Qi Baishi was originally named Qi Huang, also known as Baishi Shanren. He was born to a poor family of Hunan Province. He began to learn painting. In 1927, he achieved a unique style called carrying out reform at an advanced age by him. Qi Baishi’s bird-and–flower paintings became quite popular. He could draw insects with extremely fine and meticulous brushwork, yet he was also accomplished at simple, free sketch-style compositions. He successfully assimilated the meticulous and the freehand styles and created stunningly beautiful paintings of insects and flowers. Fish, shrimp, crabs, and frogs were Qi Baishi’s most common subjects. In 1955, he was honored with the International Peace Award, and in 1962 he was named one of the Ten Cultural Giants of the World.