Ni Yibin

Ni Yibin, honorary director of the Centre for Study of Story of China (CSSC) under the auspices of the Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications, Shanghai International Studies University, China, obtained his degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy at University College London (UCL) and studied Chinese art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He taught in the English Department and the University Scholars’ Programme, National University of Singapore. He has published books, book chapters, and articles on Chinese art history and is internationally consulted on matters related to iconography in Chinese art. He has lectured widely in institutions of higher education, professional organisations, and museums in the US, the UK, Singapore, and China. In recent years, he has made breakthroughs in deciphering lost story scenes in Chinese art.

In 2008, Sir Michael Butler on the occasion of the exhibition catalogue of the exhibition of Porcelain of the Late Ming, wrote:

“ I first met Dr Ni Yibin about a decade ago, and in an unusual way. The former U.K. Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, who used to live quite close to me in England, telephoned me one day and asked if I would show my porcelain to a brilliant young Chinese scholar from Shanghai whom he was befriending. I said I would be delighted and asked them to lunch, although I was a little nervous of how long Sir Edward himself would be interested in the porcelain as he was not famous for his patience! What would he do while we were looking at the pots? I need not have worried. After lunch he came and sat with us while we talked and did not show signs of wanting to make a move till after tea at 5pm. When he was leaving he said he never imagined there could be so many interesting things to say about porcelain. Yibin was already then interested in identifying the narrative scenes on C17th porcelain, a quest which he has pursued with extraordinary success. He has helped me by identifying many of the scenes on pieces in my Shunzhi Exhibition in 2002 and the Shanghai Exhibition in 2005 and again those in this catalogue. He has become the leading authority in the world on the subject, with an enormous data base of pictures of the scenes and of the matching paintings and woodblock prints from which they are derived, as well as identifying ancient legends from the subject matter of the scenes. He is now very widely consulted. In my view he has made a major contribution to the study of the period and has hugely enlivened the entries in this and other catalogues. I value his contributions enormously, and could not be more grateful to him. We have met often in the last decade and had a lot of fun together. I treasure his friendship.” Sir Michael Butler, 2008