Well-known for his "Collection and Textural Research on the Paintings and Calligraphy of Sin Gu Tang". Bian Yong-yu (1645-1712), appreciator of paintings and calligraphy, owned a chronological album, with its collection of Bian's twenty color portraits, depicting his life from youth to middle age, and spanning a period of twenty-six years. The album reflects the fulfilling life that Bian lived, his philosophy on beauty, life as a government official, and what he had learned from his religious studies. All of these mark the image of typical learned elite during the Ming and Qing dynasties. A number of eulogies written by other literate elite also helped to piece together the image of Bian Yong-yu. Paintings not only imitate and replicate people's visual experiences but reflect the signs of the original environment where a creation was made. "Portraits of Bian Yong-yu" comprised three subjects: paintings. Bian's personal writings and literary works, and eulogies by Bian's friends. The objects and texts on each page may be taken as signs, each of which developed an inter-affecting discourse, created scenarios for specific purposes: thus, they can be expanded to provide a whole picture of Bian's life. "Portraits of Bian Yong-yu" recount Bian's personal life, with portraits and writings, expanding to an infinite degree. Some of the portraits and texts depict the inside and outside of his homestead, some texts relate to Bian's contemporary experiences or serve as allusions, and some create a poly-dialogic tone woven by words and drawings. Bian Yong-yu, a blurred figure in historical records, was given greater clarity by a chronological drawing album, a model of pictures narrating the lives of learned elite in the Qing Dynasty.