During the period of great change between the Opium War of 1840 and the Communist Revolution of 1949, a vital movement in Chinese painting, the Shanghai School, was founded in the politically and economically powerful city of Shanghai. The main subject of this study, Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), who is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the Shanghai School. was not only well-known as a painter, but also as a calligrapher and seal-carver. In his paintings he combined the bold, dry brushwork derived from his calligraphy with the tectonic composition of his seal-carving. in order to produce a genuinely rustic and archaic style. The aesthetic of his works of art, deeply rooted in 'epigraphy, jinshixue' i, e. the study of ancient bronze and stone inscriptions, was embodied in his flower paintings most clearly.*br* One of the representative works of his flower paintings is the "Ink: Plum Blossom" of 1918 (Fig.18). The plum stalks with the spontaneous, powerful strokes which produce in 'Flying White, feibai' recall his typical brush strokes in his calligraphy, especially his seal-script. As a calligrapher Wu Changshuo was well known for his Stone Drum Inscription, shiguwen' (Fig.24, 25). The brushwork of the Stone Drum Inscription typical of Wu can be easily discerned from the uniformed width, the rounded heads, and the rough ends of the brush strokes. This kind of brushwork recalls the stiff Plum stalks in the 'Ink Plum Blossom", which have been brushed down in quick, rough strokes.*br* The same characteristic can be found in Wu Changshuos seal-carving. In nineteenth century there was a new movement in seal-carving led by Deng Shiru (1739-1805) to instill brush and ink, that is, a brush-written character, into a medium which utilized knife and stone. The new movement insisted that seals should also reflect an active kinetic process, an act of 'writing'. Wu Changshuo' s seal, for example, "dahe yuanqi" represents such a tendency (Fig.36), The carved lines with 'Flying White' are undulated and resilient, especially the jagged outline of each strokes bold enough to remind the brushwork of his Stone Drum Inscription and the Plum stalks (Fig.33, 34).*br* The other point of the 'Ink Plum Blossom' is the composition. The Plum stalks on the left stretch the branches to the right. By contrast the stalks on the right side stretch the branches just to the left. The emphasized contrast between the vertical and horizontal elements of the composition resembles his seal "qianxun zhuzhai", which is carved for his korean friend Min Y?ngik (Fig.3).*br* On the whole, the calligraphic mode in Wu Changshuo' s paintings persisted from his early years to the very end of his life. At a time when his seal-carving days were essentially over, he paired painting and calligraphy intimately: 'Through my life, the best I have come to accomplish is to paint with a calligrapher's brush."*br* From his mature period of 1914 onwards the seal mode enter his work. He divided a painting surface into halves, even into quarters. Through the controlled and structured arrangement of subject, Wu Changshuo embodied the compositional principles of seal￢carving (Fig.21, 22 and 23, 24). The sear s impact might cause painting to simulate an engraved effect, suggesting the way in which the knife cuts into stone, creating grooves, ridges, or roughened edges, or evoke the distribution of solid and void for which seal design is known. That kind of aesthetic is totally different from the style of the Shanghai School painter in general, which aimed at immediacy in visual appeal.*br* Wu Changshuo's Three Accomplishments, saniue move along essentially as one in his painting, with an inner coherence that stems from his personal strength. This is what he would call 'Energy, qi', an old concept to be sure, but one which was reaffirmed and reinterpreted according to a new reality, Wu Changshuo' s own.