Ye Qianyu

Ye Qianyu 叶浅予
Ye Qianyu and wife Wang Renmei
Born	Ye Lunqi (葉綸綺) 31 March 1907 Tonglu, Zhejiang, China
Died	5 May 1995(1995-05-05) (aged 88) Beijing
Known for	Manhua and Chinese painting
Notable work	Shanghai Manhua Mr. Wang Liberation of Beiping
Spouse(s)	Luo Caiyun (1930s) Dai Ailian (1940–51) Wang Renmei (1955–87)

Ye Qianyu (or Yeh Ch'ien-yü; 31 March 1907 – 5 May 1995) was a Chinese painter and pioneering manhua artist. In 1928, he cofounded Shanghai Manhua, one of the earliest and most influential manhua magazines, and created Mr. Wang, one of China's most famous comic strips.

Ye was also a master of traditional Chinese painting and served as the head of the Department of Chinese Painting of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. During the Cultural Revolution he was persecuted and imprisoned for seven years.

Ye was married three times. His first two marriages, to Luo Caiyun and dancer Dai Ailian, ended in divorce. His third marriage, to movie star Wang Renmei, lasted more than 30 years until Wang's death.

Ye Qianyu was born Ye Lunqi (葉綸綺) in Tonglu county, Zhejiang province in 1907. Although he loved to paint since childhood, he had neither the money nor the opportunity to seek professional training, forcing him to teach himself how to paint.

At age 18 Ye moved to Shanghai, where he found work at a small, short-lived journal Sanri Huabao (Three Day Pictorial). The journal shut down when Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition army reached Shanghai in April 1927.

Out of work, Ye Qianyu, then 20 years old, together with fellow cartoonists Huang Wennong and Lu Shaofei released a publication dedicated to manhua, called Shanghai Manhua (or Shanghai Sketch). The first effort looked like a propaganda poster and was a failure. Undeterred, the original three, joined by eight more artists including Zhang Guangyu, Ding Song, and Wang Dunqing, formed the Shanghai Sketch Society (also translated as Shanghai Cartoon Association) in the autumn of 1927. It was China's first association dedicated to manhua, and its debut was a major event in the history of Chinese comics.