Qian Xuan
Encyclopedia
Wuxing District
Wuxing District is a district in the prefecture-level city of Huzhou, Zhejiang, China....
in Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
) during the late Song and early Yuan era. He started as an aspiring scholar-official during the Southern Song
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
. He had difficulty climbing the ranks of officialdom and when the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
took over the southern regions of China
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
in 1276 he effectively gave up on the idea. Although in 1286 his friend Zhao Mengfu
Zhao Mengfu
Zhao Mengfu courtesy name Ziang , pseudonyms Songxue , Oubo , and Shuijing-gong Dao-ren , was a prince and descendant of the Song Dynasty, and a Chinese scholar, painter and calligrapher during the Yuan Dynasty.He was recommended by the Censor-in-chief Cheng Jufu to pay an audience...
accepted a position and so for a time it seemed he could as well, he refused on patriotic grounds, citing old age in order to avoid difficulties.
Qian Xuan's life after 1276 was devoted to painting, and he became noted as a "fur and feathers" painter. He was also adept at bird-and-flower painting
Bird-and-flower painting
Bird-and-flower painting is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting....
, character painting, and landscape painting (shan shui
Shan shui
Shan shui refers to a style of Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form.-History:...
). He is known for landscapes that hinted at a longing for a return of native Chinese rule, such as in the work Home Again. He mixed Song realism with an archaic Tang style.
