Shanghai Oil Painters in America, a new book compiled by the SIAS and the Shanghai Overseas Exchange Association, was launched at the Shanghai Book Fair on August 19, 2015. Eight of the painters featured in the book — including Chen Yiming, Liu Yaozen, Zou Hongmin, Wei Jingshan, Christopher Wu, Xu Wenhua, Liu Shuchun and Zhu Zhechi — attended the book signing event. Chen Wenjia, Deputy Director of the municipal government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Overseas Exchange Association, made a speech to mark the occasion. Qin Zhihua, Managing Director of Zhongxi Book Company, introduced the book to the readers present. Renowned painter Chen Yiming then delivered a speech on behalf of all the painters featured in the book. Zhou Deming, Deputy Director of Shanghai Library, attended the meeting and accepted gift copies of the book from Hu Hua, Executive Director of the SIAS.

The late 20th century witnessed the reform and opening up of China, with one result being the departure of a number of artists to foreign countries in pursuit of expanded horizons and further achievements. With impressive accomplishments and international acclaim behind them, many such voyaging artists from Shanghai have stood out as serious talents while pursuing careers in America. These artists share similar experiences of endurance and creative toil, yet each of them has taken a unique path to surviving and thriving in the US. The new book details their American experiences, and contains many wonderful paintings and photos offering glimpses of their everyday lives there. Moreover, the editorial team found unique angles to showcase the ways in which Chinese and American cultures are brought together through these individual stories, with the resulting work providing a new perspective on the wider history of Sino-US relations.

The SIAS strives to facilitate American studies and the study of Sino-US relations. It promotes exchange and mutual understanding between the two countries, while consistently taking a unique Shanghai point of view. Responding to the call of President Xi Jinping to promote local and people-to-people exchange between China and the US, the SIAS has deliberately sought out areas of interpersonal exchange to explore in its research. As the fruit of its investigations in this area, the institute has published such books as Shanghai Images, A Pictorial Century of Sino-US Relations and Americans in Shanghai. The compilation of book series A Century of Exchanges Between Shanghai and the US and Americans from Shanghai are also under way.