The Vigor of the Horse

"The horses fascinated me. I stared at them, and then used stones to draw pictures of them on the ground," he said.

"The carriage triggered my interest in painting. So when I grew older, I used pens to illustrate the very strong and handsome features of horses."

In 1983, Qi was accepted by the Shenyang Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied horse painting from Xu Yong.

"Xu Yong's horse paintings are lifelike, diverse, novel and full of energy," Qi said. "And through his teachings, I learned how to capture not only a horse's appearance but also its essence."