HIST 7510 – South China StudiesInstructor: Prof. Stephanie Chung Po-yinSemester 1, 2010-2011 – Term Paper

The Willow-like Eagle (柳鷹圖) Gao Jianfu (高劍父)

Topic

The fine arts of Lingnan as a symbolic cultural

heritage to reflect the open-mindedness of

Cantonese intellectuals in accommodating a

Sino-Western cultural communication

Name: LEE Kwun Leung Vincent (李冠良)Student ID: 09429670Programme of Study: Master of Social Science in China Studies (HISTORY) – Year 2Date: 8 October 2010

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction P.3

2. The early exposure of Cantonese art academia to the virtues of knowledge based on its acceptance to innovations P.3 – P.7

3. Gao Jianfu as an avant-garde in Cantonese art academia to liberate the psychology of Chinese-ink cultivation with global perspectives P.8 – P.14

4. Impact of Lingnan Fine Arts – The Cantonese painters set a prior example for nationwide art intellectuals to regard “Sino-Western aesthetic enlightenments” as an essential criterion of reforming Chinese people’s intellectual qualities P.14 – P.17

5. Conclusion P.18 – P.19

6. Bibliography P.19 – P.20

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Chen Shuren (陳樹仁)

The emergence of a new painting trend, called “Lingnan Fine Arts” (嶺南美術), was acknowledged as a predominant school of thought to push forward an aesthetic reformation after the downfall of monarchism in China. Facilitated by the outcry for new knowledge in the turbulent era of New Cultural Movement between the 1920s

and 1930s, the development of Lingnan art styles were inspired by the curiosity of Cantonese intellectuals in terms of searching for a flexible manner of painting expression based on an organic coexistence between Chinese and Western aesthetics. Cantonese people, renowned with their open-mindedness in encountering the strikes of international perceptions, prepared to welcome the entry of humanistic, liberal and scientific elements from different branches of the Western society. Despite a persistence on their nationalistic sentiments in conserving their cultural traditions, the Cantonese art academia, led by Gao Jianfu (高劍父), Gao Qifeng (高奇

峰 ) and Chen Shuren (陳樹人 ), recognized the positive value of Western art methodologies in terms of enriching the established Chinese-ink languages with a greater extent of “secular” elements.

The early exposure of Cantonese art academia to the virtues of knowledge based on its acceptance to innovations

Qiu Liyun1 (邱麗雲) adopted an idiom called “hai na bai chun” (A forbearance on the diversity of knowledge or talents from different branches of the Earth, 海納百川) to describe the liberal personality of Cantonese people in observing the diversification of social and cultural phenomenon. In fact, such type of “liberty” with scholarly features could be traced from the background of Guangdong as a specific origin of “marine culture” on Chinese Continent to encounter diplomatic contacts with both the Southeast Asians and the Westerners. Qiu indicated that, Cantonese, especially for the people in Chaoshan ( 潮汕 ) and Hakka (客家 ), emphasized the fundamental importance of “education”2 as a channel of enhancing the cultural, moral and

1 Qiu Liyun (邱麗雲): Standing Committee Member of Editorial Board for the publication of “Chinese Spiritual Civilization” book series (中國精神文明學大型叢書 ) with Guangdong Renmin Publishing Company Limited (廣州人民出版社) as patron2 Qiu Liyun (邱麗雲 ), “A forbearance on the diversity of knowledge & talents from different branches of the world – The open-minded spirit of Cantonese people” (海納百川．廣東人的開放精神), 1st Edition in September 2005, Guangdong, Guangdong Remin Publishing Company Limited (廣

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righteous qualities of their fellow compatriots, so that they were able to equip themselves with broad external horizons to tackle with the coming of academic ideas from other oceanic regions. In the middle era of Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren (王守仁), being a Governor-cum-Inspector of Guangdong and Guangxi (兩廣總督兼巡撫), promoted his avocation called “a consistency between intellectual awareness and pragmatic fulfilments” (zhi xin he yi, 知行合一 )3 as a supplement to his provincial education policy. His avocation was a breakthrough to the mainstream academia of China with civic examination as the sole guiding code of scholastic enhancement and bureaucratic promotion, as it discouraged literati from an over-indulgence on scriptural and textural contents without a concreted participation on universal affairs. Referring to the history of Sino-Western communication, Jeannes de Rocha accompanied Mateo Ricci to reach Macao, Guangdong and Hangzhou with an introduction of Western knowledge, as well as promoting the art of European oil painting4 among Chinese intellectuals in the Ming Regime under the reign of Emperor Shenzhong (明神宗 ). Inspired by the trend of aesthetic communication between Portuguese priests and Ming scholars5, Lin Liang (林良 )6, an occupational Lingnan painter from Nanhai (南海 ), dared to enclose his aspiration of promoting “the Campaign of Realism” (寫實運動) in his self-expressive (xie yi, 寫意) concentration on flowers and birds (hua niao, 花鳥 ). Facilitated by the emergence of Realism, painters like Li Kongxiu (李孔修 ), Zhang Mu (張穆 ) and Li Jian (黎簡 ) were becoming critical with the stylistic approaches inherited by literati painters since the Yuan Dynasty. To this group of enlightened Cantonese painters with exceptional interests in animals and natural substances with vitality, literati painters, such as Ni Zhan (倪瓚), Wen Zhen (吳鎮), Huang Gongmang (黃公望) and Wang Meng (王蒙),

東人民出版社). [P.157 – An opened environment for ideological debates]3 Same as above [P.56: Wang Shouren further elaborated the idea of “a consistency between intellectual awareness and pragmatic fulfillments (知行合一) – “學莫先於良知，知致而行即至，故格物是誠意功夫，明善是誠身功夫，窮理是盡性功夫，唯精是唯一功夫” (Conscientious awareness is a prior asset for academic studies. Therefore, a thoughtful analysis on substances is requested to justify one’s sincerity. A comprehension on the nature of benevolence is requested to justify one’s cordial behaviour. An in-depth exploration on virtues is requested to justify one’s ability in utilizing his/her innermost qualities. A pursuit on precision is requested to justify one’s loyalty on particular style.)]4 Aaron Chen Kai-wing (陳佳榮 ), “A History of the Communication between China & Foreign Countries” (中外交通史), 1987, Hong Kong, Learner’s Bookstore [P.524: Jeannes de Rocha edited a publication called “A Brief Introduction on the Portraits of Lord and the Sacred Figures” (天主聖像圖說)]5 Chen Zehong (陳澤泓), “The Cantonese Culture” (廣府文化), 1st Edition in April 2007, Guangdong, Guangdong Remin Publishing Company Limited (廣東人民出版社 ) as editor, Lingnan Archive Editorial Committee (嶺南文庫編輯委員會) and Guangdong Chinese Civilization Cultural Exchange Association (廣東中華民族文化促進會 ) as co-editors. [P.288: During the reign of Wangli (萬曆), there were Western missionaries introducing religious oil paintings to Guangdong. In the end of 16 th

century, some missionaries conducted oil-painting lectures in Macao and fostered the first-ever “Western painting art” in the history of China.]6 Same as above [P.287: The Early Lingnan Fine Arts]

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abused the use of illusions from their subconscious minds to describe natural landscapes. According to the aesthetic pursuit of the aforementioned four Yuan masters, the mountainous, rocky and waterfall compositions had to be painted with loosened and un-proportional contours, as such approach was regarded by the latter court painters in Ming Dynasty as a legitimate expression of literati’s nonchalant frustrations towards the political disturbances of their nation. Lingnan painters since the emergence of Lin Liang began to abandon the old artistic psychology and search for an alternative to highlight their stylistic uniqueness when comparing their painting culture with that of the Northern School, which was “an equal emphasis on the likeliness of compositions and the vividness of essence” (xing shen jian bi, 形神兼備). Even the Ming Regime regarded an “imitation” on ancient styles as the major stream of painting cultivation; the Lingnan painters were able to explore equilibrium between emotions and rationale due to their passion in glorifying the elegance of this realistic nature. They re-valued an objective approach of observation, which was regarded as a milestone for them to search for stylistic transformations based on their innermost temperaments.

Conducting The Horses (策馬圖) Zhang Mu (張穆)

After the failure of Qing Regime in defending Chinese territories against Western invasions, the Cantonese academia further played an important role in arousing intellectuals’ awareness on the emergent need of social, political, institutional and military reforms. Being Cantonese intellectuals with broad horizon in offshore affairs, Lin Zechui (林則徐 ), Wei Yuan (魏源 ) and the relevant scholars advocated that, Chinese people should adopt the wholesome elements of Western knowledge to diminish the weaknesses of the existing Qing governance under a criteria of being

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Ju Chao (居巢)

loyal with their Confucian traditions7. This principle helped re-position Chinese studies in an appropriate location of global intellectual scene that counter-balanced with the over-whelming expansion of Western standards. Ju Chao (居巢) and Ju Lian (居廉), the two active Lingnan painters during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (咸豐), endeavoured to modify the delineative painting style of Yun Shouping (惲壽平 ) with a greater extent of realistic elements. The “Ju” brothers turned the flower-and-bird paintings into a kind of cultural asset that could be appreciated by a greater majority of Chinese people. They made the contours of ecological substances to be delicately outlined, in which the objects were of no rigid skeletons but with a pure manifestation of vibrant and patterned brushstrokes to highlight the realistic visions according to their observations8. Ju Chao and Ju Lian were influenced by the nationwide outcry for a change in ideological perceptions for the purpose of national self-strengthening, thus they were pleasant to develop new art languages that were unique from the existing painting norms in the bureaucratic field. Witnessing the stagnation of Chinese court paintings in coping with the changing global demands, Ju Chao and Ju Lian began to be fond with art pieces created by painters with equivalent talents in Chinese and Western painting, such as Giuseppe Castiglione (郎世寧) from Italy. They sought for an intensive practice in life drawing and calligraphy, but also adopted particular skills of “Four Wangs” (清初四王)9 or Dong Qichang (董其昌) to the purpose of artistic sedimentation and inheritance. Individual sentiments coexisted with rational features that reflected the spirit of “absorptiveness” (han she xing, 涵攝性) from Cantonese art academia.

7 Qiu Liyun (邱麗雲 ), “A forbearance on the diversity of knowledge & talents from different branches of the world – The open-minded spirit of Cantonese people” (海納百川．廣東人的開放精神), 1st Edition in September 2005, Guangdong, Guangdong Remin Publishing Company Limited (廣東人民出版社). [P.10: Chinese representatives, such as Lin Zechui and Wei Yuan, advocated the need of “learning the strengths of enemies to restrict the intransigence of enemies” (師敵之長技以制敵) and “learning Western knowledge to restrict Western invasion” (師夷之長技以制夷).]8 Chen Zehong (陳澤泓), “The Cantonese Culture” (廣府文化), 1st Edition in April 2007, Guangdong, Guangdong Remin Publishing Company Limited (廣東人民出版社 ) as editor, Lingnan Archive Editorial Committee (嶺南文庫編輯委員會) and Guangdong Chinese Civilization Cultural Exchange Association (廣東中華民族文化促進會) as co-editors. [P.290: The formation of Lingnan painting]9 Four “Wangs” in the early Qing dynasty (清初四王): Wang Shimin (王時敏), Wang Yuanqi (王原祈), Wang Hui (王翬) and Wang Jian (王鑑)

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Left: A Pair of Egrets (雙鷺圖) Ju Chao (居巢)

Right: A Frog Lying Onto The Leaf (青蛙臥葉圖) Ju Lian (居廉)

Left: Five Auspicious Items (五福圖) Ju Chao (居巢)Right: Wealth And Longevity In Love Relationship (富貴白頭圖) Ju Lian (居廉)

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Gao Jianfu as an avant-garde in Cantonese art academia to liberate the psychology of Chinese-ink cultivation with global perspectives

Personal photos of Gao Jianfu (高劍父)

Chinese painting art was historically regarded as a “supplementary leisure” among scholar-officials due to their prior emphasis on the recitation of Confucian scriptures. Thus, the corresponding thematic approaches were limited to the description of sceneries, ecology and objects in monarchical courts. Gao Jianfu (高劍父 , 1879 - 1951)10, a Cantonese painter with scholastic experiences in Japanese Academy of Fine Arts beyond the outbreak of 1911 Revolution11, was aspired to “secularise” Chinese painting as both a professional area of education for increasing people’s cultural

10 Cai Shengyi (蔡星儀), “A Famous Collection of Chinese Painters – Gao Jianfu” (中國名畫家全集．高劍父), 1st Edition in March 2002, Hebei, Hebi Education Publishing Company Limited. [Gao Jianfu studied in Japan between 1906 and 1908. After 1908, Gao returned China and supervised the Guangdong Tongmenghui (廣州同盟會 ). He worked as a Chief Commander in the Guangzhou Rebellion. After the 1911 Revolution, Gao Jianfu endeavored with the tasks of national art education. He established the Chunshui Painting Academy (春睡畫院) and Nanzhong Academy of Fine Arts (南中美術院). He had ever worked as the Principal of Guangdong Province Industry College (廣東省立工業學校), Guangzhou Municipal Academy of Fine Arts (廣州市立藝專) and Nanzhong Academy of Fine Arts (南中美術院). He worked as the Fine Art Professor of Zhongshan University (中山大學) and Central University (中央大學 ). He was the Chairman of Guangdong Fine Arts Association. In 1949, Gao relocated in Macao.]11 Cai Shengyi (蔡星儀), “A Famous Collection of Chinese Painters – Gao Jianfu” (中國名畫家全集．高劍父), 1st Edition in March 2002, Hebei, Hebi Education Publishing Company Limited.

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Gao Qifeng (高奇峰)

awareness and a legitimate occupation for inheriting the spirit of Chinese heritage in global art scene.

Gao Jianfu led a new trend of aesthetic observation in the academia of Republican China. His younger brother, Gao Qifeng (高奇峰 ), persisted with this enlightened perception to gain intellectual recognitions on a sincerity in national art reforms. Due to his acknowledgement on the Western manner of “life painting” (xie sheng, 寫生 ), Gao highlighted the importance of proportion, luminance, chrominance and composition apart from a reflection of calligraphic leisure. He encouraged the younger generation in Republican China to regard Chinese ink as simply an approachable medium to express what they observed and appreciated in their daily livelihoods, i.e. the process of visualization with a slight level of stylistic modifications. He advocated that, the idea of realism was reflected if the portrayed targets, like flowers and fruits, would deliver a concreted sense of vividness that helped entertain the mentality of audiences with spiritual nourishments. Being a Cantonese intellectual with open-mindedness on the naturalistic beauty of “golden-stone” aesthetics ( 金 石 派 味 道 的 藝 術 ) as a characteristic of Southern School, Gao Jianfu supposed that, “delicacy” was not a definite criteria for a painting to become a precious art collection that suited the bourgeoisie favour. Rather, an accidental reservation of rough particulars during the contouring process was significant enough to justify whether the author could reflect the uniqueness of his/her creative identity.

There was a long history of cultural, ideological and commercial contacts between Cantonese and Indians since the expansion of East Indian Company under the influence of British Imperialism in the early 19th century, and this trend of Sino-Indian exchanges persisted in the decades of Gao Jianfu’s artistic endeavour due to the eventual opening of coastal ports in Pearl River Delta Region after Chinese defeat in the two Opium Wars. Especially for Hong Kong, its colonized political status enabled Indian immigrants to establish their family heritages and career foundations under British initiations. Throughout the past two centuries, Indians were acknowledged with the highest literacy rate in Asia, as they used to receive a profound system of

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Gao Jianfu (Left) with Ranbindranath Tagore during his

visit to India in 1931

compulsory education implemented by British colonialists. Although the Indians could only survive with low-waged employments in the basic level of Hong Kong and Guangdong society, they were aspired to persist with their enlightened intellectual characteristics and enjoy a cultural coexistence with the Chinese community. According to the discovery of Wong Siu-hon (黃兆漢 ) from the Centre of Asian Studies in the University of Hong Kong in 1972, Gao Jianfu, whose residential origin was Panyu (番禺)12, was proved of communicating ideas with an Indian poet-writer called Ranbindranath Tagore in the aspect of Sino-Indian aesthetic comparisons. Gao

proved that, the Indian painting methodology, interpreted by Ranbindranath Tagore, shared similar elements with the “Six Rules” (六法) proclaimed by Xie He (謝赫) during the Southern and Northern Dynasty of Wei and Jin13. The vividness of spiritual essence (qi yun sheng dong, 氣韻生動 ) corresponded with Indian emphasis on the contexts of elegance and the expression of personal sentiments ( 表 現 情 感 ). The vibrancy of structural brushwork (gu fa yong bi, 骨法用筆 ) and the colour distribution according to secular code (xui lei fu cai, 隨類 賦 彩 ) corresponded with the Indian manifestation on brush theories with a subtle attachment of chrominance (筆法與傅彩 ). The likeliness of forms (ying wu xie xing, 應物 寫 形 ) corresponded with Indians’ comprehensive observation on the rationale of image (形象體察的認識 ), as well as

caring for a consistent vividness between forms and innermost qualities with realism as an essential criteria (形神的迫肖). The spatial distribution (jing ying wei zhi, 經營位置) corresponded with Indian alertness on the appropriateness of measurements and compositions (尺度與結構的正確). The only difference between Chinese and Indian art was that, Indian painters did not encourage a persisting habit of imitation on styles

12 Chen Chuanji (陳傳席 ), Chen Jichun (陳繼春 ) and Shi Li (石莉 ) as editors, “The School of Lingnan Painting” (嶺南畫派 ), 1st Edition in October 2003, Hebei, Hebei Education Publishing Company Limited [P.34: Gao Jianfu (1879-1951) – A Panyu citizen in Guangdong Province (廣東番禺人)]13 Wong Siu-hon (王兆漢), “Kao Chien-fu’s Theory of Painting” (高劍父畫論述評 ), 1972, Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies, The University of Hong Kong. [P.7: The Process of Transformation in Traditional National Painting – The six painting rules from China and India]

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(chuan yu mu xie, 傳移模寫) by ancient masters as a fulfilment of learning process.

The aforementioned pairs of methodological similarities provided a pragmatic and unbiased framework for Gao Jianfu to re-integrate a set of painting methodologies for the on-going maturity of Lingnan Fine Arts, which corresponded with the ultimate goal of cultural assimilation – “Chinese aesthetics as substances, Western aesthetics as application” and “Western expression of Chinese soul”. Gao Qifeng acknowledged a fact that, the code of “evolution” (jin hua, 進化 )14 was theorized in the on-going process of his “New National Painting Campaign” (xin guo hua yun dong, 新國畫運動 ) – an expediency to guarantee a recognition from global art scene on the sustainability of Chinese-ink philosophy when Republican China was still troubled by its established weaknesses. Gao and his allies anticipated that; driven by the emerging trend of New Cultural Movement stressing a critical evaluation on the ideological restrictions by the Confucian etiquette, the Lingnan painters would continue with their open-mindedness to accept scientific theories from the West as supplements to further diminish the separateness between the “spiritual culture” of humanity and the “instrumental culture” of commerce while pushing forward an international set of Chinese-ink expression codes that encouraged a general consciousness on the importance of “self-motivated” creativity.

14 Liu Ruikuan (劉瑞寬) as author, Sang Bing (桑兵) as editors, “The Modernization of Chinese Fine Arts – An analysis on the art journals and art exhibitions between 1911 and 1937” (中國美術的現代化：美術期刊與美展活動的分析 1911 – 1937), 1st Edition in December 2009, Beijing, Joint Publishing Company Limited.[P.107-109: Jian Youwen (簡又文), who had frequent contacts with Gao Jianfu, cited a paragraph from “An Impression from a Visit to Chunshui Painting Academy” (春睡畫院訪問印象) to acknowledge Gao Qifeng’s effort in “New National Painting Campaign” –“This type of painting is sociably regarded as “The School of Cultural Moderation” (折衷派) or “The New School” (新派). In fact, it is “The New National Painting” (新國畫). Its approach of brushstroke and colour manifestation was developed based on the orthodox painting code of Song Dynasty, together with a kind reference on the strengths of foreign art trends and the new methods of modern science, for example, the law of distance, the law of perspectives, luminance, chrominance, air strata and the code of life drawing. Apart from Western art methodology, the New National Painting merged with particular elements of Indian, Egyptian, Persian and other types of ethnical art styles. They were fostered in the process of spiritual practice. This new school of painting was formed based on a transformation of old national-painting style. The old national painting persisted with the features of spiritual sensitivity, whereas the Western painting was competitive with its rational expression of forms. Because of a mixture between philosophical spirits and mechanical codes, the new school of painting experienced integration among truth, benevolence and grace. Ranbindranath Tagore, an Indian poet-writer, titled this new school of painting as an “Evolutional Chinese painting” or an “Evolutional Western painting”.”

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Left: The Roaring Flame in Eastern Battlefield (東戰場的烈焰) Gao Jianfu (高劍父)Right: A Pair of Auspiciousness (雙吉圖) Gao Jianfu (高劍父)

Annual Commemoration of Gao Jianfu organized by the successors of Lingnan Fine Arts in Guangzhou

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Eagle (鷹) Gao Jianfu (高劍父)

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Left: High Mountains with Long Waterfalls (山高水長圖) Gao Qifeng (高奇峰)Middle: A Heroic Horse under a Tree with Falling Leaves (落葉駿馬) Gao Qifeng (高奇峰)

Right: Jade-Liked Water Flow (玉淵圖) Chen Shuren (陳樹人)

Impact of Lingnan Fine Arts – The Cantonese painters set a prior example for nationwide art intellectuals to regard “Sino-Western aesthetic enlightenments” as an essential criterion of reforming Chinese people’s intellectual qualities

The Lingnan painters advocated that, different schools of painting thoughts sought for a general consensus while pushing forward a trend of “renaissance” in the art academia of Republican China. Their avant-garde spirits in aesthetic reformation were greatly inspired by the nationalistic sentiments of May Fourth Movement, which targeted at a protest against the conservative stagnation of Chinese cultural perceptions that hindered the capable persons from making socio-economic progresses. Hu Xi (胡適), Cai Yuanpui (蔡元倍), Lu Xun (魯迅), Chen Duxiu (陳獨

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秀), Li Dachao (李大釗) and their fellow campaigners cherished a popularisation of “plain language” (bai hua wen, 白話文 ) as a substitute to the “eight-legged scriptures” (ba gu wen 八股文 or wen yan wen 文言文 ) in the monarchical era. Corresponding with the spread of New Cultural Movement, a change in the linguistic methodology of Chinese written language further liberated intellectuals, who were interested in modern literature, from the burden of rigid grammatical restrictions. The process of liberation was regarded by Lingnan painters, like Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng and Chen Shuren, as a practical reference for them to think about the matter of an integration between “modernity” and “tradition” in the aspect of Chinese painting art. In fact, the Lingnan painters adapted to communicate with outsiders by plain dialects, humble etiquettes and popular customs. The “non-exclusive” feature of Cantonese culture offered Gao Jianfu and his allies with a guiding code to develop art forms that accommodated diversified ideological concerns – raising the idea of “harmonious coexistence with a tolerance on stylistic variations”. The Lingnan painters understood that, the Chinese-ink aesthetics staunchly remained with its fundamental and ancient contexts under a strict Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist framework. This made the art of Chinese painting hardly conductive with the code of “evolution”. To conduce a progressive mode of creative psychology, the Lingnan painters had no choice, but to select the expressionistic, anatomical and structural elements of Western Art as alternatives to change the “functionality” of Chinese painting – from a cultural hobby of scholars to either a nationalistic propaganda or an exhibition-based creativity that aimed at legitimising the Chinese art philosophy as a part of the international norms.

Even though a greater emphasis was put onto the issue of “innovation”, Lingnan painters, from Ming Dynasty to Republican Era, did not attempt to exclude the conservation of “racial identity” in their painting heritage. Western scholars with devotion in the education development of China, such as John Dewey, John Leighton Stuart15 and John King Fairbank16, regarded an insistence of “racial identity” as a profession of “Sinology” (han xue, 漢學). The ultimate aspiration of “Sinology” was to build up a sense of belonging on our established cultural perceptions, and it was a requested foundation for Chinese intellectuals in Republican Era if they wanted to search for enlightened inspirations from Western art ideas. What Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng and Chen Shuren endeavoured to do was an introduction of Lingnan aesthetic elements, namely “brightness” (liang, 亮), “moisture” (run, 潤), “vitality” (sheng, 生)

15 John Dewey and John Leighteon Stuart were the two presidents of Peking (Yanjing) University between 1910s and 1930s.16 John King Fairbank was a scholar from Harvard-Yenching University & Harvard University with an academic concentration on Confucius principles. He formed New Confucianism and encouraged his Ph-D students to focus on China Studies by establishing the Fairbank Enterprise.

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and “fusion” (rong, 融)17, to the northern school of Chinese art academia, and it was a process of cultural inheritance with “Sinology” as a guiding spirit. In Northern China, Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻), Qi Baishi (齊白石), Huang Binhong (黃賓虹), Fu Baoshi (傅抱石 ) and Ren Bonian (任伯年 ) were the most enthusiastic art reformers to demonstrate a self-strengthening image of Chinese-ink art through diplomatic channels with Europe by organizing exhibitions in the metropolitan cities of France and the Soviet Union. The aforementioned four characteristics of Lingnan Fine Arts caused a particular extent of wholesome influence to the existing stylistic approaches of Northern School. For example, Gao Jianfu’s belief corresponded with Xu Beihong’s emphasis on the elimination of pretentious textural-strokes and the direct ink manifestation based on the objective sensation of mankind – “Denied the aesthetic rules of Early-Qing four distinguished painters, cherished the painting methodology of Song Dynasty, sought for a sophisticated sense of luxurious beauty, and refused an adoption of superficial painting skills from scholar-officials” (鄙薄四王，推崇宋法，務求精深華妙，不取士大夫淺許率平易之作)18.

17 The four characteristics of Lingnan painting – originated from Lin Mingchen (林明琛)’s presentation in the Academic Forum during the “2010 Traveling Exhibition of Oil Painting – Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao” (2010穗港澳油畫巡迴展) at Hong Kong Central Library [Lin Mingchen was the Former Instructor in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, with “Chrominance” as his concentration.]18 Chen Chuanji (陳傳席), “A Full Collection of Prominent Chinese Painters – Xu Beihong” (中國名畫家全集．徐悲鴻), 1st Edition in Oct 2003, Hebei, Hebei Education Publishing Company Limited (河北教育出版社)[P.11: During his French studies in Zhendan University, Xu Beihong had chance to provide a painting service for Hatong Villa (哈同花園). There was both Cangshengmingzhi University (倉聖明智大學) and Guangcang Society (廣倉學會 ) in Hatong Villa. The Guangcang Society frequently invited celebrities and distinguished scholars to conduct seminars, whereas Kang Youwei was also one of the guests. Xu made Kang Youwei as his devoted master. Kang gave guidance to Xu in the aspect of calligraphy practice, and discussed with him on the stagnated phenomenon of art development in China. With the inspirations from Kang, Xu concluded a mission called “Denied the aesthetic rules of Early-Qing four distinguished painters, cherished the painting methodology of Song Dynasty, sought for a sophisticated sense of luxurious beauty, and refused an adoption of superficial painting skills from scholar-officials” (鄙薄四王，推崇宋法，務求精深華妙，不取士大夫淺許率平易之作).]

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The Ninth Ode of Quyuan – National Grief (屈原九歌．國殤)

Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻)

Left: The Landscape of Qingcheng (青城山色圖) Huang Binhong (黃賓虹)

Middle: A Return to Homeland (還家圖) Qi Baishi (齊白石)Right: Su Wu Shepherded the Lambs (蘇武牧羊) Ren Bonian (任伯年)

Left: Ranbindranath Tagore (泰戈爾) Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻)

Middle: A Manifestation on Landscape since Adolescence (待細把江山圖畫) Fu Baoshi (傅抱石)

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Conclusion

To conclude, the Lingnan Fine Arts was the earliest school of painting thought with a long-history record of Sino-foreign communications in the dynastic history of China. Despite the predominant trend of being ignorant with the possible integration between aesthetic perfection and commercial interests, Cantonese ethnic accommodated the curatorial philosophies from Western art circuit. Art academia in northern provinces strongly depended on the stylistic positioning of the royal court, and the painters there created pieces that inherited their institutional habits in civic examination. The Cantonese art circuit adapted to establish self-regulating art associations, such as the Chunshui Painting Academy (春睡畫院 ) established by Gao Jianfu, that pushed forward the art reformation within the strata of civil society, and that was a feature of “liberty” to identify Southern School as being different from the bureaucratised and institutionalised painting culture of Northern School. Due to the weak and non-interventionist administration of Kuomintang Government in Guangdong, the scattered painting associations were independent enough to maintain an appropriate order of painting development in the provincial level, as well as spreading nationalistic messages to counteract with the intransigence of Japanese militarism. Because of the sub-tropical and coastal location of Guangdong Province, the painters there were more adventurous19 in applying their universal horizon to the pragmatic affairs in cultural promotion. Unlike the literati painters in monarchical era, Gao Jianfu chose not to retreat from the bureaucratic affairs due to his alertness on the endangered status of China. Rather, Gao persisted with a reference on the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen, Liao Zhongkai (廖仲愷) and the members of Chinese Tongmenghui (中國同盟會 ). Gao Jianfu actively participated in the

19 Lu Yuanding (陸元鼎), “Lingnan – Humanity, Personality & Architecture” (嶺南人文．性格．建築), 1st Edition in June 2005, Beijing, China Construction Industry Publishing Company Limited [P.43: The feature of innovation in Lingnan culture]

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Gao Jianfu (Left 2) with Liao Zhongkai (廖仲愷) (Left 3) and other revolutionists in the Early

Republican Era

nationalistic and fund-raising campaigns against Japanese invasions. The Lingnan paintings became a direct channel for foreigners to comprehend the natural ecology of China. Most of the themes were related to the genuine description of rural scenes, fruits, flowers, forests, gardens, pavilions, climatic phenomenon, animals and daily activities of minimal citizens. These conveyed inspiring metaphors with lively iconographies, and crossovers of thematic substances were tolerated. During the transformation of China’s cultural capacity, the Lingnan Fine Arts allowed foreign intellectuals to perceive how Chinese Civilization cared for the conservation of normal human relationships with the Earth as its tradition, and they could be inspired to think about the possibility of “organic lifestyle” despite the predominance of commercial, technological, mechanical and utilitarian values in their highly-industrialized European society. The Lingnan painters, like Gao Jianfu, understood that, a mutually complementary level of Sino-Western aesthetic coexistence was the only sort of theory for Chinese fine arts to obtain an academic say in the global art scene, judging from the weak diplomatic status of Republican China after a series of war defeats and territorial humiliations. With religious thoughts, education system, civic customs and philosophical studies as solid institutional base, the Cantonese art intellectuals from Ming Dynasty to Republican Era fulfilled their loyal missions to prosper the non-exclusiveness of Chinese fine arts by stressing a diversification of aesthetic languages with both emotional and rational elements, which paved a way for an eventual globalisation of Chinese-art appreciation in the latter half of 20th century.

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