PREFACE

There is a special relationship between China, Milan, and the entire West through an artist who lived in the imperial palace for 51 years. His name is Giuseppe Castiglione, also known as Lang Shining in China. Although he is Italian, tracing from the achievements of Giuseppe's life, his main contribution is to boldly explore new ways of Western painting, combine Chinese and Western painting methods into one, and create an unprecedented new painting method named after himself, the Lang Shining's New Style.

Giuseppe Castiglione, 1688-1766, was born in Milan, Italy. He studied painting at an early age and joined the Society of Jesus in Genoa at the age of nineteen. In 1709, he went to Lisbon, Portugal. In 1714, he was sent by the Holy See to spread the gospel overseas. He arrived in China in 1715 (the fifty-fourth year of Emperor Kangxi), and at the end of the same year, he went to Beijing to serve in the Qing court with his painting skills. Castiglione served in the inner court for fifty-one years since the reign of Kangxi and died of illness in the thirty-one years of Qianlong. Emperor Qianlong decreed that "Fengchen Yuanqing" be given the title of the servant.

By introducing this famous Chiese court painter to the United States, the aim is not only because of the celebration of the Horse lunar new year, the more is about the story of how a European Jesuit under language difficulties, broke the traditional painting style in another country in the other half of the Earth. This only proves that art is borderless and can be transmitted to everyone who is genuinely enjoyed and hardly works on it. I believe his story and experience are more likely to cheer us no matter in art fields or in any other field, and especially important for the new start of the year.