Painter dabbles in noble works

Sitting in an antique Chinese chair of sandalwood, Ziwei brewed a pot of Chinese green tea. She moved gently, her tone of voice giving her away as someone of nobility.

The 50-year-old smoked and gazed at one of her favorite paintings of a golden bamboo shaking in the wind. At the bottom was a stamp of her full name: Aixinjueluo Yuziwei.

The Yu in her given name gives away her generation. The family name Aixinjueluo, belongs to the Manchu royals of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Though the Manchu woman likes to be called Ziwei, she understands that her ancestral blood is from the Manchu royals who ruled the country for more than 250 years. Ziwei's father, Aixinjueluo Puzuo, was a cousin of Puyi, the last emperor who lost his throne when the Qing Dynasty collapsed.