Well cognizant of the inevitability of pain in life, which leads to a melancholy resignation to the all-too-quick passing of life’s golden, halcyon days, Pu Ru, whose great-grandfather was Emperor Daoguang, the 6th emperor of the Manchu dynasty, lived through the twilight years of the Qing. This last giant in poetry, calligraphy and painting, a bon-vivant who luxuriated in a privileged early life, eventually settled quietly down to a threadbare existence on the island of Taiwan after 1949. Throughout the tumultuous changes, he persisted in his literary and artistic creations indefatigably and transformed what to others would be unendurable despair into works of lasting beauty. Ben Wang, co-chair of the Renwen Society, will discuss the accomplishments of Pu Ru in Chinese poetry, calligraphy and painting.

This lecture will be in Chinese.