Spotlight on National Treasures 2026-I

“Extempore poetry” (also called “impromptu poetry”) is written spur of the moment in response to an experience or to a flash of inspiration. Countless poets and calligraphers throughout the ages have picked up their brushes to pour their sentiments into writings inspired by the circumstances of the moment. They left behind a wealth of poems and essays that have remained popular for centuries, bearing witness to the literary splendor that underpins Chinese culture. “Calligraphic Poem on the Baotu Spring” was written by the Yuan dynasty master of painting and calligraphy Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322). In his time serving as a government minister in the city of Jinan, Zhao would frequently travel recreationally to the district’s best-known attractions, and he wrote this calligraphic scroll to pour out the feelings the glorious scenery stirred in his heart. It is especially rare for poetry and calligraphy to coincide in the way they do in “Calligraphic Poem on the Baotu Spring,” and so in 2012 Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture formally designated the work as a National Treasure. In addition to filling this scroll with elegant stanzas, exquisite brushwork, and precise applications of ink, Zhao also added an inscription addressed to his close friend, Zhou Mi (1232-1298). Zhao took up his brush and dedicated this already-completed work to Zhou—whose ancestral home was in Jinan, but who had never been there himself—expressing the sincere and straightforward sentiments behind this gift for his friend. Naturally, it would be unfitting to give this scroll no more than a passing glance. The work itself and the scenery it describes both deserve to be savored in all their detail. 

Baotu Spring, Daming Lake, and Thousand Buddha Mountain are known collectively as “the three great attractions of Jinan.” According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BCE), Duke Huan of Lu and the Marquis of Qi met at the Luo River—the source of which is none other than Baotu Spring—located in present-day Jinan in Shandong province. Indeed, this spring has played a long and interrupted role in human history. When the Northern Song dynasty literatus Zeng Gong (1019-1083) was serving in an official post in Qizhou, he visited Baotu Spring on numerous occasions, and he even wrote an ode to the spring in the form of a poem in regulated verse with seven characters per line. Entitled “Baoto Spring,” the poem only added to the spring’s fame, spreading its name far and wide. Zeng’s poem reads, “A stream derived from jadeite waters, it travels stealthily to the city, moistening the mountains’ dust. Nourishing the winter with the gentle warmth of an eternal dawn, it moistens the tea trees in springtime, bringing flavors even truer. It’s as though there’s a mirror flowing alongside the road, and most adorable of all is how, by the sandy shoals, it rushes by like spinning discs. It was where the leaders of Qi and Lu met to pacify the borderlands, and where the E’huang and Nüying enchant the inhabitants of the world.” Baotu Spring is also known as “the First Spring,” a name that comes from a line written by the Ming dynasty poet Yan Bi (dates unknown) that reads, “Milky waters flow from seventy springs in Jinan; first among them is said to be Baotu Spring.” 

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  Calligraphic Poem on the Baotu Spring

  Zhao Mengfu, Yuan dynasty
  Paper
  Certified National Treasure

  Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), whose style name was Zi’ang, was a native of Wuxing in Zhejiang province. He was a member of the Song dynasty’s imperial clan, which was surnamed Zhao. Following the founding of the Yuan dynasty, Zhao Mengfu retreated to his hometown and lived in seclusion for a period of time. However, in the twenty-fourth year of the Zhiyuan reign period (1287), he accepted an imperial summons and reentered society to take up a ministerial position in faraway Dadu (present-day Beijing). Whilst serving in an official post in Jinan, Zhao was inspired on one of his trips to enjoy the local scenery. He thus wrote this poem, which includes the lines, “I came to the spring to wash away the dust; the ice and snow fill my heart with clarity, zest, and solitude.” Later on, Zhao remembered that his close friend Zhou Mi’s (1232-1298) ancestral home was in Shandong province, where Jinan is located, but that Zhou had never had a chance to visit his own homeland. He thereupon inscribed the scroll with a dedication to Zhou Mi and presented it to him as a gift. The calligraphy throughout this inscription features broad character structures and a blend of running and regular scripts; the writing’s sturdy lines and firm brushwork as well as its character structures seem as though derivative of Tang dynasty master Li Yong’s (674-746) calligraphy. On the far left, where Zhao signed the scroll, there is a note explaining that “the two poems to the right were both written near the home of Guo Jia.” However, the scroll now only holds a single poem, demonstrating that the other one was long ago cut away and eventually disappeared. 

No.	Dynasty	Author	Title	Form	Exhibit Size (cm)	Accession Number
1	Yuan dynasty	Zhao Mengfu	Calligraphic Poem on the Baotu Spring	Roll	33.1x83.3	故書000079N000000000