Shanghai School

The Shanghai school is a style of Chinese art present in the late 19th century and centered in Shanghai.Under the masters from this school，traditional Chinese art developed into the modern style of”Chinese painting”.Late 19th century China，or the last years of the Qing dynasty formed a tumultuous time in China’s history.

This period immediately followed the defeat of China in the First Opium War by the British Empire and opened several ports，such as Shanghai，to foreign trade.This period was further destabilized by the Taiping rebellions and the unequal treaties propagated by European imperialists.Shanghai，as an open city，became a sort of Asian melting pot where the various European powers could freely express their influence on the city.In turn，this influence gave rise to a new middle class which supported a new style of art known as the Shanghai school.

The Shanghai style marked the first major departure from traditional Chinese painting by focusing less on the symbolism emphasized by the Literati style and more on the visual content of the painting itself.Members of this school were highly educated literati who had come to question their very status and the purpose of art and had anticipated the impending modernization of Chinese society.In an era of rapid social change，works from the Shanghai School were innovative and diverse and often contained thoughtful yet subtle social commentary.The most well-known figures from this school are Qi Baishi，Zhao Zhiqian，Wu Changshuo，Sha Menghai and Pan Tianshou.In literature，the term was used in the 1930s by some May Fourth Movement intellectuals-notably Zhou Zuoren and Shen Congwen-as a derogatory label for the literature produced in Shanghai at the time.They argued that Shanghai School literature was merely commercial and therefore did not advance social progress.

This became known as the Jingpai versus Haipai（Beijing v.Shanghai School）debate.

The Shanghai School originated from the“Songjiang School”，challenged and broke the elitist tradition of Chinese art，while also paying technical homage to the ancient masters and improving on existing traditional techniques.The”Songjiang School”，also called“Huating School”，was a small painting school during the Ming Dynasty.It is commonly considered as a further development of the Wu or Wumen School in Suzhou，the cultural center of the region.Its main achievements were in traditional Chinese painting，calligraphy and poetry.It was especially famous for its Renwen painting.Dong Qichang was one of the masters from this school.

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