The Immortal Mangfu: The Art of Yao Hua

The master painter Liu Haisu once said, "In the past 400 years, Guizhou has gradually opened up, and many famous people have emerged. Among those who are good at painting, calligraphy, and poetry, Mr. Yao Mangfu is the most famous." Yao Hua was a master of poetry, calligraphy, and painting in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. He was famous in Guizhou and throughout China. He made great achievements in philology, phonology, textual research, epigraphy, poetry, drama theory, painting history, painting theory, ink rubbing, letter paper, copper engraving, and other fields. He was praised by his contemporaries as "a master of the arts" and by later generations as "a master of music." Yao Hua (1876–1930) was born in Guizhu County, Guizhou Province (now Guiyang). His original name was Xueli, but he changed it to Hua after he started school. His courtesy name was Chongguang, and his pseudonym was Mangfu. In February 1902, he became the head of Bishan Academy. In the spring of 1903, he went to Kaifeng to prepare for the imperial examination, and then went to Beijing to take the exam. He passed the exam and was sent to study in Japan. He returned to China in 1907 and was appointed as the principal of Beijing Women's Normal School in 1914. In 1917, he taught at Tsinghua School, Chaoyang University, and Beijing Art Museum School. In 1925, he was appointed as the first principal of Beijing Jinghua Art School. In June 1930, Yao Hua died of a stroke at the age of 54.