to Mount Hiei, the Kurobe Dam in Toyama Prefecture, and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. All these activities were recorded in Zhao's poems, which were further compiled into this album. The album, written with a flowing brushwork, features good arrangements of space between characters and vertical columns. Zhao wrote the poems at the age of eighty-one.

From May 5 to 12, 1987, Zhao Puchu attended an international exchange activity of Buddhists in Thailand at the invitation of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. He was royally received by the King of Thailand and religiously by the Sangharaja (the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand). This visit was highly prized for Zhao's great efforts to maintain peace and stability in Asia. The album A Bangkok Diary comprises various poems Zhao composed to record this visit, and features carefully and elegantly written characters. Zhao was then eighty-one years old.

From September 21 to October 2, 1986, Zhao Puchu paid a good-will visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. From November 24 to 30 of the same year, he also visited Kathmandu, Nepal. These poems, written to record the two trips, help readers understand China's foreign policy of the time. Zhao was eighty years old when he created these elegant works.

In 1972, the Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka paid an official visit to China, which signified the formal diplomatic relation established between the PRC and Japan. In August 1974, Zhao Puchu composed a poem for the exhibition Murals of Han and Tang China to be held in November at the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Japan, and this poem was included in the exhibition catalogue. The poem was rewritten with expressive brushwork in 1976 by the 70-year-old gentleman, as is showcased here.

In April 1957, Zhao Puchu paid an official visit to Sri Lanka and composed a ci poem (Tune: Slow Melody of Magnolia) titled Listening to the Tides at a Seaside Hotel in Colombo, to express his homesickness and joy at the increasing influence of the PRC in the world. This poem was rewritten in 1997 when Zhao was ninety-one. The work shows no trace of senility, but elegant brushwork and meticulous arrangement of characters.

In 1987 the true relic of Śākyamuni, part of his finger bone, was excavated from the site of the Famen Temple pagoda in Fufeng county, Shaanxi province. A number of artifacts including three jade duplicate relics were also found. Zhao Puchu wrote this ode to commemorate the excavation of the sarira. This calligraphic work features exquisite brushwork, well-balanced structure of characters, and good arrangement of space, all manifested in a flowing grace. Zhao created the work at the age of eighty-one.

The Chenxiang (lit. Agarwood) Pavilion was originally a nunnery. It was so named because the enshrined agarwood Avalokiteśvara statue had been salvaged from the Huai River by Mr. Pan Yunduan, the then Director-General of Grain Transport of the Ming dynasty. Due to the destruction of the agarwood statue and the building on the site, the nunnery went under reconstruction from 1990 onward. It took more than three years to complete the project, for which Zhao Puchu wrote this text that was inscribed into a stone tablet. In this calligraphic work, however, Zhao miswrote the starting month of reconstruction for July, 1980. The whole work features well-constructed characters in moist, fleshy brushwork. Zhao created the work in 1994 at the age of eighty-eight.

The Avatamsaka Sutra is held in the highest regard among Buddhist classics. This book was written by the 87-year-old Zhao Puchu in 1993, featuring square characters with well-balanced structure and exquisite brushstrokes. The whole work conveys a solemn, dignified, and compassionate mood. By looking at the work, one would achieve a supreme joy as if listening to Buddhist chants.

The Guanyinshan Temple, built against Mt. Guanyin in Yangzhou, is widely known for its giant statue of Avalokiteśvara (aka. Guanyin) enshrined in the Hall of Yuantong. Zhao Puchu wrote this couplet to celebrate the compassion of the Bodhisattva. It was probably only a draft as there is neither signature nor seal marks placed at the end of the work. The calligraphy conveys a mood of solemnity, unaffectedness and religious harmony.

The Cultural Relics Press had the Chinese Buddhist Canon (Qianlong Version, collected in the Palace Museum) reprinted in 1988. The reprint was inaugurated in the Tibetan Hall of the Great Hall of the People on November 24^th, where Zhao Puchu and the 10^th Panchen Lama expressed congratulations and addressed the guests. The work is the original manuscript by the 82-year-old Zhao Puchu, which features a good arrangement of characters and vertical columns and weighty brushwork in thick black ink.

Zhao Puchu was an accomplished Buddhist scholar, well versed in Buddhist texts and religious literature. In this work, Zhao only copied three quarters of Wang Anshi's Paean of Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels (Tune: The South Recalled). Written by the 79-year-old gentleman in 1985, the whole work conveys an imposing composure and scholarly elegance embodied in neatly written characters.

Zhao Puchu has been invited to write hall names and couplets for many Buddhist monasteries including this one. The text of the work, which reads 'Da Xiong Bao Dian', means the 'Hall of Mahavira'. Written with wet and wide brushstrokes in a solemn and dignified style, this work exhibits influences from preceding calligraphers and their exemplary works. It also reflects Zhao's calligrpaphic achievement and literary learning.

In the 1970s, the Ven. Master Sheng Yi of the Po Lin Monastery in HongKong initiated the construction of the Tian Tan Buddha (aka. the Big Buddha) on Muk Yue Shan, Lantau Island, which was strongly supported by Zhao Puchu. For the Big Buddha, Zhao traveled to HongKong several times and composed many poems. He wrote this couplet for the Hall of the Universe located beneath the Big Buddha in 1993 when he was eighty-seven. The work features weighty brushwork moving in dynamic momentum.

The Wuxi Municipality had the Xiangfu Temple at Mt. Ling reconstructed along with the statue of Grand Buddha, which is the Buddha of the East among the Five Giant Buddhas, as defined by Zhao Puchu. It is the tallest, outdoor bronze statue of Gautama Buddha in the world. Zhao wrote this paean at the age of ninety-one in 1997 when attending the Dharma service held for its inauguration. His calligraphy, being graceful and dignified, is manifested in good brush strength and moist black-ink strokes.

Zhao Puchu has always paid great attention to the exchanges of the Buddhist communities between Chinese mainland and HongKong, Macao, and Taiwan. He devoted himself to the promotion of the peaceful reunification of China. One of his significant Buddhist activities in his later years was the escorting of a sarira (Buddha's tooth) to HongKong in May 1999. In this poem, Zhao spoke highly of the prosperity of HongKong after its return to China. Written by the 93-year-old gentleman, this work conveys an unaffected, relaxed mood through steady and decisive brushwork.

Despite his Confucian educational background, Zhao Puchu received a tantric empowerment from the Ninth Panchen Lama in 1934, to be a devout lay Buddhist. He devoted his whole life to the country and people, and exemplified the word 'compassion' in his Buddhist practice of 'inward looking' and 'outward looking'. This two-character work represents his large-character calligraphy, and the small-character comment at the end reads that 'the mind of the Buddha is great compassion'. This work reminds all beings of following the mind of the Buddha while showing great compassion to others.

This is a Buddhist couplet written by Zhao Puchu. The 'Eight Legions of Devas and Nāgas' (in Chinese, 天龙八部) mentioned in the first sentence refer to the eight types of Buddhist deities who often listen to the Buddha's preaching. The second sentence comes from the 'Auspicious Gatha' in the Ritual for Distribution of Food to Starving Ghosts. Zhao Puchu mentioned in his comment that this work was just a try instead of being a formal calligraphic work. His calligraphy was manifested in well-balanced structure of characters, weighty brush strength, and wet, thick-ink strokes. The work was created in 1987 when Zhao was eighty-one.

On July 1, 1998, a delegation of the Japan-China Conference of Religious Friends visited Zhao Puchu, who was then hospitalized. Zhao composed this poem to express his gratitude for their visit and his hope to secure the friendship between China and Japan for the world peace. His calligraphy is manifested in exquisite brushwork, an unworldly genre, and upright character postures. Zhao wrote the poem at the age of ninety-two.

Zhao Puchu composed this mocking poem On Drawing Circles before asking for Hua Junwu's caricature. He wanted to criticize those good-for-nothing officials. Hua's caricature well depicted the buck-passing images in simple but thought-provoking brushwork. Zhao wrote this poem in 1980 at the age of seventy-four.

In 1980, Zhao Puchu collaborated with Hua Junwu in the work On Drawing Circles. In 1989, Zhao redid this work on his own by both writing the poem and drawing the caricature. The picture, articulated in simple but lively brushwork, is extremely uncommon among his works. Zhao wrote the poem in vertical columns from left to right at the age of eighty-three.

The scroll consists of three versions of Zhao Puchu's will. The first one was written by him in 1990. The second and third ones were done in 1996 when he was hospitalized and could not find his first version written many years ago. The text of his will showcased his exemplary morality and philosophical attitude towards death. Zhao wrote the three versions respectively at the age of eighty-four and ninety, using deft, strengthful brushstrokes to define the text in refined grace.

Zhao Puchu wrote this couplet motto to admonish himself for how to behave towards others. The first version of the couplet was written in 1980 and was included in the album Couplets Composed by Zhao Puchu. The revision made in the first sentence of the couplet shows his great literature accomplishment and meticulous scholarship. The 80-year-old gentleman created this work in 1986. His calligraphy features well-balanced construction of characters and spacious composition, indicating a genre of embraciveness and elegance.

The Three Admonitions are three short essays composed by Liu Zongyuan when he was deported to Liuzhou. They include On Fear, On Worry, and On Enemy. By copying these essays, Zhao expressed his worries of the times and reminded himself of continuous mental cultivation. Zhao wrote this work in 1970 at the age of sixty-four, a masterpiece boasting good brush strength and varied, coherent strokes.

The Secret of Caring for Life is a chapter from an ancient Chinese text Zhuangzi, which recounts the ways to stay healthy. Zhao Puchu, a learned scholar with a comprehensive knowledge of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, applied Chinese philosophy to his behavior towards others, and expressed it in calligraphy, drawings, and poetry. His remarkable morality developed through long-time self practice, justified his composure, thinking, and non-demanding attitude towards life and work. Zhao wrote this work at the age of eighty-three in 1989, with relaxing, unassuming brushwork conveying an unworldly tranquility.

Zhao Puchu wrote Tao Xingzhi's Four Questions of the Day and Albert Einstein's Daily Reminding many times. In his later years, he often brought with him these maxims for reading at any time. They provided him with spiritual support to fight disease and overcome difficulties, and gave him confidence in serving the people. Zhao wrote this work in 1987 at the age of eighty-one.

Zhao Puchu practised self learning and self discipline all through his life. He often copied quotes by important personages for himself, and sometimes for others. The album A Collection of Proverbs included hundreds of maxims gathered by Zhao over time, which features nicely written characters, well-balanced structures and various styles.

Zhao Puchu wrote this work on August 1, 1987 to celebrate the 60^th birthday of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), when he was eighty-one. The Song of Integrity was a poem by Wen Tianxiang, which Zhao borrowed to extol the PLA's tremendous spirit in defending China in the face of odds. The whole text features a coherent, strengthful momentum of the brush, a good composition of space between characters, and a rhythmic flow combining both slender and wide strokes.

Zhao Puchu created this work in 1996 when he was ninety, which features mature brushwork exerted in an uninterrupted flow. In this poem, Zhao recalled the good deeds he had done for the country and the brave decisions he made at the defining moment in history; they reflected his keen insight into China's future and the trend of world peace, and his sense of duty as well.

Zhao Puchu received Confucian education from a young age, which focused on the 'socially engaged' practice. Many Confucian moralities were embodied in Zhao's conduct. This quotation is taken from the chapter Zilu in the classic The Analects of Confucius. The weighty restraint in his calligraphy was articulated by the supple brush tip and moist effect of strokes. It reflected the calligrapher's strict code of conduct.

Zhao Puchu came from an erudite family, and his preceding generations were all scholars, four of whom got the jinshi title, the highest final degree in the imperial examination. For this reason, reading to Zhao Puchu was of great significance. No matter how difficult the situations are, Zhao always looked forward with optimism. In his later years, he wrote calligraphy and painted pictures to enhance the inner tranquility of mind. This page, featuring good brushwork strength and nicely-shaped characters, is considered a mature work done in his later years.

In 1935, the 29-year-old Zhao Puchu wrote six poems to express his gratitude to Aunt Guan Jingzhi on her 60^th birthday. The poems were written on a special rice paper, which is colored, waxed and painted in silver with the motif of flowers and fruits. Zhao's exquisite and elegant calligraphy indicates the influences from two calligraphic masters in Chinese history, Chu Suiliang and Zhao Mengfu. These poems were among the few works Zhao created in his early years. Thanks to the guidance and encouragement of the Guan siblings, Zhao was able to make great achievements in religious and charity work.