| Wars and disturbances taking place in the interim years between the Ming and Qing periods severed the contact between the Suzhou painter Huang Xiangjian (1609-1673) and his father, who was posted to Yunnan. Huang set out for Yunnan to look for his parents and the family was finally reunited after one and a half years. When Huang was back in Suzhou, he reproduced the scenery he saw on his travels in the painting, "Journey to find parents". His work captures the geography of Yunnan and Guizhou, characterised by conical hills extending to the horizon, or rapids underneath a great fall across which travellers have to navigate gingerly. On account of these exotic scenes and the courageous journey he made to bring his parents to safety, Huang is remembered in the history of painting. |
