Contemporary Chinese Women Painters, co-published by the Foreign Languages Press and Hunan Fine Art Publishing House, is the first hardback collection published since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, exclusively to feature Chinese women painters and colour reproductions of their works.

Included in this album are 173 works by 69 Chinese women artists from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas. Seventy are traditional Chinese paintings, 48 oil paintings, 34 woodcut prints, with the remaining being watercolours, murals and gouaches. The majority of them were produced after 1980. They are original in conception, bold in expression and consummate in artistry. Through this book readers can not only come to appreciate the surpassing allure of the works themselves, but also gain insight into the artists' seemingly inexhaustible creative energy and richly fertile inner minds.

In addition to providing a brief biography of each artist the editors have prevailed upon the artists to explain in their own words their feelings towards their art and life.

The preface was written by Tao Yongbai, associate research fellow in the Fine Arts Department of the Chinese Art Institute. With heartfelt understanding she describes these Chinese women artists' lives, from their often bitter pasts to the more satisfying present and on to a brightly shining tomorrow; her enthusiasm for the artists and their work is palpable.

The text writers and editors of this book are all women. Truly it is a woman's book, female in style and quality.