Hometown of Fu Baoshi

　　Hometown of Fu Baoshi, the hometown of the renowned traditional Chinese painter and master artist Mr. Fu Baoshi, is situated in Zhangtang Village, Beigang, Luofang Town, more than 50 li east of Xinyu City proper. According to the [Fu Family Genealogy]: “During the Xianping era of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Fu family migrated here from Shitou in Qingjiang (now Zhangshu). As the village was located by a pond and next to a camphor tree, it was named Zhangtang, later shortened to simply Zhangtang.” Over the past thousand years, through the hard work of the Fu ancestors, today’s Zhangtang Village has become a picturesque rural landscape of clear mountains and beautiful waters. The prominent and noble “Hometown of Fu Baoshi” archway fills the villagers of Zhangtang with pride.　

　　The works of Fu Baoshi enjoy great fame both at home and abroad. His paintings have repeatedly set new record prices in the Chinese art market. In 1996, his painting “Procession of Beautiful Women” was sold for 10.78 million yuan at China Guardian Auctions, setting the highest auction price for modern Chinese paintings at that time. In November 2003, at the autumn auction held by Zhongmao Shengjia in Beijing, a set of Fu Baoshi’s “Poetic Landscapes of Mao Zedong” was successfully auctioned for 19.8 million yuan. This price not only broke the world auction record for Fu Baoshi’s artworks, but also marked a new high in the mainland Chinese auction market for Chinese paintings.