Pan Shou was born in Nanan, Fujian in 1911. In 1930, he came to Singapore as a young man of 19, already well schooled in Chinese classics and the brush. Pan's artistic achievement is the result of decades of hard work and the study of the ancient Chinese scripts. Pan Shou also studied the many calligraphic style and became the most well-known calligrapher in Singapore. His mixed cursive and running-hand characters are an endless variety of sensitive brush strokes as if the ink has a life of its own.

The National Museum has held two exhibitions of Pan Shou's works - Pan Shou Guxi Shuji (1984) and Pan Shou 80 (1991). His calligraphic works have also been published in the three-volume collection of Calligraphy By Pan Shou (1982). Pan's prolific output of calligraphic works is evident everywhere in Singapore - on book covers, newspaper mastheads and on public buildings. His calligraphic pieces are in public and private collections at home and abroad. His works also appear on the steles in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong.

Pan Shou has lived up to the Chinese ideal of a cultivated man who excels in both calligraphy and literature. Some 600 of his poems have been published in a four-volume collection called Pavilion Beyond the Ocean (1970) and in two other collections: Pan Shou Nanyuan Poetry Collection (1984) and Pan Shou Poetry Collection (1997). His poems flow effortlessly through his brush onto rice paper. The fluidity of his calligraphy complements the beauty of his poems, many of which are reflections on life and philosophy.

For his outstanding achievements in calligraphy and poetry, Pan Shou was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 1994. The National Arts Council and the National Heritage Board jointly organised the Pan Shou Exhibition to commemorate the award of Meritorious Service Medal at the National Museum Art Gallery from 19 May to 18 Jul 95.

The ASEAN Award is conferred to Pan Shou for his sustained artistic excellence and international recognition.