The Moon's reflection shines in the water, flowers held in hands perfumes the clothes.

　　Xi'an, a great city which gave the birth to Chinese civilization for thousands of years, bears such a deeply-rooted tradition that people who live in it usually find hard to get rid of its influence in any sense. The painter, Cai Xiaohua, is rightly from this land. However, differing from the other artists who are over-dependent on the local cultural deposits, namely, Chang' an painting style, Huangtu painting style, Xiaohua may look dull in appearance but actually exclusive in mind. He is more like an independent warrior, rejecting his aristocratic art family background but merely followed his own will from his soul. He made up his mind to start a long and lonely art journey that is totally different from “Xi'an Mode” but wears his own tag, “art rebel”. Even out of his expectation, this journey has been lasting for 30 years.

　　Driving through this vast northwest field, and shuttling across the tall birch forest towards Xiaohua’s studio, I felt inward peaceful joviality mingled with a little depression and reminiscence. Only truly placing yourself on such boundless and pathetic northwest loess land can you profoundly understand Xiaohua. I always wonder what kind of power supported him to pass through the tall and thick city wall, strike the suspending bell tower with incomparable vigour and send out such shocking heavy sound.

　　In art creation, instinctive aversion and love are developed from the heart. The transition between passion and calmness is running all the time. Struggle, resistance and rhythm, such seemingly timeless affliction is just an ascetic practice of religion that Xiaohua regarded art as, which doe not depend on any concept, doctrine or expression. Dispelling motivation is just natural work, like stylites’ daily lessons. Such spontaneous enlightenment, enhancement autopsyche and self-discipline went deeply into Xiaohua’s bone marrow. He has been popular as he constantly overcame failure, conquered indolence and even fear. He has been incomparably focused and lived without distraction. Breathing out and breathing in, such gentle flow, keen awareness of current situation represented every moment strictly according to the facts. Just observation and breath embodied the feeling of silence. Facing the picture with patience, lots of brightness, orange, yellow, dark gray, emerald green and light gray which never appeared in reality, with his hands, Xiaohua endowed his works with miraculous and living characters.

　　Hegel maintained that eastern people are more focused on observing Taiitsu entity in all phenomena and on abandoning subjective ego. Through abandoning ego, the consciousness will extend unlimitedly. Through getting rid of limited matters in this mortal life, one can achieve safe freedom and reach to a state of melting himself in all noble and graceful matters. It is no doubt that Xiaohua unconsciously reached a state of identity of object and self as well as a vast and bare state through his own artistic practice. His picture, implicit, natural, concise, poetic, clear, harmonious and fresh, presents a kind of quiet and deserted feeling in the heart. For such endless green, sky blue sea and dark red, words are limited but the meaning is infinite.

　　Through the observation and profound experience of external matters, the inner world fuses with image together, esthetical emotion and image combined quietly. At his very moment, visual and tactile senses are completely chaotic; nature and phenomenon are completely eliminated, and only intuitional experience and sudden enlightenment remain there. The unity of people and image is with no trace to be found. Thus, great joviality of heart, as well as detachment and open

　　mind after sufficient extrication are gradually obtained. Penetrating and exquisiteness are the best of it. The image shows compact, mild and silent beauty. Magnificence to the extremity returns to wateriness, drawing close to the essence of life. Guided by Xiaohua, we gallop to the boundless art ocean, and surprisingly find that life is so simple, which is also the greatest wisdom of the mankind.

　　While we asked a million times who I am, and what time this painting exactly describes, we suddenly found that only the intuition view of id with our true intention for the external objects remain in the world depicted by Xiaohua. Through the reciprocating communing between the pure nature of “me — the id” and the boundless universe infected with emotional coloring of “me — the ego” as well as through the sudden enlightenment in gradual practice, Xiaohua presented us the true meaning of life. By his brushwork, through the guidance of image, the world he portrayed us finally could not see any affected image but a completely pure one.

作者：JIA,TINGFENG