The Robert Burns World Federation is offering two rare Chinese paintings within our November Fine Asian Works of Art auction with the Scottish bard as the subject matter. One rare portrait of Robert Burns with ‘The Tree of Liberty’ calligraphy in Chinese by Huang Yongyu, and the other a painting and calligraphy of ‘My Heart's in the Highlands' in Chinese, by Huang Miaozi.
Advocating freedom and love, Robert Burns' reputation in China as ‘a great people’s poet’ reached its zenith in 1959 as a consequence of his perceived peasant birth aligned with the political ideological demand of the New Folksong Movement, and the celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
It was not until 25 January 1981 that the first Burns Night was held in Beijing, the capital of China. The evening was well attended by Chinese scholars, poets, and artists, including the famous painter Huang Yongyu (Zou, 1981, p. 40). Scottish greetings were exchanged by telegrams from the Burns Federation in Kilmarnock, the Scotland-China Association and other Scottish organisations that evening (ibid, p. 41).
The evening culminated when Huang Yongyu 'read a poem he wrote in honour of Jean Armour, Burns’s wife, and presented his portrait of the Ayrshire bard in the traditional Chinese ink-and-wash style to Scottish people.’ (Li, 2024, p. 203)
