Plants, painting and Guangzhou
In the 1970s, China sought professional talents to draw for Flora of China, a scientific publication illustrating the country's native plants.
Feng Zhongyuan (1917-2011), leader of botanical drawing at SCIB in Guangzhou, started a training class open to all Chinese universities and colleges. He cultivated dozens of botanical artists - including Yu Feng- after being asked by the editorial board of Flora of China, making a great contribution to the project.
Feng Zhongyuan (in the middle) and students from training class in 1980
Yu Feng (second to right) at training class
Guangzhou, the only treaty port in China from the 1750s to 1850s, has long attracted plant enthusiasts and Western painters, according to Yu.
In Europe there was a feverish interest in Chinese plants during that period and some Guangzhou residents were hired by foreigners and trained to draw botanical paintings as well as collect the plants. Named the "Guangzhou Export paintings," the works were sold abroad and remain on show in many Western institutions.
