Chou Cheng-Hsuan

Qiu Chengxuan, born in December 1950, is a native of Chengde, Hebei Province. He has loved art since childhood. Born and raised deep in the Yanshan Mountains, he traveled extensively across China's magnificent landscapes—including Huangshan, Taishan, Huashan, Qingcheng Mountain, Emei Mountain, Wutai Mountain—and these experiences sparked his desire to depict the natural beauty of his motherland. Devoting himself to the creation of traditional Chinese landscape painting became his lifelong pursuit. Since then, he has studied both ancient masters and contemporary artists, taking the works of renowned painters such as Huang Binhong, Li Keran, and Bai Xueshi as models for research and practice.

      In the 1950s, learning resources were scarce and qualified teachers were in short supply. Illustrations from old newspapers, New Year paintings posted during Spring Festival, and the occasional comic book became his art textbooks. In the second grade, his homeroom teacher偶然ly discovered this "talent," encouraged him to create, and helped him participate for the first time in a city-level art exhibition. His work, “Gallop,” was published by the *Chengde Daily*, becoming the driving force behind his lifelong passion for painting.

      From September 1976, he worked at the Fengning County Cultural Center as a full-time artist. After 1986, he served as an art editor for the *Chengde City News* and *Chengde Masses News*. He was the Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Chengde Artists Association, held positions in the Chengde Calligraphers Association and Photographers Association, and also served as Director of the Exhibition Department at the Chengde Ethnic Folk Museum and Vice President of the Chengde Banpo Painting and Calligraphy Academy. He was a member of the Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Committees of the Chengde Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He is a member of the Hebei Artists Association and Calligraphers Association and serves as Chief Editor at the *Chengde Daily*.

        He lived through the Cultural Revolution, when painting portraits of Chairman Mao became the most fashionable activity, and creating satirical cartoons for criticism columns became a required skill. He also experienced the “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” movement, learning from Dazhai, engaging in military preparedness, building reservoirs, and serving as a wartime propagandist—activities that turned into his de facto “specialty.” Later, he entered formal academic training, becoming “professionally trained,” with watercolor and oil painting becoming his favorite mediums. The ten years he spent working at the cultural center provided intense artistic training. Creating large-scale street propaganda posters became his forte, so much so that it became a reason for the organization department to refuse his transfer. Later, when he moved to the newspaper as an art editor, he shifted from large paintings to illustrations and title images. He quickly adapted, focusing on creating manhua (sequential art), which soon brought results. At the invitation of publishers, his works were compiled and published, including appearances in *China Manhua*.

      During this period, he continuously participated in Chinese painting creation. Together with Ma Weichi, a well-known painter in our city, he co-created the Chinese painting “Picking Pearls,” which was exhibited at the Second National Sports Art Exhibition in preparation for the 11th Asian Games. His Chinese painting “Holy Land” was displayed at the National Museum as part of the grand exhibition commemorating the 300th anniversary of the construction of the Chengde Mountain Resort.

      Numerous works have been exhibited, published, and awarded at provincial level or above. Among them, the three manhua works “Attacking Zizhulin,” “The Discovery of Germs and Viruses,” and “Watt and the Industrial Revolution” were included in the collections *A Century of Chinese History in Manhua* and *Illustrated Five Thousand Years of World History*. The manhua “Blue Emotion” was published in the national journal *China Manhua Pictorial*. His advertising work “Be Friends with Books” won first prize in Hebei Province, was selected for the Ninth National Advertising Art Exhibition, and included in a collection of fine works. His article “The Undying Mountain Flowers Beyond the Great Wall” was published in the magazine *Art*. His series of Chinese paintings “Hawthorn Seedling Cultivation” was selected for the National Science Popularization Exhibition. The Chinese painting “Picking Pearls” was included in the Second National Sports Art Exhibition. His watercolor painting “Silver Flowers Bloom in the Peasant’s Home,” Chinese painting “Soul of the Mountain,” calligraphy works, and numerous news-related artworks (illustrations, title images) have received awards, been published, or included in collections at provincial level or above. Additionally, many of his journalistic works have won press awards at provincial level or above.

      He has created numerous paintings and calligraphy works, participating not only in municipal and provincial exhibitions but also gaining widespread popularity among the general public. Now past the age of seventy, he remains humble and dislikes self-promotion, preferring to move forward step by step—only then does he feel truly grounded.