ZHONG CHENG

Born in Beijing, China, Pu Hsinyu is a well-known painter and calligrapher. He was born in the royal Imperial Manchu family as the grandson of the Emperor, near the end of the Qing Dynasty. He learned calligraphy at an early age by imitating works that he finds in the family's art collections. In his teenage years, he travelled abroad to pursuit further education in Germany, where he graduated with dual doctorate degrees in Biology and Astronomy. He then returned to China and lived a secluded life in the Je Tai Monastery at His-Shan (West Mountain) of Beijing in 1925. Thus, was given the title “Hermit of West Mountain”. He was one of the founders for the “Song-Feng Painters Group” in 1925. He hosted his first major art exhibition with his wife in 1930 and was famous ever since. In 1949 he immigrated to Taiwan where he taught at the National Taiwan Normal University and opened the “Hanyu Tong studio”. In 1954, he published the “Hanyu Tong Aesthetic Theory” and received first place from the Education Department of R.O.C. Pu Ru was skilled in calligraphy, literature, poetry and various subjects. His fame was on a par with that of Zhang Da-Chian, they were often referred as “Zheng in the South and Pu in the North” for their recognized accomplishments.