1.  Vincent LEE Kwun-leung ( 李冠良 )
 {* Source of photo: “Dim Dim Cheung Chau”}
The Gongbi aesthetics from
Cheung Chau Island

2.  Lee Chun Fai
 Yeung Cheung Ming
 The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy Wing-yin’s Visual
Arts lessons at Cheung Chau Government Secondary School
 {* Source of photos: “Dim Dim Cheung Chau” }
Contents

3. Lee Chun Fai ( 李振輝 )
 Lee Chun Fai is a Protestant
from Cheung Chau Alliance
Church ( 宣道會長洲堂 ). He
keeps pursuing perfectionism in
the realistic description of
auspicious animals and
monumental landscapes based
on his devotion to “gongbi” (i.e.
fine-brush painting, 工筆 )
aesthetics. His works realize the
lofty spirits of craftmanships
which the royal court painters in
the monarchical era admired.

4. Lee Chun Fai ( 李振輝 )
 This monumental landscape painting by Lee Chun Fai,
called “Valleys from the Eight Miles being locked by the
Cloud Covers” ( 雲鎖八裏溝 ), was a nominated art exhibit
at “The 12th
National Exhibition of Fine Arts” ( 第十二屆全
國美術作品展覽 ) organized by PRC Cultural Bureau ( 中
華人民共和國文化部 ), the China Association for the
Alliance of Literati and Artists ( 中國文學藝術界聯合會 )
and the Chinese Fine Artists Association ( 中國美術家協
會 ).
 From this landscape painting, even though the rocks are
described with “textural strokes” ( 皴法 ) in accordance
with the “yibi” (i.e. self-expressive painting, 意筆 ) style,
the “layer-based moisturized coloring” techniques (fen ran,
薰染 ) in accordance with the “gongbi” style are applied for
fulfilling the notion called “color distribution in accordance
with the secular code” ( 隨類賦彩 ) from Xie He’s “Six
Rules” ( 謝赫六法 ) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

5. Lee Chun Fai ( 李振輝 )
 Lee Chun Fai was one of the
participating artists in “The Exhibition
for the Establishment of Landscape
Trend Painting Association” ( 山水風創
會展 ) at Hong Kong Central Library in
March 2014.
 Chong Shui Ming ( 莊瑞明 ), Chairman
of “Landscape Trend Painting
Association” ( 山水風畫會 ), Mi Jihong
( 米繼紅 ), Deputy Inspector & Director
of Publicity, Cultural & Sports Affairs
from the Central Government Liaison
Office, Sze Tsz Ching ( 施子清 ),
Deputy Chairman of National CPPCC
Literature and History Studies
Committee, and Lee Kam Yin ( 李錦
賢 ), Former Chairman of Visual Arts
Section at Hong Kong Arts
Development Council, officiated the
opening ceremony.

6. Lee Chun Fai ( 李振輝 )
 Kwong Kwok Wai ( 鄺國威 ), Former District Councilor,
attends Protestant worships and fellowships at Cheung
Chau Alliance Church ( 宣道會長洲堂 ) as same as Lee
Chun Fai does. Kwong Kwok Wai is the founder of the
“Hub of Art Destiny” ( 藝緣坊 ), which is a private
gallery space on Cheung Chau Island. Kwong Kwok
Wai appreciates Lee Chun Fai’s Chinese art talents
very much, and he curated a solo exhibition for Lee
Chun Fai’s gongbi paintings on 6 February 2010.
During the exhibition, the “Tiger” painting left a
remarkable impression among the art lovers.
 From these “gongbi-painted” wild tigers, it is seen that
Lee Chun Fai fulfills the notions called “likeliness of
forms” ( 應物象形 ) and “color distribution in
accordance with the secular code” ( 隨類賦彩 ) from
Xie He’s “Six Rules” ( 謝赫六法 ) of the Eastern Jin
Dynasty. But, the pine trees and waterfall landscapes
were still portrayed in “yibi” ( 意筆 , self-expressive)
brushstrokes.

7. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Yeung Cheung Ming is the Member of
Hong Kong Society for Chinese Fine Arts
( 香港中國美術會 ). He and his elder
brother are the alumni of Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School. They are
operating the “Cheung Chau Photo
Printing Gallery” ( 長洲沖印 ).
 Yeung’s father served as a porcelain
painter. He needed to help with his
father’s porcelain-painting tasks while he
was 7 years old. Thus, he managed to
use Chinese brushes, glazes and kilns.
 While Yeung was 8 years old, he learnt
the “gongbi” painting techniques from Wu
Shan ( 吳山 ), a renowned Chinese painter
who is keen at portraying tigers. Yeung
manages the skills of portraying figures
and wild animals.

8. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 The porcelain painting industries
decline throughout these 20 years.
Yeung Cheung Ming changed to
serve as a children painting instructor,
and he invented a new methodology
called “colour-pencil gongbi painting”
( 木顏色工筆畫 ).
 Of course, Yeung does not give up his
talents in gongbi painting. He pursues
perfectionism in the description of
deities, which suits the Taoist faiths of
widespread Cheung Chau residents
from the elder generation.

9. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 From this piece with ancient
kids playing with the butterfly
kite, Yeung Cheung Ming
made references on the
facial expressions of Su
Hanchen ( 蘇漢臣 )’s gongbi
painting called “Infant Childs
Playing within the Autumn
Pavilion” ( 《秋庭嬰戲圖》 )
from Northern Song Dynasty.
Su Hanchen liked to portray
the faces of the kids to be as
cute, round, fat and smooth
as possible.

10. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Royal court painters from Northern Song
Dynasty provided a legitimate
framework for Yeung Cheung Ming to
learn the essential skills of “gongbi
painting” techniques.
 From this piece, Yeung Cheung Ming
made references on the “bold trees with
crab-paw branches” ( 蟹爪樹 ) from Li
Cheng ( 李成 )’s landscape painting
called “Flat Wilderness within the Cold
Forest” ( 《寒林平野圖》 ). Li Cheng
underwent both the turbulent era of Five
Dynasties with Ten Kingdoms and the
rejuvenated era of Northern Song
Dynasty.

11. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Yeung Cheung Ming made
references on Wu Daozi’s
“Delivering the Son to the King of
Heaven” ( 《送子天王圖卷》 ) to
portray the ladies with
“Bodhisattva-liked” merciful
appearances whose dresses
could be seen with flowing
drapperies as similar as flying
within the cloud layers.
 Wu Daozi was a remarkable
painter from the Tang Dynasty
who was good at “biao miao”
(pure contour drawing, 白描 ).
Yeung regards “biao miao” as
good for describing the detailed
decorative patterns and the
enlightened gestures of the
sages.

12. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Yeung Cheung Ming made
references on Wu Ben ( 吳
彬 )’s “An Imitation on Li
Gonglun’s Five Hundred
Arhats” ( 《臨李公麟五百羅漢
圖》 ) from the Ming Dynasty,
that the elderly intellectuals
were with long beards and
flowing drapperies. They were
just like practicing mysterious
tactics by reciting the Taoist
scriptures inside their hearts.
The stage were decorated with
engraving patterns, and all
these details were vividly
described by Yeung Cheung
Ming’s linear brushstrokes.

13. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Yeung Cheung Ming made
reference on “White Horses with
Light Projecting Abilities during
Midnights” ( 《照夜白》 ) created
by Han Gan ( 韓幹 ) from the
Tang Dynasty.
 Han Gan’s horses in gongbi style
conveyed that they were with
smooth skins, fat bodies and
heroic appearances whereas
their legs remained muscular for
running. Yeung puts a great
portion of time on the “layer-
based moisturized coloring”
techniques (fen ran, 薰染 ) of the
horses’ bodies.

14. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 Yeung Cheung Ming
portrayed the two court ladies
who treated each other as
sisters. They were with
slimmed figures and tender
gestures, whereas their
fingers were tiny. The heads
were the biggest within the
entire anatomical
compositions. They had the
so-called “phoenix eyes”
which enabled them to tempt
the men.

15. Yeung Cheung Ming ( 楊長明 )
 For this piece of landscape painting,
Yeung Cheung Ming transformed the
monochrome round mountains of Gong
Xian ( 龔賢 ), an “anti-Donglin party” ( 非
東林黨 ) painter in Late Ming Dynasty,
from the dimmed vision of rationally-
patterned “ink accumulation” (ji mo fa,
積墨法 ) in accordance with the “yibi”
style, to the bright vision of “layer-based
moisturized coloring” techniques (fen
ran, 薰染 ) in accordance with the
“gongbi” style .

16. The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy
Wing-yin’s Visual Arts lessons at Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School
 It is inevitable that, coping with the
demands of HKCEE Art and
HKDSE Visual Arts, Miss. Winnie
Choy Wing-yin ( 蔡詠妍 ) has to
put the greatest emphasis on the
training of “still life drawing”,
“Western painting” and “design” in
her Visual Arts curriculum at
Cheung Chau Government
Secondary School. But, Miss.
Choy still spares some leisurely
times from her lessons to let her
students explore the fun of
“gongbi” painting with Chinese ink,
watercolour paints and Chinese
brushes as creative mediums.

17. The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy
Wing-yin’s Visual Arts lessons at Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School
 While teaching the skills of “gongbi
painting”, Miss. Winnie Choy
places several bunches of
chrysanthemums or peach
blossoms onto different group
tables. Miss. Choy does not strictly
request her students to use the
luxurious silk papers from Shek
Tsai ( 石齋 ) or Yau Sang Cheong
( 友生昌 ). She just subscribes the
cheapest xuanzhi papers from the
basic-class stationery shops.

18. The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy
Wing-yin’s Visual Arts lessons at Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School
 Miss. Choy believes that, even though the surfaces of the cheapest xuanzhi papers remain
with some rough textures, students can still outline the contours of the floral blossoms
realistically with their sharp Chinese brushes and handle the “layer-based moisturized
coloring” techniques (fen ran, 薰染 ) by just moderating the Western watercolour paints.

19. The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy
Wing-yin’s Visual Arts lessons at Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School
 During the CCGSS 105th
Anniversary Visual Arts Exhibition at Hong Kong City
Hall, Miss. Choy guided her students to paint different species of floral
blossoms onto the “xuanzhi-paper-made” and “bamboo-made” umbrellas. The
floral blossoms were expressed in “gongbi” styles. Then, by using the “xuanzhi-
paper-made” ribbons, different umbrellas on the wall were linked together.

20. The “gongbi” painting education from Miss. Winnie Choy
Wing-yin’s Visual Arts lessons at Cheung Chau
Government Secondary School
 An episode of umbrellas with “gongbi” floral blossoms