Chinese Lychee Painter

A Pioneer in Eastern Aesthetic Inheritance and Innovation


Artist Profile


Mao Songying (also known as Cong Ying)

Born in Qinzhou, Guangxi, and currently based in Shenzhen, Mao Songying began his formal art education in 1963 at the Affiliated High School of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He continued his studies at the academy’s Chinese Painting Department and postgraduate oil painting program, where he was mentored by renowned professors including Guo Shaogang, Chen Xiu’e, Huang Wenbo, Lin Fengsu, and Chen Xinhua. His rigorous training laid a solid foundation in both traditional Chinese and Western painting techniques, nurturing a versatile artistic language and broad creative vision.


Spanning over five decades, Mao Songying’s artistic practice bridges Chinese ink painting and oil painting. His works have been exhibited and awarded in numerous national and regional exhibitions, with showcases in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and other international locations.


Among his diverse body of work, Mao is especially celebrated for his lychee-themed paintings. In Chinese culture, the lychee is not only a symbol of Southern China but also represents abundance, love, perseverance, and auspiciousness. Drawing on this rich symbolism, Mao combines the vivid textures of oil painting with the poetic lines of Chinese brushwork to depict lychees with vitality and emotional resonance.


His lychees are more than fruit—they are cultural icons, infused with personal sentiment and a deep connection to the land and spirit of Southern China. In his hands, the fruit becomes a metaphor for the sweetness of life, the warmth of family, and the enduring charm of traditional culture.


Beyond lychees, Mao also excels in landscapes, figures, Lingnan customs, and floral-and-bird themes. His landscapes are spacious and dynamic; his portraits sensitive and soulful; his flower-and-bird compositions graceful and lively. His style reflects a poetic harmony between classical Eastern aesthetics and the expressive potential of modern painting.


This integration of tradition and innovation, personal expression and public resonance, is what makes Mao Songying’s work widely appreciated and highly collectible.




Selected Exhibitions & Achievements


• 1982

Oil painting Spring in the Mining Area and Chinese painting After Work (co-authored) were selected for the First National Art Exhibition for Coal Industry Workers, held at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. After Work received Third Prize.


• 2013

Over 20 oil paintings exhibited at the Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Fair, with live coverage by American television. Mao was later invited to exhibit in the United States.


• 2016

One lychee oil painting was acquired by the Royal Academy of Music (UK); another was selected by the Shenzhen Municipal Government as an official gift to the Sydney Municipal Government (Australia).


• 2023

Two oil landscape paintings selected for the “Beyond the Language” Chinese Art Exhibition held jointly by the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kyushu Chinese Literature and Arts Association, and contemporary oil painting curators in Japan.


• 2024

Oil painting Cicadas and Ripening Lychees was selected in October 2024 for the First International Calligraphy & Painting Exhibition by NAAC Canada, winning Second Prize in the Adult Category.