Jiang Yijing

When artist Ji Youquan, who works for the People’s Liberation Army, first went to Luntai in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region as a tourist in 1998, he says he did not think he would visit the county every year for the next two decades, least of all to make paintings of desert poplars, a member of the willow family.

“It was afternoon and I was on the way to Luntai with friends, when I saw the kind of tree that I had never seen before. My curiosity drove me to get out of the car and take a closer look,” Ji, who was born in 1953, says, adding that they later found a Populus euphratica forest.

“The shapes of the trees under the moonlight drove my imagination. I thought some looked like old people while some like animals. The weathered trunks indicated how the trees had withstood strong winds,” he adds.

Ji says he went deeper into the forest that day. He didn’t return to the car until it was totally dark, making his friends wonder if he was lost.

When he got back to the hotel that evening, he learned that the tree is described as “the most beautiful tree in the world” in the Uygur language. It can survive tough conditions for long periods.

Han people refer to the tree “a hero of the desert”.

Ji, who lives in Beijing, has visited Luntai two or three times every year for 20 years since to make ink paintings of desert poplars. He has developed his own style of art around it.

In June, the People’s Fine Arts Publishing House released China’s Contemporary Artists Album: Ji Youquan (Zhongguo Dangdai Mingjia Huaji: Ji Youquan) as part of a series on those who have contributed much to Chinese art.

“This tree is a symbol of our nation’s spirit. It encourages us to be determined when facing obstacles. As a soldier, as well as an artist, I should tell people what the tree is like and pass down the spirit to the younger generations,” Ji says.

“About 90 percent of the desert poplars in the world are found in northwestern China.”

Painting desert poplars for 20 years has not been easy. Ji has had to overcome many difficulties.

For example, he has had to go deep into desert poplar forests, where he was bitten by mosquitoes, to observe and sketch the trees.

“There were times when I was too exhausted to stand up due to bad body aches after painting. But the interesting thing was that, as long as I went back to the forest and looked at the old trees, I felt good and could pick up my pen to draw the pictures again,” Ji says.

He has walked along the Tarim River in Xinjiang several times.

Ji says desert poplars have supported him spiritually. Whenever he thought of their ability to bear hardships over centuries, he felt encouraged to overcome difficulties himself.

Ji was invited by a culture-and-art organization to join a Chinese delegation to visit the United States in 2013, when he painted in front of dignitaries and friends at events. He also held an exhibition on the first floor of the United Nations headquarters in New York and received praise from UN officials as well as ambassadors of different countries, he says.

He sent three pictures of his artwork to the UN office and the embassy of China in the US as gifts.

Ji’s family name means “hope” in Chinese. This is much like the subject of his paintings, he says.