Treasures of Chinese Paintings

Author: Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: China's Treasured Paintings refers to the famous paintings that were overlooked and not published. Since the reform and opening-up, with the general improvement in people's living standards and the growing demand for culture, many publishing houses have published numerous art albums. Since the late 1980s, Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House has successively published series of albums featuring famous painters from various renowned painting schools from the Five Dynasties and Northern Song Dynasty to the present. We have also basically collected important works by famous painters from various renowned painting schools in the collections of national museums. Subsequently, we expanded our scope overseas and published the Overseas Treasured Chinese Paintings (10 volumes), edited by Mr. Chen Chuanxi. With a five-thousand-year history of Chinese traditional culture, the number of famous paintings and works is as vast as the sea, and it is not an easy task to collect all the important works. Especially during the late Qing Dynasty, due to political corruption, declining national strength, and the ruthless plunder by foreign powers, many of our country's famous paintings and works were lost overseas. During the late Qing and early Republican periods, collusion between the imperial court and domestic and foreign unlawful forces led to the theft of many precious cultural relics. When Puyi abdicated and left the palace, a large number of cultural relics were scattered among the people, causing many cultural relics and precious works to be lost and their whereabouts unknown. Many wise individuals have been engaged in the work of recovery and collection for many years. It is heartening that, with China's economic development and growing national strength, the phenomenon of cultural relic return has emerged. After years of effort by the Chinese people, although some works have returned to the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Palace Museum in Taipei, many works have yet to be returned.