Hu Zhengyan

Hu Zhengyan
Chinese name
Chinese	胡正言
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hú Zhèngyán Gwoyeu Romatzyh Hwu Jenq-yan Wade–Giles Hu2 Cheng4-yen2 IPA [xǔ ʈʂə̂ŋ.jɛ̌n] Wu Romanization ɦou tsen-nyĩ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Wùh Jing-yìhn Jyutping Wu4 Zing3-jin4 Southern Min Tâi-lô Ôo Tsiànn-giân
Courtesy name
Traditional Chinese	曰從
Simplified Chinese	曰从
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yuēcóng Wade–Giles Yüeh1-ts'ung2
One of Hu Zhengyan's personal seals
Born	c. 1584 Xiuning, China
Died	c. 1674 (1675) Nanjing, China
Other names	Hu Yuecong, Hu Cheng-yen
Occupation	Publisher, artist, seal-carver
Known for	Colour woodblock printing
Notable work	Ten Bamboo Studio Manual

Hu Zhengyan (Chinese: 胡正言; c. 1584 – 1674) was a Chinese artist, printmaker and publisher. He worked in calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, and seal-carving, but was primarily a publisher, producing academic texts as well as records of his own work.

Hu lived in Nanjing during the transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty. A Ming loyalist, he was offered a position at the rump court of the Hongguang Emperor, but declined the post, and never held anything more than minor political office. He did, however, design the Hongguang Emperor's personal seal, and his loyalty to the dynasty was such that he largely retired from society after the emperor's capture and death in 1645. He owned and operated an academic publishing house called the Ten Bamboo Studio, in which he practised various multi-colour printing and embossing techniques, and he employed several members of his family in this enterprise. Hu's work at the Ten Bamboo Studio pioneered new techniques in colour printmaking, leading to delicate gradations of colour which were not previously achievable in this art form.

Hu is best known for his manual of painting entitled The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, an artist's primer which remained in print for around 200 years. His studio also published seal catalogues, academic and medical texts, books on poetry, and decorative writing papers. Many of these were edited and prefaced by Hu and his brothers.

Hu was born in Xiuning County, Anhui Province in 1584 or early 1585. Both his father and elder brother Zhengxin (正心, art name Wusuo, 無所) were physicians, and after he turned 30 he travelled with them while they practised medicine in the areas around Lu'an and Huoshan. It is commonly stated that Zhengyan himself was also a doctor, though the earliest sources attesting to this occur only in the second half of the 19th century.