Born in Amoy, Fujian in 1927. T'ang Haywen studied Chinese calligraphy under the instruction of his grandfather. In 1937, T'ang moved first to Vietnam and then to Paris in 1948 to further his studies. A self-taught artist, T'ang held his first exhibition in 1955 and since then his works have been widely exhibited in Europe and America. In August 1997, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum organized a retrospective exhibition of his work entitled "The Tao of Painting." From June to September 2002 the Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet in Paris has presented a retrospective of T'ang works entitled "Paths of Ink" In August 2002 the Shiseido Foundation in Tokyo has also exhibited the work of T'ang. T'ang's work is either held privately or in the collections of several museums in Europe and America. Among them are The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; the Musée National des Art Asiatiques-Guimet in Paris and The Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.