Magic Horse of Han Gan

Little Han Gan loves to draw, but his family is too poor to buy him brushes and inks. One day he delivers some food to a celebrated painter and when he leaves he stops to draw horses in the sand outside. The painter, who happens to be watching, is intrigued, and invites Han Gan to return to his house the following day. When he returns he is taken to a table covered with paper, inks and brushes, and he is invited to come and draw as much as he likes. It is thus that Han Gan begins to draw horses, his favorite subject. As a young man, Han Gan is sent by the Emperor himself to the Academy of Art, where his fellow students ask him with some surprise why he always draws his horses tethered. “Because my horses are so alive they might escape from the paper,” Han Gan replies. One day as Han Gan works in his studio a great warrior comes to ask him to create with his magic brush a marvelous horse that will win all of his battles. Will Han Gan succeed? And if he does, what might be the fate of such a horse?



Han Gan was a renowned Chinese painter of horses who lived 1,200 years ago. Although only a few of his painting have survived, he nevertheless has been recognized as a great painter. The first part of The Magic Horse of Han Gan was inspired by Han Gan's life. The rest of the story was invented by Chen, who was inspired to create his book after seeing one of Han Gan's paintings in a Paris museum.