Qi Gong 启功

Qigong (1912 - 2005) was a renowned Manchu Chinese calligrapher, artist, painter, connoisseur and sinologist.

Qigong was born into a Manchu family in Beijing in 1912. Both his great-grandfather and grandfather were Jinshi, the highest academic title in old China. He was a descendant of the Yongzheng Emperor through his son Hongzhou. Upon coming to prominence, he declined to use the Manchu Aisin Gioro surname, and went by the legal surname of "Qi" to establish a name removed from that of the Imperial family.

One year after his birth, his father passed away and he was brought up by his grandfather, his mother and his aunt. When he was 10 years old, his grandfather died and the family fell into extreme poverty, forcing him to drop out of middle school.

He learned Chinese calligraphy in his childhood. He said that his desire to learn calligraphy was stimulated by a small incident when he was young. One day, a relative asked him for a painting, but would not let him add a colophon on it because the relative disliked his poor calligraphy. Feeling a sense of shame, he had ever since worked hard to practice calligraphy. He studied various historical stone inscriptions of calligraphy in detail and was deft in merging the characteristics of different eras and authors, and versatile in all the writing styles. His style embodies the essence of great classical calligraphers like Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, yet is unique in its own way.

Qi Gong's unique style of calligraphy is immediately recognizable, and, it was said that he hardly ever refused a request, so examples of his work can be found all over. At times, he had to post a notice on his door declaring ‘The giant panda is ill’ in an effort to deter the endless stream of visitors asking for examples of his calligraphy.

.

启功（1912-2005）是满族著名的书法家、艺术家、画家、文物鉴定家与国学大师。

启功于1912年出生于北京的一个满族家庭。他的曾祖与祖父都是进士出身。他是清雍正皇帝儿子弘昼的后代。启功成名后，拒绝用满族爱心觉罗的姓，而以法定性‘启’来隔离皇族。

他出世一年后，父亲就去世，由祖父、母亲与舅舅扶养成人。十岁时，祖父去世，家庭经济进入困境，只好从中学退学。

他从小学书法。据他说，小时的一件小事刺激了他学习书法。一天，他的一个亲戚向他要画，却不让他在上面题字，因为不喜欢启功的字。感到十分羞愧，他从此努力学书法。他仔细研究各代石刻书法，轻易融合各代各家特征，广写各家书体。他的书体体现了古代大书法家王羲之、王献之等人特点，但是不是其本身的特征。

启功的书法和容易辨认。据说他很少拒绝别人向他求字的请求，所以他的字随处可见。有时，为了阻止前来求字的人潮，他在门口贴了字条：‘大熊猫病啦’。

.