A NEW museum named after late local master painter Yuan Ji is now open to the public in Luohu Village, featuring some of Yuan’s calligraphy, paintings and seals.

    Born in 1920 in Hong Kong, Yuan spent his childhood in Luohu and studied traditional Chinese painting in Hong Kong and Shanghai. After retiring from the Shanghai Library, he returned to the village in the 1980s and continued with his art career until he died in 2012.

    “Yuan had deep feelings toward the village. When he was alive, he always said he wanted to die here and leave his works to the people of the village,” said Yuan Enwen, president of Runan Industrial Company, which funded the museum.

    Yuan specialized in painting flowers, bamboo, birds and landscapes and in making exquisite seals. Some of his works were housed in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and the Tokyo Museum in Japan.

    As early as the 1940s, his works were collected in the Yearbook of Chinese Fine Art. In 1980, one of his paintings of bamboo won the top prize at the 5th China Fine Art Exhibition.

    In addition to bamboo and plum trees, Yuan was fond of painting litchi. After he returned to Shenzhen, he always went to the city’s parks to observe litchi trees and paint this typical southern Chinese fruit.

    Residents of the village recalled that Yuan led a simple and secluded life in his later years, living on a small allowance and focusing on painting in his small studio.

    The painter was generous in his charity work. In 1946, he sold a painting of birds during the Chinese civil war (1945-1949). In 1949, he sold over 300 paintings and donated all the money to the army. In 2008, he sold paintings to raise money for the earthquake-hit areas in Sichuan Province.

    Venue: 4/F, Luohu Runan Industrial Company, 1118 Yanhe Road South, Luohu District (罗湖区沿河南路1118号，罗湖汝南实业股份有限公司办公室楼4楼)

    Metro: Luobao Line, Luohu Station (罗湖站), Exit E2

    (Luo Songsong)