Dr. Chan Kwun-nam, Phil, graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is currently Research Assistant Curator (Painting and Calligraphy) at the Art Museum, CUHK. His research interest is in the Chinese painting and calligraphy during the Ming-Qing period. His publication includes The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Chinese Calligraphy, The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Rubbings of Stone Engraving and Model Calligraphy, and Double Beauty III: Qing Dynasty Couplets from the Lechangzai Xuan Collection, Art Museum.

Dr. Chan's presentation took a look at the art of Gao Qifeng and his followers focusing on the collection of the Art Museum, CUHK. The Lingnan school plays a significant role in the history of twentieth-century Chinese art. Its forefathers, Gao Jianfu (1879–1951), Chen Shuren (1884–1948) and Gao Qifeng (1889–1933), took their inspiration from the works of Ju Chao (1811–1865) and Ju Lian (1828–1904) of the Geshan school, which can be traced back to the Jiangsu bird-and-flower painters Song Guangbao and Meng Jinyi. Having each pursued their studies in Japan and learned from the Japanese painting, the three Lingnan school founders had innovated Chinese painting by "making the best of the Chinese and Western worlds, and bridging the past and the present". Gao Qifeng, in particular, was adept in a wide variety of subjects, his brushwork showing an exquisite vividness, especially in his bird-and-flower and animal paintings. Despite his all too short life, his work had made a major impact and received high acclaims. In 1929, Gao moved to Ersha (or Napier) Island in Guangzhou for convalescence. He found a new home in the year after and named it "Tianfeng lou" (Heavenly Breeze Studio), where artistic gatherings with his apprentices took place. The place had since become an important symbol for the Lingnan school.