Pu Ru: An Artist Oringinated from the Imperial Family

Pu Ru (溥儒,1896-1963), also known as Pu Hsin-Yu, was a native of Beijing, and a member of the Manchu imperial family, born near the end of the Qing Dynasty. He was cousin to the last Emperor Pu Yi and was one of the children who presented themselves at the palace as candidates for the future emperor. Being a prince, he was an honoured student in Berlin. After he returned from Europe, he retreated into the Western Mountains, where he spent many years at the Jie Tai (Restrain Stage) Monastery to concentrate on his studies. He was strongly against Pu Yi's cooperation with Japan, foresaw the unrest in China and fled to Taiwan in the same year as Chang Kai Shek did. After the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, he changed his name to Pu Hsin-Yu.

He gave himself the name Hsi-shan I-shih, meaning "Hermit of Mt. West", which disclosed his lofty inner being. Considered as the last great master for the comprehensive Chinese art, he is famed for his painting, which is inferior to his calligraphy, and famed for his calligraphy, which is inferior to his scholarship. He received students, but the teacher-student relationship was kept in the classical sense. It was a parent-child relationship, in which the father carried the responsibility of the well-being, character-building and spiritual development of the child. Therefore before a student became accepted, Pu Ru carefully examine the student's character and his family background etc.

His training was highly disciplinary. He demanded his student to rub his own ink from a charcoal ink stick, like most of the Chinese painters, for this preparation brought the student into a stillness, which assisted him in connecting himself to the spirit of art/creativity or to the sphere of beauty and grace. In the entire first year of Pu Ru's training, the student was not allowed to paint, but to do calligraphy only. In the entire second year, he was to draw old rocks and mountains, dried out old trees and branches. In the third year, he was allowed to cover the trees and branches with leafs, and so on so forth. This kind of schooling builds up in the student total command of the brush as well as humility and strength. Every Saturday morning, his students would gather around him to receive a lesson in Chinese literature, after which their works were presented to the master and new assignments were given. But in these Saturday mornings, Master Pu Ru never just talked; he was always doing something else at the same time, either calligraphy, painting, or playing a moon-sitar, many times with his precious white face long-armed monkey on his chest that was attached only to him. He was often amused by what he was painting and liked to make fun of the figures which he created. A great master he was, full of love, kindness and consideration.