Bada Shanren

Zhu Da, better known as Bada Shanren, was a Chinese painter in the late 17th century whose position as an offspring of the Ming royal family during the Quing Dynasty forced him into hiding for much of his life. As a precocious child-artist, Zhu found refuge in a Buddhist monastery when the suicide of the Ming king caused political upheaval and a change of power to Quing invaders. He re-entered society 40 years later with psychological distress that caused him to yell while painting. His pseudonym, Bada Shanren, translates to laugh cry, which is either descriptive of his outbursts, or a poetic simplification of his complex feeling surrounding his homecoming. He remained deeply loyal to the Ming despite Quing control. His paintings are recognizable for their sharp angles, as Bada Shanren held his brush at a strange angle.