Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ts'ui Tzŭ-chung
TS'UI Tzŭ-chung 崔子忠, also named Ts'ui Tan 丹, (T. 道母, H. 青蚓), c. 1595–c. 1644, Ming artist, was a native of Lai-yang, Shantung, but registered as a licentiate of Shun-t'ien prefecture and lived in Peking. He achieved fame as a painter and was recognized as the equal of his contemporary, Ch'ên Hung-shou [q. v.]—the two being often referred to as "Ch'ên of the South and Ts'ui of the North" (南陳北崔 Nan Ch'ên pei Ts'ui). Although very poor, he refused assistance from most of his acquaintances, and would not paint for people whom he disliked. When Li Tzŭ-ch'êng took Peking in 1644 Ts'ui went to live in an obscure quarter of the city where, according to some accounts, he starved to death. Some of his paintings are preserved in the Palace Museum, Peiping.
[Shun-t'ien-fu chih (1884) 98/43a; 1/509/2a; 7/44/9b; 26/1/9a; L.T.C.L.H.M. 258b; Waley, Index of Chinese Artists, p. 88.]