Zhèng Bǎnqiáo, The Famously Weird Guy

His real name was Zheng Xie, but everyone knows him as Zheng Banqiao. He was a Humble man from Jiangsu. While starting life poor, he eventually became a magistrate in Shandong province. After several years of this, he became disillusioned. He could not bring himself to mingle with (brown nose) high-ranking officials, and hated the hypocrisy inherent in the system.

At one point, he was widely criticized for building shelter for the homeless. It was the last straw, and he quickly resigned his post.

After his resignation, he dedicated himself to he artwork. He became known as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou (you can replace "eccentrics" with "weirdos", as that's probably close to the meaning in Chinese). He often created paintings depicting orchids, bamboo, and stones. In 1748 he became the "official calligrapher and painter" for the Qianlong emperor. But this was a short-lived post.

If you are a little outside of normal by society's standards, but you dedicate yourself to do good, maybe Zheng Banqiao is your inspiration.

About the Art and Artist:

The artist's name is (Bei Bin) from near Jinan in the Shandong province of Northern China.

The artwork was painted in 2006 (yes, sometimes it takes us a while to mount, photograph, and list new artwork). It was mounted by hand to a silk brocade wall scroll at our workshop in Beijing.