My Art Studio on Ershadao Island in Guangzhou, China

On a quiet night, I heard only my brush dancing on the Xuan paper, which to me was the most beautiful music in the world. Whenever I immersed myself in drawing with my brush, my hometown always appeared in my paintings. Poplar trees made me homesick. I would find them in my artwork; these trees, taking root on my Xuan paper, with shiny green leaves that grew vigorously and abundantly. In my paintings, my hometown memories were full of surprises and confusion. I have always had a passionate love of flowers – I love their beauty and fragrance. Over the years, I planted many flowers in my home and in my studio. Of course, those flowers bloomed beautifully. Over the seasons, they would grow beautiful blossoms and tender young leaves. When the flowers died, the wind occasionally blew the withered petals on to my paintings. I would collect the petals and sandwich them between pages of my books. Those gorgeous flowers delighted me so much, so I would dry them out and preserve them so that I could appreciate them in the future. I always believe that if you love something, you should cherish every special moment it brings to you. Every time I read the books, when I saw the dried and colour-faded petals, my heart suddenly sank. For many years, although the dried flowers stayed among the pages, I was no longer the same. As the years went by, I could smell the fragrance of the flowers. Could this mean that we retained some of our original spirit from those years? One night I missed my hometown so much and began to draw its familiar poplar trees on to Xuan paper. Opening the window, looking up at the night sky, I saw the stars shining above as a slight breeze blew into the window.