In the early Republican era, when the inroads Western art was making in China brought an awareness of techniques to paint the human body and face, the same Western influence came through a Japanese filter into occupied Taiwan. This was the beginning of the era when self-portraits were most prevalent in China.
民國初年，人體素描、人像繪畫跟著西方繪畫觀念引進中國，而日據的台灣，也透過日本接上西方印象時期風格，從此開啟中國人自畫像的高峰時期。