M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong. By donation, © Yangjiang Group. Photo: M+, Hong Kong.
NARRATOR:
This installation is called Calligraphy Peach Blossom Garden. Created by the Yangjiang Group in 2004, it is made of ink on paper, plastic, wood, massage machines, and a closed-circuit television screen. Its size changes according to the display space. In the 2025 exhibition M+ Sigg Collection: Inner Worlds, this installation is shown in an open space, allowing you to walk freely around the garden.
The Yangjiang Group is an art collective established in 2002 by Chen Zaiyan, Sun Qinglin, and Zheng Guogu. The trio makes art together, challenging the traditional view of calligraphy as a solo endeavour. Their work also subverts the elegant and authoritative stereotype of literati traditions, where they combine everyday activities to express their spirited style. In Calligraphy Peach Blossom Garden, they use fake peach blossom trees, a waterfall made of wax, and a wooden bridge to portray the utopian motif of the ‘peach blossom garden’ often seen in ink paintings. Wrinkled pieces of calligraphic works are heaped under the bridge, symbolically overturning the high-culture status of traditional calligraphy. By placing these works in the garden, the artists encourage us to think about how Chinese characters evolved from observing and experiencing nature.
The light brown wooden bridge featured in the garden is shaped like a trapezium. It measures 1.8 metres in height and 6 metres in length, wide enough for one person to pass through. The railings on both sides are made of wooden strips arranged in a criss-cross pattern, and on the top of the railings are decorated with spherical ornaments. You can walk across the bridge using the stairs on either side. Underneath it, the pile of colourful, wrinkled xuan paper are covered in calligraphy, fluttering like a meandering river. The papers come in different colours: off-white, light blue, pink, mustard, as well as red flecked with gold, which are used for writing auspicious couplets during the Lunar New Year. On the papers, you will see ink blotches and Chinese characters of different sizes, where some are smudged and blurred. Next to the bridge is an outdated fourteen-inch colour television, livestreaming images of the fluttering papers.
Another prominent feature of the garden is the five rootless trees. Taller than the average adult, their slender brown trunks are secured by tripods. Green leaves are sparsely scattered on the branches, adorned with plum blossoms in varying shades of pink.
Additionally, the white mountainous structure is another sculpture called Waterfall, created by the Yangjiang Group in 2003. It is made of wax, paper, and a metal frame. This work is as tall as an adult, and it has an uneven surface. From a distance, it looks like an iceberg. The entire mountain resembles a cascading waterfall, frozen in layers of icefall. If you take a closer look, you will see that the waterfall is made of light beige xuan papier-mâché, and the cascade is sculpted from solidified dripping white wax.
You can walk between the peach blossom trees or stand on the bridge to get a full view of the entire installation.