Li Shiming, born in 1952, is the principal of Yan'tilde;an Fine Arts School and a member of Shaanxi Artists Association. Li has showed great interest in art since his early age. In 1993, he studied Chinese traditional painting at China National Academy of Fine Arts, under the instruction of famed artists including Liu Wenxi and Wang Chongren. After graduation, he began to work as an art teacher and then an art editor with Yan’an News. In 1985 he set up an art school, the first one of its kind in northern Shaanxi Province, which filled the gaps in fine arts education of the area. The school has cultivated a large number of artists in 15 years who are now working throughout the country. In 1992, Li set up Yan’an Painting College and continued his efforts in promoting the fine arts education in Yan’an. As a famed artist, he is listed in Modern Chinese Famed Painters and Encyclopedia of Modern Chinese Artists. Li is adept at flower-and-bird, realistic painting and prints. He is best known for his paintings of shrimps. His works employ a novel and original artistic conception, concise structural composition, vigorous strokes and warm colours. “In his paintings of shrimps, we can find that Li has been influenced by great master Qi Baishi and in the meantime he has made attempts to explore new artistic style,” Lou Shibai, a great master of Chinese ink painting once wrote in an art review.