Su Shi, a Northern Song Dynasty writer and painter, famously said of bamboo painting: "To paint bamboo, one must first have a complete bamboo in mind." This was his summary based on the experience of the renowned painter Wen Tong.
Wen Tong, also known as Wen Yuke and nicknamed Master Smile, was a master of poetry, calligraphy, and painting, especially ink wash art, where he pioneered a technique for painting bamboo: using deep black ink for the leaves against a pale ink background. This contrast made his bamboo appear both elegant and lifelike, earning him widespread admiration.
After Wen Tong became famous for his ink bamboo paintings, people flocked to him for artwork, and he never turned anyone down. When someone brought fine silk or paper and he happened to be in a good mood, he would paint furiously without stopping. Once finished, he would let the person take the painting away without a second thought.
Wen Tong's ink bamboo paintings grew increasingly admired, with people considering it a mark of refinement to hang one in their halls, so requests for his work multiplied. Overwhelmed and weary of the constant demands, Wen Tong stopped painting so freely.
The more he refused, the more people treasured his ink bamboo paintings. Admirers would prepare brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, begging him to paint on the spot, but he often found excuses not to come. Even when they sent silk and paper to his home, he would leave them untouched for a year or two.
The flood of people seeking Wen Tong's ink bamboo paintings proved just how exceptional his work truly was. But Wen Tong's mastery wasn't a gift—it was the hard-earned fruit of years of relentless practice and dedication.
To capture the essence of bamboo, the painter Wen Tong once built a pavilion in a bamboo-filled valley, where he spent every spare moment observing their growth and studying their forms and features.
After much time, Wen Tong finally realized a profound truth: bamboo, from sprouting to maturity, follows a complete process. Therefore, one must always hold the full image of bamboo in one's mind, so that when it's time to paint, you seize the subject and complete it in one fluid stroke—just like a hawk snatching a rabbit; the slightest hesitation, and the rabbit vanishes without a trace.
At that time, Su Shi, who was nineteen years younger than Wen Tong, once humbly learned ink bamboo painting from him. He studied so successfully that later, when someone asked Wen Tong to paint ink bamboo, Wen Tong told the visitor, "In our school of ink bamboo painting, the best artist is Su Shi. You might as well go to him for a painting!"
Su Shi learned to paint ink bamboo from Wen Tong, but he did not merely imitate his teacher's techniques. He grasped the true essence of Wen Tong's success, which he summarized as: "To paint bamboo, one must first have a complete bamboo in one's mind." Thus, he too achieved success.
Later generations derived the idiom "Having Bamboo in One's Chest" from this story, meaning that with thorough preparation or confidence beforehand, one can carry out a task smoothly and achieve success easily.
Source: *Wen Yuke's Painting of the Slender Bamboo in the Valley*, "Record of the Reclining Bamboo"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "胸有成竹" came to describe with thorough preparation or confidence beforehand, one can carry out a task smoothly and achieve success easily.