This post was last edited by Traci at 2025-9-11 15:41
Introduction to Zhang Tieshan
Zhang Tieshan is a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts, founder of the "Qin School" of inside-painting art, cultural consultant to the Xi'an Municipal People's Government, member of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and member of the Xi'an Municipal Committee of the CPPCC. With 40 years of dedicated craftsmanship, he has effectively inherited the unique cultural charm of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties (distinctive to Shaanxi) in the artistic language of inside-painting, and founded the "Qin School" of inside-painting art characterized by smoothness, transparency, exquisiteness, and elegance. He established the Shaanxi Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Research Institute, which was designated as a "Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Industry Demonstration Unit" by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture.
His inside-painting works have won 33 awards in major domestic and international art exhibitions, gaining attention and recognition from peers, the government, and academic circles.
Current Social Positions- President of the Snuff Bottle Research Institute of the Chinese Arts and Crafts Society
- Consultant of the Asian Chinese Snuff Bottle Federation
- Chairman of the Young and Middle-Aged Talents Professional Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Association
- Vice Chairman of the Inside-Painting Art Committee of the China Folk Literature and Art Association
- Vice Chairman of the Shaanxi Folk Literature and Art Association
- Vice President of the Shaanxi Arts and Crafts Association
- Vice President of the Shaanxi Arts and Crafts Society
- Member of the Shaanxi Provincial Arts and Crafts Master Review Committee
- Vice President of the Shaanxi New Social Stratum Representatives Association
- Vice President of the Xi'an Non-Party Intellectuals Association and President of the Freelancers Branch
"Seek Not for Personal Gain, but Aspire Greatly for the Nation"— An Interview with Zhang Tieshan, Founder of the Qin School of Inside-Painting(I) The Origin of Inside-Painting and Zhang Tieshan’s Artistic Journey
On a sunny afternoon in early winter, I arrived at the Shaanxi Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Research Institute (located on the 15th floor of Xi'an Hotel on Chang'an Road) as scheduled. A symposium was underway in the conference room — a research meeting on the inheritance and innovation of the intangible cultural heritage "Qin School" inside-painting, hosted by the Cultural Committee of the Xi'an Municipal Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association (CNDCA). I quietly joined the meeting without disturbing anyone, listening carefully to Mr. Zhang Chi, Vice President of the Research Institute, who gave a detailed explanation of Tieshan’s inside-painting art. This was an invaluable opportunity to quickly and comprehensively understand Zhang Tieshan and his artistic path.
I learned that Zhang Tieshan lived in Xi'an with his uncle in his early years and returned to his parents’ side in Hebei Province as a teenager. In 1979, at the age of 16, Zhang Tieshan, following his father’s advice, studied inside-painting art under Master Wang Xisan, a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts.
Inside-painting, also known as inside-painted snuff bottles, is a unique traditional Chinese craft. Using a specially modified thin brush, artisans paint intricate and delicate images on the inner walls of snuff bottle blanks made of materials such as crystal and amber. The works are elegant in style and exquisite in brushwork.
Legends and History of Inside-Painting
According to legend, during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, one day Ji Xiaolan (a famous scholar) visited the abbot of Yonghe Temple to drink tea and discuss classics. As they chatted, Ji Xiaolan felt the urge to smoke snuff, but his snuff bottle was empty. He casually used a snuff pick to scrape the remaining snuff off the bottle’s inner wall. The abbot noticed that the scratches left by the pick on the inner wall had the linear beauty of traditional Chinese painting and joked, "Your Excellency, there is a universe and a world within this bottle — what are you painting?" This remark inspired Ji Xiaolan. After returning home, he studied and experimented, and thus the craft of inside-painted snuff bottles was born.
Of course, legends are just legends. Historical records show that during the Jiaqing period, the painter Gan Huanwen poured quartz sand, small steel balls, and a small amount of water into a snuff bottle and shook it to create fine scratches on the inner wall (to help the paint adhere). He then used a curved bamboo brush dipped in paint to paint in reverse on the inner wall, giving birth to the art of inside-painted snuff bottles.
Inside-painting originated in Beijing and once had four renowned "Beijing School" masters: Ye Zhongsan, Zhou Leyuan, Ma Shaoxuan, and Ding Erzhong. Among them, Ye Zhongsan had a wide range of themes for his inside-painting works, including flowers and birds, landscapes, figures, and insects. His paintings of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio characters were vivid, and his depictions of Dream of the Red Chamber figures were lifelike, earning him the title "Master of Inside-Painted Figures." Later, the Ye School of inside-painting recruited disciples such as Wang Xisan, Liu Shouben, and Ding Guiling. Wang Xisan founded the "Hebei School" of inside-painting in Hengshui, Hebei Province, making great contributions to the development of the Ye School.
Zhang Tieshan is a direct disciple of Wang Xisan. He told me that at the age of 16, he was an outstanding student in his class and one of the candidates recommended by the school for admission to university. Born into a military family, his dream at the time was to become a glorious PLA soldier, just like his father (who participated in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and fought bravely on the battlefield) and his elder and younger brothers (who had joined the military one after another). However, his father — a lover of traditional Chinese painting — suggested that he study inside-painting under Wang Xisan, the founder of the Hebei School and a great master. Initially, Zhang did not understand but obeyed his father’s wish. Forty years later, Zhang Tieshan now fully understands: "My father not only had a deep love for the country and the nation but also had extraordinary insight to make the right choice for me."
(II) Inheriting the Craftsman’s Spirit and Pursuing Global Discourse Power for Inside-Painting
Zhang Tieshan studied under Master Wang Xisan for 10 years. During this time, he not only mastered the mysterious and legendary exquisite inside-painting techniques but also internalized the "great power craftsman’s spirit" into his blood — the creative spirit of meticulous carving, the quality spirit of striving for perfection, and the artistic spirit of pursuing ultimate beauty. Today, amid a society driven by material desires and impetuous hedonism, Zhang Tieshan remains calm and composed, continuing to pursue his dreams.
His dreams are noble and far-reaching: one is to gain global discourse power for inside-painting art, and the other is to establish a Chinese Snuff Bottle Museum. He said, "Snuff bottles are a 100% Chinese quintessence, yet their discourse power lies abroad." The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, founded in Washington in 1968, has members worldwide and determines the artistic standards and aesthetic trends of snuff bottles — a regret for China.
During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, snuff was introduced to China. Snuff boxes (used to hold snuff) gradually became "Sinicized" and evolved into snuff bottles — small enough to hold in one’s hand and easy to carry. They were made of exquisite materials such as porcelain, copper, ivory, jade, agate, and amber, and crafted using techniques like blue and white porcelain, five-color porcelain, carved porcelain, layered glass, and inside-painting. Drawing on the strengths of various crafts, artisans painted figures, landscapes, flowers, and birds in reverse on the frosted inner walls of glass or crystal snuff bottles. These exquisite artworks were regarded as precious curios by enthusiasts, enjoying a long-standing reputation at home and abroad.
Today, snuff bottles are hailed as "pocket-sized artworks that integrate multiple crafts." As an important part of modern Chinese cultural relics, they are favored by museums and collectors in both China and the West.
"Actually, snuff bottles are no stranger to Xi'an. They have been closely linked to Shaanxi people since their heyday," Zhang Tieshan told me a little-known story. In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi fled west to Xi'an with Emperor Guangxu. Most stories we hear about Cixi and snuff bottles involve her appointing Wang Yirong (a scholar-official) as the commander of the Beijing Garrison before fleeing. To win Wang’s loyalty, Cixi gave him a delicate jade snuff bottle she often held in her hand — a gift that moved Wang deeply. Later, when Beijing fell to the Allied Forces, Wang Yirong drowned himself in a well with his wife and daughter-in-law to show his loyalty.
What is less known is that after Cixi arrived in Xi'an, officials in Shaanxi — from the governor down to county-level officials — took care of her around the clock. Although her escape was called a "Western Hunt" for the two emperors, the arrangements were so elaborate that it felt like a real hunting trip, saving Cixi’s dignity. In return, Cixi gave away the snuff bottles she had brought as rewards. When the empress dowager favored something, "those below would follow suit." Soon, prominent figures in and around Xi’an considered owning one or two snuff bottles a fashion.
(III) Founding the Qin School of Inside-Painting in Xi’an
In 1988, 25-year-old Zhang Tieshan returned to Xi’an — the city he had long dreamed of — after completing his studies. "When I was young and learning the craft, I hoped to create a new school of inside-painting in the future," he recalled, showing his ambition even in his youth.
Having grown up in Xi’an, Zhang was deeply influenced by the culture of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties. He knew that ancient Chang’an (modern Xi’an) — once the capital of the powerful Han and prosperous Tang dynasties — had a profound cultural heritage and boundless artistic potential. "Even a handful of soil here is steeped in culture; this land has all the conditions to create a new school and provide a broad foundation for the development of inside-painting art." He also told me that the history of inside-painting in Shaanxi, especially Xi’an, dates back over a thousand years to the Tang Dynasty.
More than 20 years ago, Zhang Tieshan visited a friend whose father was an elderly collector. When the elder learned that Zhang was researching inside-painting, he showed him a treasure from his collection: a seemingly ordinary white jade bottle with engraved patterns, transparent and radiant. When Zhang held it and looked closely, he was shocked — the inner wall of the bottle was covered with incised reliefs. This jade bottle, dating back over a thousand years to the Middle Tang Dynasty, proved with concrete evidence that inside-painting techniques existed in ancient Chang’an during the Tang Dynasty. This discovery gave Zhang Tieshan powerful motivation to establish the Qin School of Inside-Painting.
To achieve this, Zhang conducted in-depth research on the four major existing inside-painting schools (Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, and Guangdong) while drawing inspiration from the long history and culture of the Qin land (Shaanxi). He integrated elements of Zhou bronze tripods, Qin wine vessels, Han elegance, and Tang grandeur into his inside-painting works, creating the Qin School’s distinctive features of "smoothness, transparency, exquisiteness, and elegance" and an artistic style of "dignity and grace." This added a uniquely charming Qin School to the four existing schools, enriching inside-painting — a national intangible cultural heritage.
His representative works include a series of bronze-themed inside-paintings. Bronze artifacts are unique historical symbols of the Qin land (Baoji in Shaanxi is known as the "hometown of bronzes"), which endows the Qin School with distinct local characteristics and creates a series of highly realistic bronze-themed inside-paintings. In 2006, at the age of 43, Zhang Tieshan became one of the youngest Masters of Chinese Arts and Crafts at that time.
On the fertile cultural soil of Shaanxi, Zhang Tieshan pursued his dream, founded a unique school of art, and spread this art form from Chang’an to the rest of the world. He said, "I do not advocate family inheritance of crafts. Although family inheritance has a solid foundation in China and is a practical way to ensure the continuity of a craft, its narrowness is obvious. Therefore, I did not isolate myself but opened classes to teach students." He added, "One person’s success is not true success. Although I founded the Qin School of Inside-Painting, it no longer belonged to me from the moment it was created — it belongs to China and the world."
Zhang Tieshan is a man of action. In 1988, he established the Xi’an Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Studio; in 1994, the Xi’an Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Research Institute; and in 2002, the Shaanxi Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Research Institute. He grew from a craftsman to an inheritor and educator of the inside-painting intangible cultural heritage. He has trained over 30 students, including 3 provincial-level Masters of Arts and Crafts and 18 professional inside-painting technicians — all of whom have become an important force in the vigorous development of Shaanxi’s inside-painting industry. Furthermore, Zhang has opened his classes to six young people with disabilities, teaching them inside-painting to help them acquire a skill and spreading love to those in need. He not only teaches his students the inside-painting techniques for snuff bottles but also sets an example, instilling in them the artistic ethics and craftsman’s spirit that an excellent craft artist must possess. "I once made a vow: I hope that one day, like my mentor, I can create a new era for a school of art and work with like-minded friends to contribute to the development of inside-painting," Zhang said.
In October 2014, the 46th Annual Conference of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society — hosted by the Shaanxi Tieshan Inside-Painting Art Research Institute — was held in Xi’an. At the same time, the launch ceremony of the book Precious Snuff Bottles in Qin and an exhibition of Qin School inside-painting masterpieces were held. The Qin School of Inside-Painting has become a precious cultural card for Shaanxi and even China in cultural exchanges with foreign countries.
(IV) Devoting to the Return of Cultural Relics and Worrying About Inheritance
In the eyes of many, Zhang Tieshan is wealthy. In 2010, one of his bronze-themed inside-painting works was auctioned in Beijing for 324,000 yuan, setting a new record in the industry. However, few people know that this artist — whose single work can sell for hundreds of thousands of yuan — still lives in a rented house with his family today. Like everyone else, I wondered: Where did all his money go?
Instead of answering directly, Zhang Tieshan took me to his snuff bottle art exhibition hall. I was instantly shocked — the hall was filled with priceless artworks, each a masterpiece of exquisite craftsmanship. They lined up like a river of history, unfolding silently like a magnificent artistic scroll.
Zhang explained, "These snuff bottles are all created by famous masters and have a history of over a hundred years. But for a long time, they were away from their motherland, scattered in different countries and regions. These quintessential Chinese treasures were homeless abroad, and it pains me to think about it — Chinese treasures should belong to China." For 40 years, Zhang has been committed to retrieving and repatriating these precious artworks. He said, "Art has no national borders, but each of these exquisite artworks is unique and irreplaceable. They are not only treasures but also cultural relics. Each piece carries the aura of the old artists, their hard work, and their understanding of art. Today, these masters have all passed away, and they can no longer create such school-specific masterpieces. If these works are lost, their techniques, brushwork, and color application will vanish forever. As inheritors of inside-painting art, we will never again have the chance to experience the profound beauty and shocking power of these crafts up close."
Therefore, every time Zhang goes abroad for art exchanges, he always searches everywhere for lost Chinese snuff bottles. Whenever he hears about or sees an exquisite snuff bottle 流落海外 (stranded overseas), he does his best to buy it and bring it back to China. However, Zhang told me with helplessness, "It’s getting harder now. Some masterpieces have been sold at sky-high prices. Even if I invest all my savings, my efforts are far from enough." He sighed deeply as he spoke.
Zhang Tieshan pioneered the Qin School of Inside-Painting and opened classes to teach. He even sold his own house to raise funds for retrieving lost treasures from abroad, devoting all his efforts to the inheritance and development of inside-painting. For the students studying under him, Zhang not only waives tuition fees but also provides them with basic living allowances. Yet, this is not his biggest worry — what concerns him most is the inheritance of inside-painting art.
Inside-painting requires artists to be calm, focused, and patient, and to endure loneliness. When Zhang was learning the craft, he would sit and practice for over 12 hours a day. A sense of line, color, and artistry is developed through years of hard work; there is no room for trickery in inside-painting. However, influenced by the social environment, many young people pursue "quick success and instant benefits," hoping to gain maximum profits in the shortest time. The slightest distraction can disrupt their focus, and without sufficient time to practice, they can never master the craft well. Some young people with great talent in Zhang’s eyes fail to persist, which makes him feel deeply distressed and helpless.
(V) Calling for Support to Safeguard the Inheritance of Inside-Painting
Inside-painting art originated from the imperial court and nobility, born with a sense of elegance and requiring meticulous craftsmanship. This demands that craft artists undergo years of hard training — every line and stroke must be refined through "diligence." Diligence means perfection, achieved through hundreds, thousands, or even millions of repetitions of a single brushstroke or cut. It cannot be faked or accomplished overnight.
Relying solely on Zhang Tieshan’s efforts to inherit and promote inside-painting art is far from enough. It is essential to arouse the great attention of the state and the government — not only through policy support but also through substantial investment in human, material, and financial resources. This support should help talented young people who love inside-painting art to focus on learning without worrying about their livelihoods, enhance their sense of honor as inside-painting artists, and enable them to fully dedicate themselves to inheriting, developing, and innovating inside-painting art in a stable living environment. Only in this way can this unique craft thrive.
Regrettably, support for such intangible cultural heritages has been insufficient. It is no longer news that once-world-famous intangible cultural heritages are on the verge of being lost or facing a shortage of inheritors. If we still fail to attach great importance to this, the exquisite art of inside-painted snuff bottles may one day exist only in our memories. If that day comes, the loss of inside-painting art will be a regret not only for Shaanxi and China but also for the world.
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Posted an update: 2025-9-11 15:33:31 18