In 2002, female painter Zou Li's 102 silk paintings of beautiful ladies in fine brushwork and heavy colors, "Hundred Pictures of Chinese Empresses", were exhibited at the Guangdong Painting Academy. Different from ordinary art works, her works have a historical and humanistic perspective. When asked about Zou Li's original intention, she admitted that the female image is the theme of her works. In her view, many traditional female images in China embody the unity of outer beauty and inner beauty. Their persistent pursuit of love, conscious suppression of sex, unyielding attitude towards life, and spirit of resistance despite oppression make her People are moved. As a modern woman, Zou Li believes that she has the responsibility to express this subject with her own brush through complete and extensive excavations, so as to reflect on the existence of women in history and awaken women's consciousness in this world.

In 1992, Zou Li used line drawing to draw a collection of black and white pictures of the concubines in history. Based on this, after several years of creation, she re-edited the drawings in the form of meticulous brushwork and heavy colors, and finally "Hundred Pictures of Chinese Empresses". In Chinese history, there are no pictures that systematically represent ancient concubines. It can be said that Zou Li is the first to sort out the concubines in history.

The concubine is a unique product of China’s feudal society. In order to capture the most typical characteristics and express the character’s personality, Zou Li read a large number of historical books over the past few years and summarized the characters’ characteristics. Features. For example, when painting the Wanrong of the last queen, she believed that the mirror that best represented Wanrong was her emotional loss caused by her unfortunate marriage, and she could only rely on opium to anesthetize herself. Zou Li used an image drugged by opium to express the tragic life of the last queen, which was unanimously recognized by experts. Ban Jieyu, the imperial concubine of the Han Dynasty, withdrew from the East Palace to escape persecution and wrote "Tuan Fan Song" to express her feelings. Zou Li uniquely painted Ban Jieyu on a round fan. She was meditating and thoughtful as she wrote. The painting also showed several round fans and swaying fallen leaves hovering in the autumn wind, highlighting her bumpy fate. There are many more touching images like this... Although all the works cannot be said to be impeccable, Zou Li's devotion to each character can be seen in every eyebrow and every costume of the characters in the work.

As a female painter, Zou Li's "Picture of a Hundred Concubines" also shows the unique creative techniques of female painters. While inheriting traditional techniques, she boldly used the concepts of modern painting and drew lessons from Western painting. The techniques of foreign paintings break the limitations of time and space in terms of composition, and express the development process of the plot on the same picture; some also draw on the overprinting technique in movies to make the works have a distinct spirit of the times; in terms of character expression, they use a combination of realistic and abstract techniques. , romantic and other methods to express the characteristics of the characters, using traditional Chinese painting, watercolor, gouache, oil painting and other techniques to make many pictures rich and not the same; in the use of color, she gave full play to the decorative and expressive power of Chinese painting colors, Different tones are carefully designed in each picture, and they are "colorful" with different characters' personalities, life experiences, experiences, etc., which enhances the artistic appeal.

"The Picture of One Hundred Concubines" was selected into the 9th National Art Exhibition and won the Bronze Award in the Illustration Category. When it was exhibited at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in 1998, in addition to the name list, 30 four-foot leaflets were used to sign the visitors' signatures. The guestbook in which the Beijing audience wrote down their impressions was 3 centimeters thick. All these make Zou Li very happy to complete the painting despite difficulties.

Zou Li said that she relied on a calm mentality and indifferent mood to complete these works. Although she went through ups and downs, she never gave up her love for painting. In 1995, she resolutely gave up her job as a professional painter in the art academy and established Qingzhu Painting Academy. This also meant that she no longer had a fixed salary income and began a self-reliant career as a professional painter. From 1995 to 1997, she used colorful meticulous paintings to interpret these concubines. She painted for 16 hours a day. When painting "Water Bowl", she worked hard for a whole month without leaving home. In the past two years, she had no assignments or went out, and she also gave up many opportunities to make money. She could only rely on her usual teaching income to support her life, but she has no regrets. Pan Jiajun, executive vice chairman of the Guangdong Artists Association, said of her: "Under the conditions of the market economy and without receiving a national salary, Zou Li embarked on this tragic journey, which is like mountaineering on a hypoxic plateau. Running a marathon under the scorching sun. Fortunately, Zou Li’s actions received support from many people. The support from her husband enables Zou Li to put aside the practical problem of finance, and the encouragement from older generation artists such as the famous cartoonist Mr. Liao Bingxiong makes her feel even more precious.

After the completion of "Hundred Pictures of Chinese Empresses", Zou Li is planning to create the 100-meter-long scroll "Wu Zetian" to show the 80-year life of the empress. Zou Li has been working on this outstanding woman for many years It took me a lot of time to conceive and research, but it was difficult to complete it at the same time. Zou Li admitted that due to her special situation, she had to face many practical problems, the most direct of which was economic problems, which could easily make her mood impetuous, which is a taboo in painting. Another problem is society's neglect of female-themed art works. Many of Zou Li's pursuits are still not understood by society.

No painter will ignore realistic themes, and Zou Li is no different. She said that among her female works, the female entrepreneurs who emerged after the reform and opening up were an important series, and she hoped to complete it as soon as possible with the support of all walks of life and relevant departments. She wants to use lines as thin as hair to weave them into works that express the merits, achievements, emotions and love of women throughout the ages.