Lang Ching-Shan

CHINA, Jiangsu, Huai’an

Lang Ching-Shan was a photographer and calligrapher. At the age of 12, he began to learn painting and photography under his school teacher, Li Jinglan. He later worked as a photographer for the Eastern Times in Shanghai, and was one of the earliest professional photographers in the media industry. Lang aspired to enhance the international image of China through his photographs.
He moved to Taiwan in 1949 and served as chairperson of the Chinese Writer’s and Artist’s Association in Taipei and director general of the Chinese Society of Cinematographers. Throughout Lang’s 80-year career as a photographer, he carried out his ideal to propagate Chinese culture and won numerous awards and recognition. He is often regarded as a nationally treasured artist who exhibited his works internationally and was acclaimed as one of the top photographers in the world. In 2009, the Lang Ching-Shan Art and Culture Development Association organized Mountain of Chan Taste 2009 Lang Ching-Shan’s Photo Exhibition, which portrayed his works in the light of landscapes and Chan essence, exhibiting his immense visual scope and level of spirituality.
In 1994 at age 104, Lang donated his scripting of Verses of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, written when he was 101 years old, to an auction organized by Master Hsing Yun to raise funds for the establishment of Fo Guang University in Yilan. He later composed the Heart Sutra and the Great Compassion Dharani for subsequent auctions. Three of his calligraphic renditions of the Great Compassion Dharani and one piece of the Heart Sutra are now kept at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.