The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the only art academy of higher learning directly under the Ministry of Education, was founded in April 1950 by incorporating the National Beiping Art College and the Fine Arts Department of Huabei University. Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name for the Academy. The National Beiping Art College could trace its roots back to the National Beijing Art College, the first national art education institution in Chinese history as well as the beginning of modern art education in China, which was founded in 1918 under the initiative of the well-known educationist Cai Yuanpei. Such known artists as Xu Beihong, Jiang Feng, Wu Zuoren, Gu Yuan and Jin Shangyi, etc., were presidents of CAFA successively. Now the Director of CAFA's Executive Committee is Yang Li, and the President of CAFA is Professor Pan Gonqkai, a Chinese painting artist and art historian, and Director of CAFA's Academic Board is Professor Jin Shangyi, a well-known Chinese artist.