Hu Zaobin

Hu Zaobin was born into a wealthy family of scholar officials in Shunde, Guangdong province. He developed an interest in poetry, painting, and seal-carving in his early youth, and collected old seals and inkstones. He went to Japan to study Western fine arts at the Kyoto Municipal Art Institute, where he developed his distinctive and famous style of painting tigers. He returned to China in 1910 and became a teacher of painting and music in various schools. He was the first Chinese educator to use nude models in his painting classes, and the first teacher of Western music in China. He also composed and wrote lyrics for many songs, some of which are still popular today. He was active in the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) and supported the Northern Expedition. In 1928, he went on a tour within Southeast Asia, where he observed and took many photographs of wildlife that became references in his later work. He worked as an art editor for the Singapore Daily and established Xingxiang Art Society in Shanghai. He was also associated with the Yangzhou school of painters, who were known as eccentrics for their unorthodox style and preference for individualism. When the war between China and Japan broke out, Hu held an exhibit to raise fund for the victims in Sichuan and Suiyuan provinces. He refused to cooperate with the Japanese propaganda campaign and attempted to sneak back to rural China with his family. He was caught and had his paintings confiscated. He managed to escape to Gianmun and later to Haipeng, where he was infected by a deadly disease. He died in 1942 at the age of 45 with his family beside him. Righteousness Permits No Turning Back was finished during that time. He was widely regarded as a great master of painting and calligraphy and a cultural icon of modern China.