Qingquan 'Brook' Zhao is an internationally acclaimed artist. Outside his native China, his work has been exhibited in France, Holland, Italy, Japan, Macao, and the U.S. A popular headliner at international conventions, he has conducted programs in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Malaysia, India, and the United States.

Born and raised in Yangzhou, China's ancient center of learning and the arts situated at the confluence of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, Qingquan Zhao grew up in an environment where the penjing tradition was very much alive. At a young age, Zhao became intrigued by the miniature trees and landscapes in his father's and grandfather's collections. He is a third-generation bonsai and penjing artist.

Mr. Zhao is a master of composition. He is particularly famous for his landscapes and forest arrangements. In the 1970's, he pioneered a new form of penjing where trees and stones are artistically grouped on white marble slabs to evoke, in the viewer's eyes, tranquil mountain sceneries and waterscapes. This form, water-and-land penjing, has since become his signature work and has brought him worldwide fame. His work with single trees, too, is outstanding. He particularly excels at creating trees in the literati style.

Mr. Zhao brings a gentle and highly sensitive approach to his art. During his demonstrations, audiences of all ages become enthralled as they watch him transform moments in time into timeless serenity and universal beauty by applying time-honored principles of Chinese aesthetics and design. His first English-language book, Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment. A Journey Exploring an Ancient Chinese Art and Its History, Cultural Background, and Aesthetics, published in 1997, has become a classic.

Mr. Zhao's work has earned him enthusiastic praise from bonsai and penjing artists and collectors around the world as well as from Chinese and Japanese garden designers. For instance, British artist Colin Lewis has stated that "Mr. Zhao will do for penjing what Kimura has done for driftwood bonsai", and Douglas Roth of the Journal of Japanese Gardening has written that Mr. Zhao's book "features some of the finest miniature landscapes ever created. Just a brief glance is enough to recognize Mr. Zhao's exceptional talent at assembling small rocks and plants in a way that masterfully evokes the natural landscape. On a small marble slab, Mr. Zhao creates shorelines, mountains, and weather-worn rock compositions that are as soulful as a landscape painting and as realistic as a nature photo."