Torrents running down from heaven with a momentum invincible; pines standing in the winds through vicissitudes; waves beating the beach, thundering the world; and moon shining on those troubled by love…

Fascinated, appalled, shocked, I stood before this landscape painting by Mr. Liu Baochun, a Shandonger and a renowned artist, who has combined, in his painting, shape and emotion, time and space, as well as reality and imagination. The watermark he imitates from the ancestors, the style he has formed during the years, the nurture of classical aesthetics, poetry, and calligraphy, and the passion in his heart—altogether—glorify his paintings, which are trimmed with a perfect demonstration of the spirit of nature, and a thought-provoking understanding of life.

Born in 1932 in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, Liu Baochun has won many titles as well as laureates: president of the academy of Traditional Chinese Paintings in Shandong, top grade artist, honorable chairman of Shandong Art Association, vice-chairman of Shandong Literary Federation, and many others. Numerous are his works, he injected most of his enthusiasm into paintings about his hometown, polished them with his profound humanistic spirit, and noble character.

Son of Shandong

"Paining is the kind of activity in which artist intends to present what he wants to rather than what he sees." said Gombrich, an English historian of art. Liu’s works embrace mighty images, ranging from mountains, rivers, seas, pines, waterfalls, the sun to the moon, while most of them are found in where he grew up—Shandong.

The most respected of the Five Mountains in China, Taishan Mountain, is the one with which Mr. Liu is obsessed. In his paintings, the atmosphere in this holy mountain is lofty and powerful marked by the rise of the sun or the running of the waterfall; the stones there are the illustration of toughness despite ups and downs; and the waters, majestic and agile. Most amazing are the pines in Taishan Mountain on his scroll, which, though rooted in the infertile land or on the cliff, still display their pride and resolution.

Many rivers he has portrayed, the one that appears most frequently is the Yellow River, the mother river of Shandong. Whether it is a rising sun or a bright moon his brush places above the river, the viewers can feel the painter’s heartbeat for the land he loves. His mastery of lines and strokes can easily give birth to a work perfectly mixed with oriental and western style—but the passion of the painter overshadows his skill. From the vitality and charm of his painting, we see a true artist pursuing to show this immortal landscape with his mortal love, to "shock the five sacred mountains under the stimulation of passion.”