Ancient Warriors of China Artwork

Please email me if you are interested in purchasing any of these paintings or scrolls.  While many of them have sold, the artist can custom paint the one that you want.   My email is Help@orientaloutpost.com for more info or purchasing enquiries.


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Ancient Chinese Warriors
Outlaw Heros
The story behind this series of Ancient Chinese Warrior paintings
The warriors in this series of paintings come from a classic Chinese novel written about 650 years ago. The novel can be compared to Homer’s The Odyssey, because much of the story is based on and/or matches historical facts of ancient China. Nobody seems sure if these legendary warriors are real, myth, or a combination of the two.

It is difficult to translate the title of the novel into English, but some translations of the novel into English have titled it in the following ways:

All Men are Brothers
Outlaws of the Marsh
The Water Margin (Direct Chinese translation into English, we’d probably say, “Marsh?

You can probably find the whole novel in English at ebay or Amazon if you are interested in the story. Just look for one of these titles.

The story covers the trials and tribulations of 108 outlaw heroes. These men and women were persecuted and banished to the marsh by corrupt officials of the Song (Sung) Dynasty.

This group, over the years formed an army of warriors that fought against the government. The often raided official riches, and distributed the wealth among the poor (and of course themselves). For this fact, they are often compared to the story of Robin Hood. But don’t let that fool you. These were some of the most ruthless characters of ancient China. They were no angels.

My personal notes on the novel: If you get a chance to read the novel, you will find suspense, romance, a lot of character development, and of course, a whole lot of violence. The violence they inflict was not something that most of them desired in their hearts, but something that their circumstances forced them to portray. The loyalty and honor of these warriors to each other, and their cause becomes extreme through time. The whole story is really about the love, duty, and honor of these “warriors of circumstance?

Translation by Ling Hua and Gary W.

About the Art and Artist

This is a elaborate style painting using special black Chinese ink and watercolor on rice paper.  I then took this work to be mounted on a hand-made silk scroll.

How I found this art...

  


The artist, Li Ying-Lai, was really excited when I told him that I wanted dragons and legendary warriors of China. He said that dragons and warriors are his favorite subject to paint.

    
     
Visiting an old friend and artist in Chengdu, I notice a woman is politely waiting for me.   Soon enough, I finish my business, and leave my friend to work on some art that I would pick up several days later.  The polite woman greets me as I walk out.  She quietly asks if I would just take a look at her artwork.

I walk over to her little booth and take a look.  The work is good, and I am surprised that she doesn't have a studio-gallery like a lot of artists.  She says that she likes to sell in the market, and put paintings in the hands of "the common man".  It is then that I realize we have a similar philosophy.

I look through her whole collection, and pick out several pieces that I like.  Her husband shows up, and helps out getting paintings out of boxes for me to look at.  

After we settle and I pay for all of the paintings, he asks if there is any other kind of art that I am looking for.  I tell him, in Chinese, "I have been looking for warriors and really cool dragons for a long time".  Suddenly he is very excited.  Grabbing through several boxes he emerges with a photo album.  He hands the album to me and tells me that I must look!

Opening the album, I see a great collection of paintings of "Legendary Warriors of China" and several eye-catching dragons.  He tells me that all of the photos are of his paintings.

Now, I get pretty excited, because I've been looking for good warrior-paintings for more than a year and a half, and I am always on the lookout for a good dragon-painting.

He doesn't have any work ready to sell, but we talk about sizes, styles, and which warriors and dragons I want, and even down to what the background of each piece should be.  We talk until the end of the day, and finally we talk about the price.  I am expecting something high, but the price he gives me is just too low for this quality of work.  So, for the first time in my art-buying career, I "reverse-bargain", and tell him that I will pay 50% more as long as the quality is good.  He and his wife look puzzled for a second, and then he remarks in Chinese, "I have been waiting to hear someone say that for a long time".  The gesture as they took it was not about money, but more about my personal compliment on the quality and importance of the art itself.

About the artist:

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Li Ying-Lai with his wife and daughter.  As usual, I am the "non-Chinese-looking guy" in the picture.

   
The artist's name is Li Ying-Lai.  He lives with his wife and young daughter near Chengdu, in the Sichuan province of China.  As if fitting the stereotype, he loves to paint dragons and warriors, but his wife paints beautiful women, flowers, landscapes, and animals.

They both live the simple life of artists.  Both of them have the attitude that the art itself is more important than money.  The honor of knowing that their work will now be on the walls of homes throughout the world is the thing they feel strongest about.