Most of the activity on bonsai in the United States is focused on Japanese esthetics. When we visit a bonsai show, it is easy to overlook the fact that the art of bonsai is admired in much of Asia, particularly in China, and that the esthetics practiced in China are a bit different from those of Japan. As a matter of fact, the art of bonsai originated in China and was brought to Japan along with Buddhism in about the year 750 of the Common Era.

With the long history of what started out as a single art form, it is not surprising that the esthetics of the two countries have diverged. The Japanese view is that a bonsai tree is an ideal form of what a tree should look like. Every branch is perfectly placed and every imperfect leaf is removed. The result is a tree that is more perfect than any tree found in the wild.

The Chinese take the view that the bonsai tree should reflect a tree found in nature. Any tree found in nature grows somewhat randomly and is subject to the effects of all the adversities that all trees suffer such as broken branches and insect attack. The Chinese celebrate these defects and as a result the finished bonsai is less than perfect. Many Chinese bonsai appear to have a more casual form that the sleekly elegant Japanese bonsai.

The quality of each tree in both Japan and China depends on how well the tree reflects the esthetic goals of that country.

There are, of course, many styles for Chinese bonsai. One of the extremely popular styles of trees admired by the Chinese is a composition of one or more junipers mounted on a thin spire of rock. This style is related to the root over rock that we are familiar with but is distinctly different in final form. The source of this style may well rest in a style of classical ink brush painting that was popular in China for hundreds of years.

About 100 miles south west of Shanghai is a group of spectacular mountains collectively labeled as Huang Shan or Yellow Mountains. These mountains have many steep rock faces and very deep gorges. Small pine tree grows in cracks of the rock. The pine trees are endemic to the area and have characteristic shape with extremely broad branches and relatively flat tops. They resemble our Monterey Cypress, although the two trees are in no way related

Chinese artists for the last thousand years have considered these rock faces of the Yellow Mountain with their pine trees as a quintessential statement of what nature is all about. Because of the high regard the Chinese have had for nature, these cliffs have been very frequently featured in landscape paintings for hundreds of years.

Just as nature is a focus of Chinese classical painting, a Chinese bonsai is also a statement about nature. Because of the common basis on nature, it is easy to see that the bonsai on the rock splinters is a reflection of the subject of the brush paintings. We talk about the art of bonsai and it truly is an art form in Japan, but is focused on the composition of the tree, the pot and stand. In the case of the Chinese tree on a rock spires, the art is based on not the tree, but also the incredibly old art of brush painting.

Nature is also a frequent theme in Japanese art but focuses more on the feeling of a particular scene. For example, a heron standing in dry grass under a pale moon partially covered by clouds connotes the lonely feeling of a winter day. A good bonsai will remind you of a tree that you saw in the wild and how much you admired the tree.

It is difficult at first glance to see a direct carryover of Japanese art to bonsai, but the emphasis of feeling in classical art does have a direct although subtle influence on Japanese bonsai. For example, we want our tree show the feeling of great age. Perhaps there is more of a tie between classical art and bonsai In Japan that we suspect.

Both the Chinese and the Japanese view of what a bonsai tree should look like is based on the larger view of the respective classical art esthetics. This is particularly apparent in the Chinese view. The style in which these views are realized is distinctly different. As a simple summary, the Chinese view focuses on what a tree actually looks like whereas the Japanese view is on what a tree wants look like in its wildest dreams.