Shi Tao

Also known as Ruo Ji · Qingxiang Laoren

Shi Tao, born Zhu Ruoji, was a descendant of the Ming princes of Jingjiang, born in Guilin. After the Qing conquest his father Zhu Hengjia proclaimed himself regent and was killed; a eunuch carried the boy to safety, and he became a monk at the Xiangshan temple in Quanzhou under the name Yuanji, signing himself the Old Man of Qingxiang after the district's ancient name. He lived for years around Xuancheng, often visiting Mount Huang, then moved to Nanjing, and in 1684 and 1689 he greeted the Kangxi Emperor on his southern tours. In Beijing in 1691 he painted Searching Out All the Strange Peaks to Make Sketches, now in the Palace Museum. Back in the south he settled in Yangzhou, built the Great Cleansing Hall and lived by selling paintings, dying around 1707 by the usual reckoning. His Remarks on Painting (Huayu lu) grounds all method in the single brushstroke, and the Draft History of Qing pairs him with Kuncan as the two Shis.