Prefacewritten by Mr. Li Yan
(to see the preface written by Mr. Liu Yilin click here)


Since its birth over 2000 years ago, Chinese Gongbi painting (a painting characterized by meticulous brush work – the finest Chinese painting) reached its peak during the period of the Five Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Song Dynasty. It then appears to have declined until the Ming Dynasty when Chen Laolian boldly broke through the restrictions on the painting style. This painting genre emphasized the feelings and ideas of painters and pioneered the “Freehand –Gongbi” painting style. Sadly, the true merits of his work were not appreciated by subsequent generations and Gongbi painting stagnated, became divorced from day to day life and went into slow decline.

In Japan, however, Gongbi was always closely linked with life and in recent years through assimilating the merits of Western painting Japanese Gongbi achieved a vitality that set it apart from Chinese works. Fortunately China now has a number of famous painters like Ren Bonian, Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Liu Jiyou, Yu Zhizhen, Tian Shiguan, Chen Zhifo and Zheng Naiguang, whose Gongbi paintings are at the same level as those of Japanese painters such as Takeuchi Seiho, Ito Fukamizu and Nishimura Takekumo.

In 1960s, China began to recognize the importance of its artistic inheritance and of developing the Gongbi flower & bird painting. A special course in the Chinese Traditional Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts was created. This institution of higher learning with its strict demands and high standards, only a few outstanding students could enter. Yet Zhan Gengxi was amongst the few and one of the best. After 5 years of regular professional painting he was well versed in ancient and contemporary painting techniques. In addition to learning from the painting methods of the Song and Yuan Dynasties he also absorbed the skills of Takeuchi Seiho of Japan. He was lucky enough to be tutored by famous contemporary masters like Yu Zhizhen, Tian Shiguang, Ye Qianyu, Li Kuchan and Guo Weiqu. His brilliance manifested itself even before his graduation. His paintings radiate a freehand charm when viewed in distance, yet meticulous beauty when scrutinized closely. They have an elegant simplicity at times and a resplendent richness at others. Though ornate and carefully executed, they are never vulgar but retain a natural attraction. Undoubtedly he and his peers are qualified to shoulder the responsibility of inheriting the past and ushering in a bright future.

Regrettably, life is not a bed of roses and Zhan Gengxi often met with misfortune after his graduation. He taught in obscurity for a period of time at the Guizhou University. Then in 1979 he once again enrolled himself in Central Academy of Fine Arts. At his graduation, he had received the Ye Qianyu Scholarship and won the praise of Professor Li Kuchan as being “excellent in painting as well as in moral character”. He is now a member of the Chinese Artists’ Association.

Today Zhan Gengxi excels in both freehand and Gongbi painting of flowers and birds. His paintings are elegant and splendid, with unique style and originality. Many of his masterpieces have been displayed in exhibitions in China and aboard, published in magazines and hung in Zhongnanhai (the Headquarters of the Chinese Central Government) and the Great Hall of the People. His representative work, “A Splendid Future”, appears constantly on CCTV in news programs when Chinese leaders meet with foreign guests.

Since the opening up of our country to the outside world Zhan Gengxi’s talents have finally been recognized, and literature and art flourish in China. Now as a researcher and a professional painter at the Academy of Chinese Traditional Painting he concentrates his efforts on producing more and better paintings.

The ancient historian Sima Qian said: “the peach and plum tree does not speak, yet a path is trodden out to them.” Prolific as Zhan Gengxi is, he is much sought after by art lovers. He was invited to hold an exhibition of his painting in Singapore where he was warmly received. There he became known for his humbleness - there he introduced Chinese Gongbi painting to the Singapore people and there he left some of his works in the foreign land while returning home with fame and glory.

Li Yan (Zhuang Bei) wrote in Chanyiju summer 1994.