Hu Jieqing, famous painter and widow of Lao She (1899-1966), one of the best known writers in modern China, died of pneumonia Monday afternoon. She was 96.
Hu, from the ethnic Manchu group, was born in 1905 and married Lao She in July 1931, shortly after she graduated from the Chinese Department of Peking Normal University.
Hu was a successful painter, with many of her works collected by famous galleries in China.
The woman also had been working on publishing a series of novels and essays of Lao She, the pen name of Shu Sheyu or Shu Qingchun.