.. .. ..

„It was not only soldiers and scholars who resisted the Manchus. Many early Qing painters used their art to show their agitation and lack of faith in the regime. Through boldly innovative and eccentric brushwork, and the use of empty space in their compositions, they portrayed a world that was bleak or out of balance. Lone and twisted pine trees, desolate, angular mountain ranges, images of tangled foliage laid on paper in thick, wet strokes, isolated birds or fish – such were the subjects these artists often chose.  (..) Bada Shanren (his self-selected name, meaning ‚one who dwells in the eight great mountains‘) made silence his gesture of defiance to the Qing. After writing the Chinese charakter for „dumb“ upon his door, he refused to speak anymore, though he would still laugh or weep extravagantly when drunk or caught in creative fever.“

Aus: Jonathan D. Spence: In Search of Modern China.