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Wang Xi San, was born in May 24th 1938, in He Bei Province, Heng Shui county Fu Cheng city. Wang Xi San started the Ji School of inside painting in 1968. Wang also became the first inside painted snuff bottle artist to be recognized by the Chinese Authority as the Grand Master of Chinese arts and crafts in 2005.

The Early Years
Wang Xi San became the first non-blood related apprentice of the Ye Studio. The Ye Studio, which is also known as the Apricot Studio was founded by Ye Zhong San. Ye Zhong San is one of the most famous inside painted snuff bottle master during the Qing-Republican time. Wang was personally mentored by Ye Beng Qi and Ye Xiao Feng, both the son of Ye Zhong San. Wang Xi San given name is Wang Rui Cheng. There is an interesting story of how Wang Rui Cheng adopt his famous pen name of Wang Xi San. In the autumn of 1958, Wang was performing together with his teacher, Ye Xiao Feng in at an exhibition. On the first day of the exhibition, General Zhu De visited the exhibition and was astonished by the skill of Wang. He congratulated the young Wang Rui Cheng and encourage him to remember the famous verse of Chairman Mao “Practice, Practice and More Practice”. This encouragement became the motivation for Wang and he adopted his pen name to be Wang Xi San. Xi San literally meant “three practices”. This pen name can also be read as : to “practice in the way of Ye Zhong San” which is the respect that Wang wanted to give to his grand teacher.

During Cultural Revolution
During the cultural revolution, Wang Xi San was sent back to his native Heng Shui rural areas in June 1968 to work in the field. Even under hardship, Wang Xi San persisted on painting. He finally convinced the authority to start a small inside painted snuff bottle workshop in the village. The workshop helped to generate the much-needed money during difficult time. In 1972, Wang Xi San officially had an apprentice. His nephew, Wang Bai Chuan became his first student. That was the humble beginning of the Ji school of inside painting which eventually turned into a billion RMB business and a synonym to Chinese Inside Painted Snuff Bottles.

After the Cultural Revolution
From 1977 to 1988, Wang started the Heng Shui Special Craft Factory and served as the factory director. Wang also served as the president of Heng Shui City Painting Art Institute since 1998. In 2002, he was employed in Hebei University of Science and Technology as a professor. At the same time, Wand held multiple roles as the Heng Shui City Special Craft Factory deputy director, the Dean of Heng Shui City Painting Art Institute, Honorary chairman of Heng Shui Municipal Committee, the China Arts and Crafts Association executive director and the snuff bottle professional committee vice chairman. Wang also participated as a member of the CPPCC National Committee in the seventh, eight, nine, ten Committee meeting.

Wang style of painting, which he started in 1968 and came to be known as the Ji School of inside painted snuff bottle became the main stream of Chinese inside painted snuff bottle. Through his hard work and dedication to the art of inside painting, the Ji school of inside painting became the first batch of non-material cultural heritage to be listed by the Chinese authority. It was subsequently awarded the UNESCO Outstanding Handicrafts badge certification. Wang Xi San is also among the first batch winner of the "outstanding achievements of Chinese folk culture" and "national intangible cultural heritage project representative successor” awarded by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

In 40 years, Wang Xi San has propelled his Ji School of inside painted art into an industry that directly and indirectly involved 40,000 people with an annual output value of about 1 billion yuan. It is now one of the leading cultural industries in China.

Wang Xi San give up opportunities to return to Beijing. He also turned down many invitations of foreign citizenship. His way of giving back to his village man is to stay in Fu Chen and develop an inside painted snuff bottle industry there.

During these period, Wang Xi San painting skill also improved tremendously. In 1983, Wang spend two years to complete a series of inside painted snuff bottle detailing every President of the United States. This series of art work was exhibited during the fifteenth International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society annual meeting in Canada. The art work immediately captured the attention of all major newspapers in the United States and the series of snuff bottle was hailed as "the history of American and the epitome of Chinese art." In 1985, this group of works won the top accolade in the 5th Arts and Crafts Hundred Blossom award in China.

Setting Record Price in Contemporary Inside Painted Snuff Bottles
In 2009, during the contemporary art, spring art auction in Beijing, Wang Xi San inside painted snuff titled "Being Together" was sold for 400 thousand RMB, his other bottle titled "Picture of 100 butterfly" was sold for a hammer price of 455 thousand yuan. In the same year during the Han Hai auction in Beijing, the same bottle “Being Together” changed hand at a price of 448,000 yuan. The record bottle was auction off in 2010 during the Han Hai autumn auction in Beijing whereby his bottle "7 sage in the bamboo forest" fetch 1.23 million yuan.

The Retirement Years
Wang Xi San never stop to contribute to the art of inside painted snuff bottle. Even when he was retired at an age of 65 years old, Wang raise fund to build a museum dedicated to snuff bottle in Heng Sui. The Museum was name the “Exhibition Hall of Chinese Inside Painted Art”. Wang is also active in documenting and publishing reference books related to inside painted snuff bottles. In Oct 2005, he published a reference book on inside painted art, the Chinese Inside Painted Art Reference. This book remains one of the most important reference book for Chinese inside painting till today. [2-3]

80 Birthday Celebration
Wang Xi San celebrate his 80th year birthday in 2017. As a recognition of his contribution to the art of Chinese Snuff Bottle, The International Snuff Bottle Association has request their members to bring along their Wang Xi San bottles to be exhibited in their annual meeting held in London.

Wang Xi San Accolade

 * 1) 1968 : Started the Ji School of Inside Painted Snuff Bottle and has cultivated numerous artist.
 * 2) 1979 : Invited to the "National Arts and Crafts Artists and Creative Designers Congress", awarded the title Chinese Art and Craft Artists by the Chinese Ministry of Light Industry.
 * 3) 1983 : The first Chinese nationality to be given "honorary membership" by the International Society of Chinese Snuff Bottle.
 * 4) 1985 : Completed the "United States President portrait series of inside painted snuff bottle". This series of bottle won the top award in the Chinese arts and crafts Hundred Blossoms Award
 * 5) 1986 : Awarded the "outstanding youth contributor" title,
 * 6) 1989 : Won the "national outstanding workers and contributor" title.
 * 7) 1996 : Founded the "Xi San arts and crafts secondary school".
 * 8) 1998 : Started "ancient and modern snuff bottle art museum".
 * 9) 2003 : Build the "Chinese snuff bottle exhibition hall", and was designated as "Hebei Province youth patriotism education base"
 * 10) February 2004 : Founded the Ji School of inside painting association.
 * 11) May 2005 : Bestowed the Grand Master title of inside painted art by the Hebei Provincial Arts and Crafts Association and the Hengshui Communist Party Committee.
 * 12) October 2005 : Publish the authoritative reference book “Chinese Inside Painting”.
 * 13) June 2006 : Ji School of Inside Painting created by Wang Xi San was listed as one of the “national intangible cultural heritage".
 * 14) December 2006 : Ji School inside painted snuff bottle was awarded the UNESCO Outstanding Handicrafts badge certification.
 * 15) April 2007 : Appointed as the first Hebei province literature and history research fellowship.
 * 16) June 2007 : Appointed by the Ministry of Culture for the national intangible cultural heritage project, representing Hengshui inside painting.
 * 17) 2008 : Member of the 11th CPPCC National Committee.
 * 18) April 2008 : Awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Hengshui communist Party
 * 19) July 2008 : Torchbearer for the 29th Olympic Games.
 * 20) November 2008 : awarded the "Asia-Pacific master craftsman" title.
 * 21) December 2008 : Won the title of "China Entrepreneur - Man of the Year".
 * 22) January 2009 : Serve as a professor of art in the Hebei University of Foreign Language
 * 23) March 2009 : Serve as a consultant to the Crystal Art department in the Jiangsu Province Arts and Crafts.
 * 24) April 2009 : Serve as a par-time consultant and professor in the Hebei University of Economics and Management School.
 * 25) June 2010 : Establish the Hebei Wang Xi San Museum of Inside Painting in Shijiazhuang
 * 26) July 2010 : Awarded the "China Arts and Crafts Lifetime Achievement Award” by the China Arts and Crafts Association.

5) Wang Xi San, Baidu