In 1984, Feng went to Leningrad (St. Petersburg of today’s Russia) of the former Soviet Union to authenticate the hand-written manuscript of The Legend of Stone that is believed to have been done during reigns of Emperors Qianlong (1735-1795) and Jiaqing (1795-1820) during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a move that led to the signing of an agreement on China and the Soviet Union’s co-publication of the book.

In 1988, he headed a delegation to Singapore for the A Dream of red Mansions Culture and Arts Exhibition” and gave lectures at the National University of Singapore. In 1991, he attended the International Sinology Conference held in Singapore and acted as vice chairman.

“Knowledge Makes a Man Elegant and Venerable”

Feng Qiyong is not only cultivated in literature, arts and academic fields, but also highly accomplished in Chinese calligraphy and painting. In fact, besides his research of A Dream of Red Mansions, Feng has also been researching classic Chinese literature, Chinese opera, painting, and calligraphy for a long time. Actually, he once served as vice president of the Chinese Art Research Institute.

According to Feng, good calligraphic books are for scholars and poets, as well as the calligraphers. Good calligraphic works are done with much learning and cultural cultivation. The taste of an artwork depends on the artist’s perception, and the latter is decided by the artist’s cultural accomplishment. Well-informed of the rule, for several decades, Feng worked hard almost unceasingly at calligraphy and painting from since he was a little boy. However, he seldom showed his calligraphic works to others.

After Feng turned 70, he created a new calligraphic form by combining classicism and romanticism, thereby becoming an outstanding master in Chinese calligraphy and painting circles.

Feng once wrote a poem of Li Dongquan from South Korea, including a sentence “Knowledge makes a man elegant and venerable.” The sentence not only expressed his expectation of the young learners, but also was a summary of his decades of calligraphic and painting practices.

Dreaming to Be Like Xu Xiake

Travel is another one of Feng’s besides academic studies, calligraphy and. He has been to many places during the past decades, visiting Northwest China’s Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region six and seven times respectively; he even reached the 4,000-5,000-meter Khunjerab Pass at the age of 75. The more rarely visited by human beings the place is, the more excited he gets.

He also wrote many poems on his trips, all of which enjoy good popularity. In one of his poems, Feng expressed his wish to be like Xu Xiake, a famous traveler in ancient China who left footsteps in numerous places throughout 16 provinces in East, North, Southeast, and Southwest China and who kept a travel log during his trips.

As Feng is also interested in many other things, his remarkable achievements in the studies of A Dream of Red Mansions must have been a result of his broad and profound knowledge.

（Source: chinaculture.org）