A promise kept in paint

At college, Jiang studied under several prominent figures of the 20th century, such as Jiang Zhaohe (1904-86), a renowned artist of figure painting who made the 12-meter-long epic scroll Liumin Tu (Refugees) — now housed in the collection of the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. Jiang once said that "the desolate, solemn mood in the painting, with the immense compassion for those suffering during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), was deeply moving for everyone who saw it".

In her own time, she carried forward that same concern for ordinary people. She painted farmers and factory workers, and traveled widely through ethnic villages to portray local residents and their surroundings.