the New China. The policies enacted by Xu at the beginning of the Communist Era continue to control not only official Government Policy towards the arts, but they continue to direct the overall direction taken in the various Art Colleges and Universities throughout China. Xu enjoyed massive support from art collectors across Asia. Between 1939 and 1941, he held solo exhibitions in Singapore, India and Malaya (Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh) to help raise funds for the war relief effort in China. In one war benefit exhibition in March 1939, Xu held a group exhibition with Chinese ink painting masters Ren Bonian and Qi Baishi, and showcased 171 works of art at the Victoria Memorial Hall. He also met Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in India, and received inspiration which led to the creation of iconic works such as the 4.21m-wide The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains painting on show at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). Artworks including After a Poem of the Six Dynasties, Portrait of Ms Jenny and Put Down Your Whip were also created during his sojourns in Southeast Asia. SAM Director Kwok Kian Chow mentioned that Xu's name tops the list in Asian modern realism art, and his connections with various parts of Asia and Europe opened a new chapter of historical narratives, exchanges and influences of aesthetics and ideas in art. Xu developed new visual art techniques and international aesthetics, in a bid to reinvent Chinese art. In fact, Xu's influence extends beyond China in the early 20th-century. Many notable Singaporean artists including Chen Wen Hsi, Lee Man Fong and Chen Chong Swee looked up to him as a mentor and a worthy peer, sharing Xu's desire to closely observe nature and inject realism into Chinese painting. Xu died of a stroke in 1953. After his death, a Xu Beihong Memorial Museum was established at his home in Beijing by his wife Liao Jingwen. Family Feud In 2008, two ceramic vases created by Xu Beihong scheduled for an art exhibition in Singapore spurred local media attention. Family disputes broke out over the vases sales and profits, which led to legal tussles between the Huang descendants and the Singapore Art Museum. The Singaporean art collectors, Huang Man Shi and Huang Meng Gui, were famously supportive of Xu Beihong. The 18-cm high vases were made in the 1940s, titled Malay Dancers and