TC Lai

TC Lai was born in 1921 in Hong Kong to a family of scholars. During the 1940s, he studied at the University of Hong Kong and University of Manchester before working for four years in London in jobs related to Chinese cultural affairs. In 1954, Lai returned to Hong Kong and became a tutor in the English Department at the University of Hong Kong, remaining until 1958. He was appointed Director of Extra Mural Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1965. During the 1970s, he was the president of the Hong Kong Translation Society and an adviser to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. He has published more than thirty-five books on Chinese culture and art, including Chinese Painting (Oxford University Press), Calligraphy (University of Washington Press), and Chinese Seals (University of Washington Press). He retired from teaching in 1984, and began devoting his time to painting. He is currently honorary advisor to the Hong Kong Translation Society. As a classical Chinese scholar steeped in Western culture he has incorporated elements of both to make his art uniquely his. Lai typically positions viewers from various vantage points in which to enter the pictorial frame, a hallmark of traditional Chinese painting. He is particularly known for his landscape paintings of Hong Kong, including scenes of Victoria Harbour, Lion Rock, the Botanical Garden, and Shatin racecourse.