Ed Chan

This collection came from Yu Wen-Can 余文燦. He served in the early 1930s as Acting President of Beijing University. Nearly all of the modern paintings and calligraphy include dedications to him by his pseudonym Yo-San 育三, including two by former Presidents of the same university. This was an exceptionally exciting short period in China's history, directly after the successful revolution of 1911 and before the drums of WWII beginning in the late 1920s. The intellectuals and students participated in the forefront of heady events. Yu was right in the middle of the action. In this early period of the Republic of China, there was a brilliant flowering of the arts, of literature and economy. Great modern artists Zhang Da-Qian 张大千 and Qi Bai-Shi 齐白石 need no introduction. Not so well known was the establishment of vernacular Chinese 白话 instead classical Chinese 文言 as a written language, best exemplified in Lu Xun 鲁讯 novels. The artists here were part of the circle of Beijing/Shanghai scholars and artists who were instrumental in shaping these events.