(LIU HAIFENG)

The ground-breaking ceremony of the new Nantong University Fan Zeng Art Museum took place in east China's Jiangsu Province on May 17. Fan Zeng, renowned scholar, titan of Chinese painting and calligraphy, said at the ceremony that he will donate his works worth around 100 million yuan ($15.38 million) for exhibition, collection and study when the 6,600-square-meter museum is finished in 2012.

Fan, 73, was born in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, and graduated with a major in Chinese painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1962. In 1977, Fan gained fame and popularity with his work of Zhong Kui, a vivid depiction of a famous Chinese mythological character. In the 1980s, he founded the Oriental Arts Department at Nankai University and served as its dean until 1999. In 1983, Fan Zeng Art Museum was opened to the public in Japan. In 1984, he began staging his art exhibition tours in Asian and European countries.