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JU Ming
• 1938 Born in Tunghsiao, Miaoli County, Central Taiwan. The youngest of eleven children, Ju enjoyed a rural childhood, developing a deep understanding of the rhythms and cycles of nature.
• 1953 After finishing his elementary school education, he was apprenticed to a famous traditional wood-carver where he remained for the traditional apprenticeship period of three years and four months.
• 1957 Started working as a "master craftsman."
• 1959 Moved back to Tunghsiao and opened his own studio with apprentices, creating a successful crafts business which left him dissatisfied. He became more artistic and tried innovative techniques.
• 1961 Married Chen Fu-mei, who is also from Tungshiao.
• 1968 After winning several awards in the prestigious Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition, Ju felt that he could only develop further as a sculptor if he re-apprenticed himself. He put everything on hold to learn from the only teacher he wanted: Yang Yu-Yu, who himself had only just returned from a three years art scholarship in Rome. Yang agreed to take Ju as an apprentice because he was impressed by "Ju's flowing lines through the natural grain of the wood, the form executed with such an assured gentleness and humility." Ju spent seven years as the apprentice/friend of the older Yang.
• 1976 Ju took up Tai Chi on Yang's advice to develop physical and mental discipline. He developed greatly from this practice and started thinking about sculpting works on the theme of Tai Chi, which had never been done before. Ju's solo exhibition occurred in March at the National Museum of history in Taipei thanks to Yang Yu-yu who convinced the museum authorities to show his student's pieces. It was highly successful and he was named as one of the Ten Outstanding Youths of 1976.
• 1980-1986 Ju continued to gain international acclaim and exhibited abroad. He started The Living World "family" which he continues to expand. These bright figures are made of bronze, stainless steel, painted wood and foam rubber cast bronze giving him the freedom to depict the human form in all its varieties.
• 1987 A retrospective of Ju's work at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum was followed by an exhibition at the Taiwan Art Museum, Taichung.
• 1988-1991 Several exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Center and Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong and in Taipei were followed by Ju's first European exhibition. London was the first venue in Europe for the Tai Chi series.
• 1995 Hanoke Open-Air Museum invited Ju Ming to exhibit his works to close the Museum's yearlong twenty-fifth anniversary celebration.
• 1997 Place Vendme, Paris, was the perfect setting for the Tai Chi series of sculptures.
• 1999 Taiwan Museum of Art, Taiwan
• 1999 The opening show of Ju Ming, Art Museum, Taiwan
• 2000 Asia Art Center, Taiwan
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