Known as Qi Huang or Qi Weiqing, was born in 1863 in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province.He was a woodcarver in his early youth, and taught himself painting, poetry, calligraphy and seal carving in his spare time.

In the seven years beginning from 1902, he left home five times to wander around many famous mountains, lakes and rivers throughout the country and painted numerous landscapes. In 1910, when he finally came home, he created "Jieshan View" and 51 other landscape paintings.

Since 1918 he resided in Beijing and lived by his painting and calligraphy. Most of the subjects he painted were flowers, birds, insects and fish. In 1928 he began to sign his name on the paintings as 白石 (Bai-shi means literally "White Stone," which implies "Snow Mountains"). He said, at one time, "I learned finger-painting in my youth; landscape painting after 30; and specialized in flowers, insects and birds after 40." After that , he resolved to paint "all the insects and birds in the whole world." During his lifetime he had painted countless number of flowers and birds. He changed his painting styles several times before settling down finally to create his own unique style.

In 1952 he was appointed Honorary Professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. In 1953 the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China conferred on him the honorable title of "People's Artist." He was elected President of the Chinese Artists' Association at the Second National Congress of Writers and Artists. In 1954 he was a deputy of the First National People's Congress. In 1955 he was awarded the World Peace Prize by the World Peace Council.

Qi Bai-shi died in Beijing on September 16, 1957 at the venerable age of ninety-six.

Tang Bohu
(1470-1523)

Tang bo hu,named Tang Yin.The famous painter in the Ming Dynasty,a native of Wu country,Jiangsu province.He had been put in prison for malpractice in civil recruitment examination.He was talented in painting landscape,human figures and flower-and-bird which following the style of Zhou Chen.He was honored as the Four Great Masters in the Ming Dynasty with Shen Zhou,Wen Zhen'ming and Qiu Ying.

Wang Xizhi

Wang Xizhi is known as the Sage of Caligraphy. He is remembered not only for revolutionising the art of Chinese writing, but also for his complete devotion to this traditional Chinese art form.

Born in 303 AD in the state of Eastern Jin, Wang Xishi started learning how to write when he was seven. His first teachers were his father's elder brother and a well-known lady calligrapher, Madam Wei Shuo.

Wang Xizhi began by mastering the kai (regular) style calligraphy. Under his school of calligraphy, the Chinese ideograms were written in symmetrical blocks. As he grew older, he began to develop his own style of writing. Wang Xizhi's xing (walking) style of calligraphy breathed life and motion into the written words. As its name suggests, xing calligraphy is a more flowing style of writing, allowing the writer to express his feelings and his moods through the brush.

Wang Xizhi's most celebrated piece of calligraphy is Lan Ting Xu (the prelude of the Orchid Pavilion). This was written in 353 AD, When the calligrapher and a group of 41 relatives and friends were on an outing in the countryside.

The picnickers sat by the two sides of a stream. Little cups of wine were then floated downstream. When a cup stopped in front of anyone, that person was required to compose a poem. Those who failed to do so were made to drink the wine as forfeit.

At the end of the day, 26 of the picnickers had to compose a total of 35 poems. Much wine had also been consumed in the process.

The good company and the strong wine put Wang Xizhi in such a happy mood that he took up his brush and, there and then, wrote the Lan Ting Xu as a prelude to the collection of poems. It is said that Wang Xizhi tried to reproduce the Prelude for nearly 100 times several days later, but he was never able to match his spontaneous calligraphy of that day.

The original Lan Ting Xu, which is considered the greatest masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy in history, was subsequently acquired by Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang dynasty. He liked it so much that he ordered his court's calligraphers to make copies of it. When he died, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy was buried with him.

Although the original Lan Ting Xu disappeared from the world in 650 AD, Wang Xizhi's style of writing continued to be a dominant influence of Chinese calligraphy. Emperor Tai Zhong's high regard for the prelude encouraged many calligraphers to imitate Wang Xizhi's writing style.

A good calligrapher is not only able to express his thoughts through his writing, he is expected to give life and form to his words. It is an art which requires a clear mind and complete control of the writing painting brush. It is an art that takes years of painstaking practice to achieve.

Even as a child, Wang Xizhi was absorbed in practising his calligraphy that he would often forget to eat. A story goes that he absent-mindedly dipped a piece of bread into the black ink, thinking that it was his brush! And a pond that was outside his house turned completely black because he used it so often to wash his brushes.

Wang Xianzhi (the seventh son of Xizhi) worked equally hard on his calligraphy. When he was 12, he showed a word which his father had corrected to his mother. The lady, who was also a calligrapher, immediately spotted the stroke that had been written by her husband.

The young boy realised that he was still very poor as compared to his father. Determined to improve his writing, the young boy filled 18 big jars with water and promised that he would not give up until he had finished using the the water to wet his ink stone!

Wang Xizhi served as a court official in his adulthood. He was a compassionate man and tried to persuade the other officials to treat the common people fairly and humanely. However, he retired because of his ill-health and died in 361 AD when he was 58. To this day he examplifies the diligence. He and his son, Wang Xianzhi, are respected for their patience and hard work.

Zhang Daqian

Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) was a native of Yi Chang, Si Chuan province. His original given name Chuan was later changed to Yuan, while his childhood name Chi was later incorporated into his studio name Chi-yuan. He took the religious name Dai-chien upon becoming a Buddhist monk, and after returning to the laity he called himself Daiqian or "Lay believer Dai-chien."

At the age of 21 he studied under Zeng Xi and Li Ruiqing. He sought out as many paintings by famous artists of past centuries as he could to copy. Beginning with an impressionistic style and progressing to meticulous brushwork, he developed the ability to move between these techniques with complete master. In 1941 he traveled to DunHuang where he spent two years and seven months copying wall paintings. Here he studied traditional coloration and line drawing methods, being particularly moved by the grand scale and complex layout of the high Tang style. The sumptuous splendor of high Tang art inspired him with the desire to create great art.

Zhang Daqian traveled widely in Europe and America, where he came into contact with the contemporary art movement in the West. This change in his methods of painting, and he created unique splashed-ink and splashed-color styles, expanding the potential of plane surfaces and coloration. In his later years, he combined splashed ink and splashed color with the masterly texture strokes and liberation of his early years to form a new synthesis. Hovering between concrete and abstract, reveling in freedom and unpredictability, Zhang Daqian's work created a whole new style of modern Chinese painting.

Zhao Mengfu

(1254-1322)

Zhao Mengfu was born in Huzhou,Zhejiang province.His style name was Zi Ang and his sobriquets were pine snow Taoist Monk.He was a high official and the leader of calligraphy and painting at that time.His calligraphy followed the style of Two Wang, his paintings was honored as the best in the Yuan Dynasty.His wife,Guan Daosheng and his son,Zhao Yong, were also talented in painting and calligraphy.