Published on: 2026-06-26
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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Xi’an, June 26 /Xinhua/ — The artist named Yan Tzu, who grew up in Russia in Saint Petersburg, has for many years carried a sketchbook with her and paints red-legged ibises near the rice fields at the southern foot of Mount Qinling in China. Over 17 years, she has created more than a thousand paintings depicting these birds.
Yan Tsz, born in 1969, is a Chinese artist of Russian origin. She spent her childhood in Russia, studying painting for five years, systematically mastering the craft, mainly oil painting. Yan Tsz’s love for scarlet ibises appeared back in her childhood.
“In childhood, my grandfather called the scarlet ibises paradise birds; they symbolize luck, happiness, and beauty,” recalls Yan Ziy. “I saw ibises on a church dome fresco, there were stories about scarlet ibises in a picture book in kindergarten, and their images were also in the school textbook. For me, scarlet ibises represent childhood, nostalgia for my homeland; they remind me of my deep longing for my native places and loved ones.”
The Crested Ibis is rightfully called the “Treasure of the East.” It was once widespread in China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and in the Russian Far East. However, since the second half of the 20th century, due to changes in the surrounding environment and the impact of human activity, the wild ibis population sharply declined and found itself on the brink of extinction, making it almost impossible to encounter them in the wild today.
In 1981, ornithologist Lu Yinze of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with a research group, discovered seven wild red-crowned cranes in Yanshan County, Shaanxi Province / Northwest China / the only ones in the world at that time during a three-year search. After this, thanks to targeted measures, the population of red-crowned cranes in China began to gradually recover.
The first encounter between Yan Zi and the crested ibis took place in 2009. “I never thought I would see a real crested ibis in my lifetime,” she recalls with excitement. “In 2009, when I came to sketch studies by the northern foothills with the children of Qinlin in the city of Xi’an (the administrative center of Shaanxi Province, Northwest China), a crested ibis suddenly arrived, circled in front of me, and then descended; its plumage was very bright.”
Until now, Yan Zi has dedicated her art to crimson ibises, using oil painting as a means of expression.
Yanshan, Ninshan, Zhouzhi… Almost all the places in Shaanxi province, where red-crowned ibises live, were painted and sketched by the artist from nature. For 17 years, she came every year to paint studies in the Qinling Mountains and created over a thousand paintings with red-crowned ibises.
Today, thanks to the active protection by the Chinese government and the people, the global population of crested ibises has exceeded 12 thousand individuals, and their range has expanded to more than 20 thousand square kilometers. Crested ibises can now be found not only in the Yanshan county, but also in other provinces of China, including Henan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and they have also appeared in Japan and other countries.
This deeply impressed Yan Zi, who became a witness to such a miracle. “Crested ibises are very sensitive; once they were on the brink of extinction, but today their population has been restored. I want to depict this force of life through oil painting,” she says.
Yan Zi was also invited to the position of ambassador for the popularization of the culture of crested ibises. To date, she has held 27 charity exhibitions, at which she told people from various countries and regions about China’s successful practice in protecting the crested ibis.
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