Nude models of all ages and both sexes are an essential foundation for painting and sculpture; they are indispensable. It is inappropriate to prohibit them on the basis of feudal ideology. Even if a few undesirable incidents were to occur, that would be acceptable: for the sake of art and science, we should be willing to tolerate a small degree of sacrifice. As far as flowers and trees are concerned, artists like Qi Baishi and Chen Banding are not as good as certain painters from the late Qing dynasty.

Of the Chinese painters I have encountered, only Xu Beihong left behind nude figure studies. The others—Qi Baishi, Chen Banding, and their ilk—none of them could actually draw the human figure. Xu Beihong had studied Western painting techniques, and there was also Liu Haisu.