Cao Jianqiang brings his art to Jiading

Cao Jianqiang，a painter of flowers and birds，works on a painting of peonies.

Jiading With its excellent cultu ral heritage Was Ca0's first choice as a place to ljve.

A PAINTING and stationery shop opened on Xida Street one month ago in Jiading District.The shop’s owner， Cao Jianqiang from Leshan City of sichuan Province， gave the shop an elegant name：“Bi Mo Tang，”literally meaning“Pen and Ink Hall.”

Cao，a painter of flowers and birds，sells paintings，pic-ture frames，writing brushes， ink sticks，ink slabs and paper in his shop.

He used to be a carpenter， learning the skills from his father when he was 18 years old.He made wardrobes， built wooden houses and carved cornices with patterns of dragons，phoenix，birds and flowers，and often won praise from his neighbors. Before carving the cornices， Cao would paint patterns on woods with brushes first， and that was how Cao’s relationship with painting began.

“At that time our family lived on this skill.Whenever I finished carving a cornice，I would appreciate it for a long time，”Cao said.

Cao served as a carpenter for eight years.At the age of 26，he took up another family tradition-paper making.The rice paper of Leshan City is well-known around the country for its excel lent water-absorbent qual ity.This rice paper， as famous as the one from Anhui Province，is used in Chinese painting.

In order to make the paper more suitable for his customers，Cao started to study Chinese painting.In 1997，Cao went to Chengdu， capital of Sichuan Province， to sell the rice paper he made.He had the chance to learn from the painters there and made much progress during that period.

However，the most time Cao spent was mounting the paintings.After being mounted，a painting can not only look better but also be kept easily.Nowadays， machine mounting has gradually replaced hand mounting，but Cao still keeps to the tradition.

At first Cao practised on newspapers，but later when he had almost mastered the technique，he almost destroyed a work by mistakenly mounting a painting upside down.After this，he understood that the process was a delicate affair and he cultivated a good habit of working carefully and cautiously.

Cao's dream is to be a painter and hold his own show.

In 2003，he moved to Nan- chong in Sichuan Province with his wife and opened his first Bi Mo Tang with the support of some art lovers. With his and his family's hard work，Cao enjoyed a good business and reputation in the mounting industry.At the same time，he kept painting charming peonies and vivid birds.

In 2004，Cao painted a 4-meter-long picture of peonies，and it sold for 4，000 yuan（US$586），which was a source of great encourage-ment to him.Painting didn't earn him enough to live on but he enjoyed it very much.

Cao and his family moved to Shanghai this year and Jiading District with its excellent cultural heritage became his first choice.He made up his mind to open a shop on Xida Street after one week’s investigation.

“Xida Street is a street with a long history and culture heritage.Also it is close to Confucius Temple，Univer-sity for Senior and other art facilities，so it is suitable for my shop，”Cao said.