Pu Hua was talented in calligraphy and painting, becoming a professional artist at an early age after dropping out of the Imperial Examination system and thus, a career as a government official.

Notorious for his carefree vagabond ways, he was known as one of the Four Outstanding Artists of the Shanghai School with Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo and Xu Gu. Pu Hua reached international fame in his lifetime, traveling to Japan, where his paintings were popularly collected. At the age of 60, the artist settled permanently in Shanghai....