Chen Liying

About Chen Liying

Birth Year: 1906
Birth Place: Shanghai, China, China
Education: Académie Colarossi Academie Biloul Art Students League of New York
Known for: Oil painting
Style: Post-Impressionists
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Awards: 1982: Cultural Medallion (Visual arts)

Chen Liying

Chen Liying was born on 1906 in Shanghai, China, China. Chen Liying cofounded Yunda Express, one of China's biggest logistics companies, in Shanghai in 1999. Yunda Express went public through a reverse merger on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in December 2016. Chen owns near 21% of the listed company Yunda Holding, and serves as vice chairman. Husband Nie Tengyun is a fellow billionaire and chairman of Yunda Holding.
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Biography/Timeline

1906

Chen was born the fourth of 12 children - 10 girls and 2 boys - in Zhejiang Province, China, in 1906. Her Father Chang Sen Chek, was an antique dealer with businesses in Paris, London and New York City. He was also a supporter of Sun Yat Sen, and provided financial support to Sun's revolutionary cause. Though living in the West, the Chang couple was deeply rooted to their Chinese heritage. Mrs Chang allowed her children to speak only in Mandarin at home, while Mr Chang often brought his family along in his regular trips to China to support Sun's revolution, and to ensure that his children would never forget their own cultural identity.

1926

Being born into a privileged life, Chen was exposed to art at a young age. For most of her life in Paris she would either be painting at home, visiting museums or roaming around the Parisian city every day. Chen attended high school in America, and studied art at the Art Students League of New York for a year in 1926. She felt that Parisian life suited her better and in 1927 she returned home to study at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Biloul in Paris. Though her parents provided financial support for her art education, they never fully accepted her decision to become a full-time Artist, knowing that artists starved and would not succeed in their lifetime.

1930

Chen met Eugene Chen, a Chinese diplomat and a friend of Sun Yat Sen. He was an arts and music lover who deeply appreciated Chen's aspiration to become a professional Artist. In 1930 Chen married Eugene Chen and traveled in China with her husband. Chen was Eugene's second wife after the death of his first wife, Agatha Alphosin Ganteaume.

1944

That was also the year Chen submitted her artwork for selection to the Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris for the first time, and her work was accepted. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the couple was imprisoned. Eugene Chen died in Shanghai in 1944 towards the end of World War II.

1993

Chen was awarded the Singapore Cultural Medallion in 1982. She died of complications from rheumatoid arthritis on March 15, 1993, at Mount Alvernia Hospital after an 11-year struggle with the ailment. Mr Lee Seng Gee, Chairman of the Lee Foundation was appointed as the Executor of the Georgette Chen Estate. In April 1994, Chen's house on Siglap Plain was auctioned for S$2.8 million. The money raised from the auction gave to the Georgette Chen Arts Scholarship for art students managed by the National Arts Council. A collection of Chen's paintings were stowed away in two rooms of her home, and recently discovered by Lee. In June 1994, Lee donated the 53 newly discovered paintings to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). This brought a total of 104 paintings by Chen to be found in the museum collection. Apart from donations sale proceeds of her house, sales from Chen's personal Investments of stocks and shares were also used to fund a new building for the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), as well as for community welfare projects for the local Malay community, and to the Practice Theatre Ensemble (founded by Kuo Pao Kun) to support Chinese theatrical art in Singapore.

2007

In 2007, Playwright Ng Yi-Sheng's musical Georgette was staged by Musical Theatre Ltd.

2014

In 2014, National Gallery Singapore published Eisner-nominated comic Artist Sonny Liew's graphic novel, Warm Nights Deathless Days: The Life of Georgette Chen.

2015

Channel NewsAsia produced a three-part docudrama starring Actress Rui En as Georgette Chen. The English-language series that was also adapted into Chinese, aired on Channel NewsAsia, MediaCorp Channel 5 and MediaCorp Channel 8 in April 2015.

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