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of London, majoring in International Law and International Relations. He again acted as a consultant to the
Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1945, from which he resigned in 1949 to return to London to finish his PHD. He
received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in July 1950, and his book titled China and Soviet Union was published
the same year.
He is recorded as having, for some years, sold in Britain Chinese works of art originating in Beijing. London
auction records suggest there was an increasing demand at the end of the Second World War for these, even
though the establishment of the People’s Republic of China subsequently dampened Western enthusiasm for
such works. Dr Wu probably returned to Beijing in 1957 as he was appointed to be the Secretary-General of
European and American Students Union, as well as becoming an honoured member of the Central Research
Institute of Culture and History in 1958. He died in China at the age of 74 in 1965.

The Paintings
Investigation of the authorship of the paintings suggests one common theme, that the artists included some of
the best students of the important 20th century Chinese artist Xu Beihong (1895-1953), who was to be appointed
President of China’s most distinguished art college, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. It seems most
likely that Xu Beihong selected some of of his top students to go to London for further teaching to broaden their
horizons, since opportunities for trainee artists were drastically reduced in China during Civil War in China in the
late 1940s. The four students Xu Beihong sent to London in 1946 were most probably funded by the UCCL.
At the end of their training period in London, Chen Xiaonan and Zhang Anzhi returned to China in 1950. Zhang
Qianying and Fei Chengwu on the other hand decided to stay and settle in London.
While in London, these young artists were “looked after for some time by the Committee (of the UCCL) before
their return to China or Taiwan, and (the paintings) were presented to the Committee as a token of gratitude for
hospitality received” (unpublished letter from Professor Owen Lattimore to the Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University,
dated 12 July 1968; a photocopy is offered with each lot in this consignment).
The exact role of Dr Wu in relation to these paintings in London is not clear, but he may have been involved in the
London arrangements for looking after these overseas students. He may also have involved in arranging the small
exhibition in London of these paintings which apparently took place in 1950.
At the time, the UCCL held its Committee meetings in the China Institute, which it managed and which provided
a cultural home and place of relaxation for (often impecunious) Chinese students in London. When this was
closed in the mid-1950s, the pictures were loaned to the London Buddhist Society, then (and still) housed
inconspicuously in a large Cubitt-designed terrace house in Eccleston Square, Pimlico and where the UCCL had
been given use of a single-room office. When the UCCL decided to cease using this small office in 1967/68,
a new home for the exhibition was sought and the Committee accepted the offer from one of its members,
Professor Lattimore, that the paintings might be deposited on permanent loan to be hung in his Department of
Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds. The offer was accepted warmly.

The paintings have remained on loan and on public display at the University of Leeds from Summer 1968 until
January 2020. All being framed and carefully maintained, there has been minimal physical deterioration, even
though they have been exposed to natural light during this period.
The Collection represents a sealed capsule; a fascinating window into an altruistic world, when students gravitated
to the West to pursue their artistic interests under the inspiring tutelage of Xu Beihong. Although their destination
was a war-damaged London, still recovering from the Blitz and wartime rationing, they found, nevertheless, an
environment ready and willing to welcome impoverished students from the other side of the world into their own
equally impoverished artistic communities.

Colin Sheaf
January 2020

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