500 Yuan 100th Anniv of Birth, Xu Beihong, painter

Xu Beihong trained in Paris from 1919 to 1927, studying at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and absorbing European academic technique while simultaneously defending Chinese ink painting to skeptical Western contemporaries. He returned to become the dominant institutional force in Chinese art education, eventually heading the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing until his death in 1953. The 1995 commemorative series marking his centenary was issued as China's gold bullion commemorative program was maturing into a serious collector vehicle, with mintages kept deliberately low to sustain the secondary market.