I came, I start ...... / 既然来了，就开始吧!
Hoorn is a beautiful and fascinating city by the lakeshore of Markermeer in northwest of Holland.
The lake was a part of Waddenzee before the dams of Markerwaarddijk and Afsluitdijk built up. It is said that a few centuries ago, just from here the merchant ships of Netherlands started their journey of maritime hegemony.
In January 2001, I came here by train from north of Holland with 12 pieces of my works. On the local newspaper there appeared a photo of one of my paintings as well as the these words ---- a young man from China holds his exhibition in the East Church in Hoorn for 12 pieces of his recent oil paintings in oriental style.----- The exhibition opened without a ceremony. And there were not many visitors either. But the good news was that I sold my first painting in Europe with 550 guilders. Up to now I know nothing about that Dutch lady who bought my painting. . . I was very grateful to her, because by that time I had no idea if my works would be appreciated and accepted there.
Somewhere as if it was arranged, I left my homeland, my friends, my students and all things that I’d had before. I had never thought that I would come to this small country to start my new life. But I was here. Everything here was so strange to me. It was neither like what the textbooks had described in our political class in China that the capitalist countries and its systems were dark and decadent, nor like what had been imagined among people that as good as the paradise. It was just a quiet and a peaceful place.
I did not know yet how to find my position here in this country. But since I had come, I would make a start.
It was the first time to have my solo exhibition in Europe, I went to Hoorn with my 12 oil paintings in a sunny day. That was the starting point of my new life in the Western would.
