Aisin-Gioro . HengYi

About Hengyi Aisin-Gioro

Hengyi Aisin-gioro is a well-known Chinese artist. She is a descendant of the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, a background that gave her access to the court tradition in painting and opportunities to see numerous famous paintings held in the imperial court at a very early age to lay a very good foundation for her artistic talent. Growing up, she was lucky enough to have the care of the last emperor Puyi and Puyi’s brother Pujie, who introduced her to such great figures in Chinese painting as Hu Shuang-an (a disciple of one of the greatest modern Chinese painter Chang Tai-chien), Qi Liang-chi (Son of the great Chinese painter Chi Pai-shi) and Gao Song-lu (disciple of the great painter Wang Xue-tao), each patronized her and passed her the special techniques of their own. Thus, Hengyi transcended the court tradition in Chinese painting and formed a unique style of her own.

Over the years, Hengyi has the honor of holding personal exhibitions in many countries and regions, such as China, USA, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, etc., and received enthusiastic comments from artists and critics in these countries. Several museums have added her artwork to their collections. Her works have also won various awards, both national and international.

Hengyi is a believer of Buddhism. Though she herself lives a very simple life, she always enthusiastically participates in activities of charity and community welfare. In 1990, she donated the whole income of more than HK$250,000 from her exhibition in Zhuhai to the funds for the handicapped. In October, 1994, she donated the whole income of the charity sale-exhibition in Kuala Lumpur to the Malaysian Fund for Social Welfare. In 1996, Hengyi held two shows in Tokyo, Japan, and all the income was donated to the Chinese Students in Japan. In order to support the convening of the 4th world Women’s Convention, Hengyi donated a lot of her paintings for sale. Many important news agencies have carried out comments and reports about Hengyi’s charity act.

Hengyi is also the writer of a historical novel which took her five years to collect historical information. She read a lot of historical records and other materials, interviewed all senior people she could find, both within and without the royal family. The novel has about 600,000 words, presenting to the reader all the important changes, events and people of the last century. Her descriptions of certain events are very different from the descriptions by historians. The book is regarded as a good supplement to the official histories of modern china and provided a lot of stories most people are unfamiliar with. People see great historical value and artistic achievement in the book and many major publishers in china, UK, Japan and Hong Kong have shown interest in publishing the Chinese version and translated version in other languages. In the last couple of years, while revising the manuscript of the book, Hengyi has also been writing the film script based on the novel, and given the film script a title: “A Century of Turmoil.”

Because of the artistic achievement, her contribution to social welfare, she was awarded the certificate of being included in the international Who’s who both in America and the UK. In china, CCTV, Beijing TV and Guangdong TV each made their own TV reports about Hengyi, with the titles “When the Famous People Were Young,” “Weather-Tempered Princess,” and “A Princess in Common Clothing” respectively, and broadcasted to audience both in China and overseas. In 1998 “Writer’s Digest” carried out a feature report about her, giving her writing a very high compliment.

Hengyi immigrated to the US in 1999, and is now living in New Jersey. At the time when she came to the US, the Consulate General of the PRC in New York held a press conference, at which the Consul General Qiu Sheng-yun on behalf of the Chinese Government introduced Hengyi to the audience, explained her unique background, her artistic achievement and the reception of her art in China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, and wished Hengyi to make new contribution in promoting Chinese art and culture.

Three months after her arrival in New Jersey, Hengyi set up her own art center, called “Princess Art Center”, which has now developed into US—China Culture and Art Promotion Center, in which Hengyi not only does her own artistic creation, but teach those who ate interested in Chinese art. She has also sponsored a lot of grand artistic performances and art exhibitions. Today, even many of her students have made notable achievements, with many of them winning various national awards.

In March and May, 1999, Hengyi had two personal art exhibitions in New York, which were both well received, with an audience of over ten thousand, and many of her paintings were sold in the exhibition. Many artists in the New York area showed their amazement at the beauty of Hengyi’s paintings and the perfect skills shown in her paintings. The media kept reporting the exhibitions with unprecedented enthusiasm. In March 2001, with the sponsorship and financial support of the New Jersey government, Hengyi was able to hold her third exhibition since her arrival in America. The exhibition was held in Ride University at Princeton. During the exhibition, Hengyi also held her singing performance, which was warmly received by the American audience, with the theater fully pacded with people and applause resounding through to the end. After this, Hengyi became an visiting professor in the Fine Art Department of Ride University. Since then, Hengyi has also been invited by various institutions and organizations to lecture on Chinese art, including Lucent Technologies, American Women’s Association, etc. The Star-Ledger also interviewed Hengyi at her home and carried out a full-page feature report about her.

After coming to America, Hengyi is still very enthusiastic about public welfare. She has already donated more than 2000 USD to the New Jersey Cancer Society and the Fu-Hui Temple. Hengyi also teaches during the weekend at Hua-Xia Chinese school to help the Chinese children understand Chinese culture and learn Chinese art, which has won commendation from the Consulate General of the PRC on behalf of the Chinese government many times.