A 1969 trip to Hualien and the collection of paintings that the trip yielded, secured the Chung Shan Art prize for Chiang. The American Education Foundation awarded him a Fulbright grant to research the Soochow area painters of the late Ming dynasty at the University of Michigan.
民國五十八年，江兆申以「花蓮記遊」冊頁十二幅，得到中山文藝獎。同年赴美，不但訪問了有關中國書畫之公私收藏，看遍流落海外的古代名畫真跡，還據此完成三千張「十六世紀蘇州地區畫家活動情形」研究卡。