culture
The novel 儒林外史 (The Scholars) opens with Wang Mian as a poor boy who teaches himself to paint lotuses after a rainstorm, then refuses official appointment - an idealized model of the reclusive scholar-artist that 吴敬梓 uses to shame the corrupt Ming literati that follow.
history
A real historical figure whose surviving ink-and-wash plum scrolls (most famously 墨梅图) are preserved in the Palace Museum. He inscribed one with the line 不要人夸好颜色, 只留清气满乾坤 ('I don't want praise for pretty color, I only want pure spirit filling heaven and earth').
