Kuang Han
Born in Jiangxi Province in 1961. He graduated from the Nanjing Normal University with a degree in Traditional Chinese Painting in 1989. Kuang Han won the Xu Beihong Scholarship in 1988.

After graduation, he moved to Beijing and lives in a Hutong, amongst the ancient architecture of Beijing. In most persons’ minds, Hutong is regarded as the essence of Beijing. Within the Hutong lies the core of Beijing, the crux of Beijing’s culture. Kuang Han is fascinated by the charm of Hutong.  He traveled around most Hutongs in Beijing and has taken hundreds of photographs as his material. He is especially impressed by the buildings that are being demolished within Hutongs. His paintings capture the soul of Beijing through vivid portrayal of its street life.

During the 1995 China Art Exposition, his “Hutong” series paintings were drawn to the attention of art critics and collectors. His paintings “Beijing Memories” were exhibited at the Thirteen New Artists’ Works Exhibition organized by the Chinese Artists’ Association. His paintings “Changes of City” were exhibited at the Ninth National Art Exhibition held in Beijing. Many of his paintings have been awarded first prize at exhibitions. Some major newspapers and television stations have covered Kuang Han’s paintings.

Hutong, An Undemolishable Relic for Beijing

  By Li Yi, Ph.D, from the Research Institute of Arts under China Academy of Arts and Crafts

  To preserve the Hutongs (Hutong is an alley of typical Beijing style), a series of pencil sketches by Mr. Kuang Han has left on me a striking impression that it is an unusual expression of a usual object, or, in other words, the best way of description of the theme.
  Hutongs, a unique characteristic of ancient Beijing, existing in large numbers, separate numerous Siheyuan compounds with houses around a courtyard. It is a synonym of the old beijng to a certain extent. They have been the main pedestrian passages for generations of Beijing residents at least since the Yuan Dynasty. Houses and buildings along both sides of Hutongs in ancient Beijing constituted the main part of the city, apart from the royal constructions such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, etc. It was the spiritual home of the old Beijing, which nurtured its distinctive accents and tastes. The Four Generations by Lao She depicts none other but lives and people living in Hutongs. One can very well say that a thorough understanding of Beijing is not possible without actual living in Hutongs.
  Unfortunately, however, Hutongs have been disappearing gradually with the replacement of more and more modern skyscrapers. Therefore, it has been a cultural mission today to preserve Hutongs in order to present the past for the future by leaving something for the coming generations.
  Mr. Kuang Han took over his mission from the artistic side by a determination made ten years ago to preserve Hutongs. He was resolved to depict Hutongs by way of sketch with a pencil, though pencil sketchshave become a rare art in recent years with less and less painters adopting it, except imposed sketch exercises by school students, as a result of the prevailing argument that pencil sketching is a form too simple to attract the eyes, as compared with color paintings. But in the eye of Mr. Kuang Han, who has had a special love for pencil sketch, it possesses a distinctive quality in painting: simple lines are not equal to monotonousness in contents. Just as the Chinese paintings that come in five colors to express unlimited themes, so does the pencil sketch with its simple lines. What is more important is that the simple lines of pencil sketch are all the more suitable for depiction of ancient Hutongs that have been unadorned.
  His perseverance in depicting Hutongs by means of pencil sketches he last of ten years has been unyielding and indomitable. In a race against bulldozers leveling out the houses along many Hutongs during the last decade of the 20th century, he has recorded by way of artistic means the original status of ancient Hutongs in Beijing. A big number of Hutongs had totally disappeared from sight just a few days after the completion of his sketches. What he has done should be regarded a timely and valuable salvage of historical relics and culture, so that our coming generations shall be able to see Hutongs as they once were and the changes of the city from these sketches that Mr. Kuang Han has created for us. From the artistic point of view, a canal of time is created in To Preserve the Hutongs in a sense through those pencil lines varying from dark to light against a dull yellow background, leaving us a beauty of the old and ancient times, thus facilitating a spiritual conversation among fresh comers and the native Beijing inhabitants.
  To appreciate this piece of art has been to me as an enjoyment of a lively melody Jing Yun Fagu a performance of story sung in Beijing dialect with a small drum and other instruments accompaniment, for its expressive broadlines, precise condensations and a rhythmic contrast of light and shade.
  Isn’t it an artistic enjoyment to look at a simple pencil sketch like this at a time when weird artistic works with bewitching characteristics are prevailing as today?

                                                                          Li Yi