In China, the saying goes:
胸有成竹
xiōng yǒu chéng zhú
“To acheive bamboo, the bamboo must immerse your being.”
In other words: Concentration and diligence are the keys to success.
Tracing back to the Song dynasty (960-1279), this idiom was originally used in reference to Wen Tong, an artist famed for his drawings of bamboo trees. In order to draw bamboo accurately, Wen planted many bamboos around his house. Come rain or shine he would spend hours each day observing the shoots grow – checking the conditions of their color, length and the shape of their leaves – and then sketching what he saw.
Day and night all Wen saw was the bamboo around him, until images of bamboo became seared into his mind. Others saw his sketches and, impressed by their vividness, asked him how he had achieved it. To this he responded, “I am only portraying the reflection of the bamboo in my heart.”
Hence the saying goes that in order to draw bamboo, you must first study and understand bamboo.
