The birch forest in landscape painting, with its plain and upright posture, symbolizes the "pure" character advocated by literati. The trunks of birch trees are pure white, as if they have been washed by frost and snow, and are not stained by dust. This visual sense of purity echoes the spiritual realm of "coming out of the mud without being stained" pursued by literati. In the painting, birch trees are often not associated with flowers and miscellaneous trees. They are planted alone among rocks or in rows by the river. The sparse branches stretch upward, as if they are sticking to a sense of loneliness and purity. By outlining the clean form of birch trees, literati painters are actually expressing their emotions through scenery, and entrusting their alienation from worldly disturbances and adherence to spiritual cleanliness to this plain white forest, making the natural image the externalization of personality ideals.
The unyielding growth state of the birch forest in the cold wind implicitly matches the "tenacious" character of literati. Birches in the north often grow in barren mountains or cold regions. Although their branches are slender, they are upright. Even when they are broken by wind and snow, they often show a curved and continuous posture. The capture of this dynamic in landscape painting, such as the branches slightly tilted but always upward, and the leaves falling but still maintaining an uplifting state, is a vivid portrayal of the spirit of literati, "the more they are poor, the more they will be firm, and the ambition to rise to the sky will not fall." In history, countless literati have always adhered to their integrity with their pens and ink when they were frustrated in their official careers or displaced by wars. The image of the birch forest has become the "guiding star" in their spiritual world, using the tenacity of nature to metaphor the unyielding personality, allowing the painting to transcend the description of the scenery itself and become a declaration of spiritual power.
The growth pattern of the birch forest "group but not party" echoes the contradictory state of mind of the literati who yearn for seclusion and desire to be friends. The birch trees in the painting are mostly forests but not dense and impenetrable. There is a moderate distance between the trees, and the branches are independent and echo each other, forming an order of "harmony but difference". This is highly consistent with the philosophy of the literati: they pursue the joy of solitude of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence" and cherish the friendship of "talking and laughing with great scholars". The sparse and dense layout of the birch forest is a visual translation of this state of mind - the sparseness shows the interest of seclusion, and the echo shows the hope of a bosom friend. Through such a composition, the painter transforms the literati's inner pursuit of a balance between loneliness and connection into a perceptible natural scene, allowing the viewer to understand the subtle spiritual balance among the trees.
The "empty beauty" of the birch forest carries the literati's pursuit of the "empty and quiet" state. In the ink landscape painting, the branches of the birch are mostly outlined with simple strokes, and the leaves are often left blank or dotted with light ink, deliberately weakening the complex details to form an ethereal effect of "counting white as black". The "emptiness" of this picture is exactly the embodiment of the "empty and quiet" state of mind advocated by the literati - abandoning distracting thoughts and returning to the true state of mind. When the viewer gazes at the sparse birch forest in the painting, his sight will extend along the branches to the blank space, as if entering a land of nothingness. This visual guidance is similar to the way literati practice meditation and observation to achieve inner clarity. The sparseness of the birch forest thus becomes a bridge connecting the artistic conception in the painting and the state of mind outside the painting, allowing the beauty of nature and the tranquility of the spirit to nourish each other.
The changes in the posture of the birch forest in the changing seasons are in line with the literati's philosophical thinking on "the order of time". In spring, new leaves begin to bloom, showing the interest of vitality; in autumn, golden leaves fill the branches, containing bleak thoughts; in winter, the branches are sparse, hiding tough bones. The depiction of birch forests in different seasons in landscape painting is not a simple record of scenery, but an expression of the literati's perception of "harmony between man and nature" through the flow of natural time. They see "life" from the flourishing of spring forests, understand "death" from the falling of autumn leaves, and experience "preservation" from the stubbornness of winter branches, integrating the thinking of the cycle of life into the changes of the prosperity and decline of trees. This way of linking the natural rhythm with the philosophy of life makes the birch forest transcend the meaning of regional symbols and become a spiritual carrier for literati to observe the universe and settle their hearts.
The symbiotic relationship between birch forests, rocks and flowing water symbolizes the literati's personality ideal of "combining rigidity and flexibility". In the paintings, birches are mostly grown beside rocks, and the flexibility of their branches contrasts with the hardness of rocks; they often grow by the stream, and the tranquility of the forest and the agility of the flowing water complement each other. This harmony of "rigidity and flexibility" and "quietness and movement" is exactly the ideal personality pursued by literati - they have both the principle of perseverance like rocks and the openness and harmony like flowing water; they have both the loneliness and self-restraint of birch and the ability to coexist with all things. The painter transforms the abstract personality ideal into a concrete picture relationship through the echo of the birch forest and the surrounding elements, allowing the viewer to experience the literati's eternal pursuit of "neutral beauty" in the dialogue between the forest and the landscape.
From the perspective of cultural symbols, the birch forest has become a "mirror" of the literati's spirit, carrying all their imaginations of ideal personality, survival wisdom and cosmic order. It is both a natural thing and a spiritual image; you can not only observe its shape, but also understand its way. The birch forests painted by painters of all dynasties have different styles - some are meticulous and rigorous; some are free and easy, revealing a free and unrestrained mood - but what remains unchanged is the accurate capture of the core of the literati's spirit. This deep fit between image and spirit allows the birch forest to transcend the scope of simple scenery in landscape painting and become the "spiritual hometown" constructed by Chinese literati with pen and ink, so that the swaying of each forest echoes the echo of the millennium cultural context.
