eeply impressed by the great achievements and deeds of Cheng Shifa, I made up my mind to visit Cheng Shifa Art Gallery in Songjiang District to further appreciate his works and know more about his unparalleled spiritual treasure.

In order to commemorate Cheng Shifa, one of the well-known masters of traditional Chinese painting in Shanghai Style, Chengshifa Art Gallery was built and officially opened on April 10, 2009 when his 88th birthday was celebrated. It locates at the eastern end of Huating Old Street in Old Town in Songjiang District, covering 2,541 square meters. Buildings of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty apparently hooked my attention, particularly about the extricate upturned eave and brick carving in the gate.

There are six areas in Cheng Shifa Art Gallery to respectively show his life, authentic exhibition, living scenes, public exhibition, art discussion and administrative office areas. Among them, the authentic exhibition area displays 80 ancient famous works painted and treasured by Cheng Shifa which was later donated to his hometown in November 2005.

In the front hall of Art Gallery, I saw a bronze statue of Cheng Shifa with the background of stone arch bridge of Songjiang. It seems that Cheng Shifa is coming down from the bridge.

Based on the recalling of Cheng Zhu, the eldest son of Cheng Shifa and the historical data, his life area displays a number of photographs and original works of him. The art gallery's plaques, couplets as well as the brocade motifs exceedingly attract me. They not only show the traditional culture of Songjiang, but also closely relate to the cultural interest of Cheng Shifa. The famous painting “the hometown of perch and the pool of Chinese ink” was due to Cheng Shifa’s great interest in drawing four-squid perches which were typical in Songjiang. More often than not, he utilized “the man from the hometown of perches”, “Cheng Shifa living in clouds” and “Songjiang people” as his name for his paintings and calligraphy.

The large brick murals on the square of the gallery shaped more than ten cultural celebrities, for instance, Lu Ji and Lu Yun of the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty, Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Jiru and Cheng Shifa. The mural is named as "Mo Yuan"(the lot to bring people who love writing together), which demonstrates the cultural scene of the spiritual coordination of ancient and temporary artists in Songjiang.

I raved about the creativity and aesthetic sense of his works. As one of the most essential artists, Cheng Shifa insisted on maintaining Chinese characteristics in paintings while innovating the brushwork of wash-painting in the middle and late 20th century. He successfully transformed the styles of characters, flowers and birds and landscape painting in the context of New China. He was regarded as the master of the outstanding Chinese painting artists in the contemporary age. Cheng Shifa had his unique descriptions of the image of ethnic minority girls and historical figures, inheriting and innovating the traditional simple brushwork lines. He was in pursuit of intuition and simple aesthetic experience all his life. All efforts have made his works show his wisdom, elegance while in line with the sense of ordinary people. His works reflected the new aesthetic awareness and thus started a new chapter for the transformation of Chinese painting.

Walking in the gallery, I was quite moved by the philanthropy and patriotism of Cheng Shifa. His works reminded me of an interview of him in which his said, “At the beginning of the Korean War, I donated all my author remuneration since I could do nothing for my country.” Later, he led a simple life and still painted while the most of his works were donated to the government. His life and artistic creation spanned several periods, witnessing the development of China's art history and even the development of Chinese art in over 100 years. In 1996, he donated 122 pieces of paintings calligraphy collections of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties created and treasured by him to the Shanghai government. In November 2005, he donated a total number of 67 ancient paintings and calligraphy and his works to Songjiang government. With its diligence and innovation, Cheng Shifa has dedicated himself to the country and Chinese people and devoted himself to Chinese painting development in the 20th century. Therefore, he has gained public recognition and national rewards.

I was motivated by his words and deeds and firmly believed that the traditional Chinese art has its unique glamour that should be cherished by us. In order to flourish Chinese culture and develop Chinese art, especially about Chinese painting, Cheng Shifa adhered to the broad vision and followed the principle of “always bear the tradition in mind, learn the merits of arts in other countries, boldly face the future”. He took the essence and discarded the dregs of foreign arts. He has made commendable contributions to the integration of Chinese and foreign arts, the ancient and modern arts, which expressed Chinese cultural values and shaped national art styles. He always insisted on the dissemination of national cultural values and actively promoted the art of Chinese painting home and abroad.

Cheng Shifa Art Gallery will have been opened for 10 years by April 10th, 2019, which needs to be celebrated to allow an increasing number of people in Shanghai to commemorate this great artist and further cultivate the awareness of arts.