Chiu's portraits of Taiwan's modern-day literati are greatly influenced by the figure painting of the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD) seen in the hooked noses and almond-shaped eyes. Elegant androgynous-looking men and women with elongated, oval faces are shown seated or standing in partial profile..The subjects appear to be lonely, even melancholic, but controlled and self-possessed. Chiu’s portraits prioritize not strict formal resemblance, but the expression of affections through freehand strokes, constructing the inner world of the subjects beyond apparent emotions. His use of large blocks of solid, flat color for backdrops—at times adding bits of adorning elements in contrasting colors—serve to highlight the subject in the foreground. These techniques were derived from European modernist painters such as Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso. Chiu’s delicate outlines of faces, meanwhile, inherit the figure painting traditions of Tang Dynasty China. The facial features display the artist’s familiarity with the forms and techniques of modern Western art, while exquisitely incorporating the spirit of literati paintings in the Eastern tradition.

This portrait is entitled “Girl with Short Hair”. The subject possesses a slim, elongated figure, with a sense of melancholy and detachment visible in her eyes. Her expression is composed and self-possessed, exuding the graceful tranquility of Eastern literati, there are some geometric patterns in the background while the simplicity in lines and color create a sense of pensiveness and solitude.