Fu Baoshi was born in Xinyu, Jiangxi province. His original names included Changsheng and Ruilin and his literary name was Baoshizhaizhuren. In 1933, he went to study at Tokyo Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Japan. He returned to China in 1935 when he began to teach at the Department of Art of National Central University . After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan, he moved to Chongqing and spent eight years encouraging people to fight against Japan's invasion. After 1949, he worked as a vice-chairman of China Artists Association and President of Jiangsu Academy of National Painting. Fu excelled at mountain and water painting, and, in his mid-age, created the “Baoshi Shading” technique, which uses seemingly disorganized brushwork to depict the structure of mountain rocks. He was particularly good at painting springs, waterfalls, rain, and fog. His figure painting features ladies and reclusive scholars. He also wrote A Study on Ancient Chinese Painting and A Brief History of Development of Chinese Painting.