The discourse of the concept of abstract art in the Chinese context always lies in a comparison in cultural and social terms. A form of art and its concept of foreign origin cannot take root and evolve in a new context only on the basis of farfetched connection between different cultures and subjective imposition. After all, art has some connection with human spirituality. There is no doubt that the dimension and direction of Chinese contemporary abstract art has been influenced by social progress and the course of history of art. However, in the final analysis, it lies in whether the purity of the artists' own mentality can correspond to the spirit of art that abstract art defends as usual. Therefore abstract artists place more emphasis on personal spiritual independence and self-mental-cultivation than artists in the sociological sense. It is particularly difficult to be an abstract artist with independent thinking in the endlessly turbulent Chinese society.
　　Pingjun Shang's journey of art began right after the end of the Cultural Revolution and coincided with a new round of the movement of ideological emancipation in China. After experiencing frustrations, he was finally admitted to the Oil Painting Faculty of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1984. Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts is regarded as one of the most prestigious art institutions in China. It was already famous for its liberty in thinking and freedom in art as early as in the period of Hangzhou Professional School of Art, and this superior quality, almost unparalleled in China, remains nowadays. Pingjun Shang's former understanding of art is replaced, in the new era, by a new structure of knowledge, which is far beyond the representational methodology of imitating nature. Artists of his generation have come into direct contact with Western Modernist and even Postmodernist avant-garde art. They are no longer hesitant about making the choice of modern art; instead, they are thinking about how to further develop in depth what they have chosen. In the process of liberal thinking, Pingjun Shang, like many artists of that era, once made an intensive study of the Western and Chinese classics of philosophy. In retrospection, it was fortunate that he already found a spiritual source valuable enough for him to convert to and adhere to all his life in no more than several years, and has since then forged an indissoluble bond with Buddhism.
　　One of the biggest obstacles that the Western modernism has encountered in contemporary China is the lack of cultural roots. Even though the universal modernity has presented an ideal blueprint to humanity, it is almost unimaginable that China, in its unequal position of "the Other", may abandon its civilization with a history of several thousand years. Chinese culture in the Wei and Jin Dynasties was once facing the same problem - a radical and violent change of society, and from then on Hindu Buddhist culture was assimilated completely into Chinese civilization and became a crucial spiritual pillar. Today, we once again find ourselves on the threshold of another changing point. For centuries, under the pressure of the more remote and powerful modern European civilization, we have always been sluggish in reaction. Clearly, in the face of the grim history and reality, only by trying to get a deeper understanding of history as well as other cultures can we discover better expediencies both with historical basis and of practical significance.
　　Not only China, but also Chinese people have an affinity for Buddhism today. It has long been transformed from something alien to something in our inner mind in the process of history and has become our own resource when we are facing new alien things. This pious spiritual belief has fashioned Pingjun Shang's idiosyncrasy and mentality with its enormous capacity and also enhanced his confidence. In the past more than twenty years, Pingjun Shang, supported by faith, has become increasingly serene and self-contented. Though this seems to go against the increasingly bustling and impetuous outside world and seems out of tune with it, it is exactly Pingjun Shang's way to respond to it. He seeks first inner calmness and peacefulness, and then strives to achieve a more composed state of mind with the aid of the chaotic situation outside the window as a reacting force. It seems that it is his only duty in the world to cultivate himself according to Buddhism. The world can only be tranquil after he himself and everybody else become tranquil.

　　In the early 1990s, as the passion arising in the 1980s had just waned, people were at a loss what to do. Therefore Cynical Realism Art emerged with Shuo Wang and Lijun Fang as its representatives. People no longer believed in the existence of truth and pompous consumption became the new way of expressing themselves. This trend has dominated our society and art ever since. In contrast to the joy and honesty people experienced after the end of the Cultural Revolution, this is really a farce and no one knows when it will come to an end. In secularized China, there is still a long way to go to achieve modern enlightenment reason and the spiritual belief was lost long ago. This explains the phenomenon of vulgar and kitsch art today.
　　Pingjun Shang has made a drastically different choice that goes against the present trend-abstract art. His judgment on art is primarily based on his own judgment on life. Pingjun lives for faith, and spiritual art is his only homeland.
　　It is through its connection with a regional belief that abstract art has not only returned to its basic spiritual logic, but has also combined itself with the regional cultural spirit of China. Pingjun Shang was attracted strongly by such masters as Tao Shi, Badashanren and Binhong Huang,  who  attempted the transition from traditional art to modern art, and took them as his role models as early as he was in the academy. Both the ideas and the artistic achievements of these forerunners endured the test of time, and became increasingly influential. It is especially noteworthy that many artists in modern times have established a credible link between religion and modernity, such as the achievements scored by the four monks in the early Qing Dynasty and others. The "One Stroke" doctrine in Quotations on Art from Tao Shi, which advocates the identity between one and all things on earth, derives inspiration from Buddhist theory. The breakthroughs they achieved in style and in the convention of applying brush and ink also showed their potentials related to abstract art. In the second half of the 20th century, the American abstract expressionists such as John Cage, Mark Toby, and Reinhardt made a major breakthrough in the visual concept of Western Art after World War II. The main inspiration for such a breakthrough was from Zen Buddhism's concept of emptiness. They applied this concept to the new avant-garde art, leading to the appearance of such new styles of art as Minimal Art and Happening. Such development illustrates Western civilization's ability to reflect deeply upon its own history, and their pursuit and passion for the Eastern religious spirit cannot be understood simply in terms of a spatial comparison with the East. More importantly, it embodies the rethinking about materialism and positivism and the call for the power of spiritual beliefs in the whole history of modernity. Seen from this angle, Pingjun Shang's devotion to and perseverance in abstract art from the dimension of spiritual belief is not merely a personal accidental act but an act that corresponds to the profound historical concern.
　　Some traces of Abstract Art can be noticed in some of Pingjun Shang's early paintings. He was once distressed at his failure to represent the objects realistically and perfectly. However, he felt completely relieved after he had read a lot about Western modern art and achieved a deeper understanding of it. In his paintings aiming at imitating the objects, Pingjun instinctively put emphasis on the separation and independence of the formal language and its structure from the shapes of the objects. Therefore, when he returned from Performance Art and Installation Art to easel painting in the early 1990s, he didn't hesitate to choose Abstract Art as his future direction.
　　In terms of structure, Pingjun Shang's abstract paintings, at first glance, may go under the category of minimalism. Generally a single tone with a strong inclination of a certain rational sentiment is applied to the whole painting, dotted with some conspicuous marks as a result of careless overlapping or the space left carelessly, complementary to that tone in hue, lightness or saturation. It seems that all the strength originates from those marks and extends so boundlessly that the boundary of the painting can never fetter its inner impulse. The emotion hidden in the painting is by no means rational or calm, and not orderly arranged, but is the result of his understanding of and thinking on his belief. It is in this that his abstract art is distanced from its minimalist appearance and his own distinctive style is discernable.
　　Most remarkably, a kind of enormous energy, restless and irresistible as it seems, is lurking behind the whole atmosphere that is so tranquil as if everything can be devoured. The subtleties of his strokes are almost indiscernible unless observed carefully. It is an embodiment of his remarkable controlling ability. He has an appropriate mastery of the nuances of the colors and gives prominence to the dynamic role of every stroke in a unified order. Each of his strokes is different from the other in strength, direction, twist, gradation or hue. The brushstrokes in various directions and dimensions that tended to be independent in oil paintings in the past have become completely the main part of the painting today. Each of the short dot-like strokes has its own identity in direction, shape, force, momentum and nuance of color. They overlap, collide and twist with each other, emphasizing their respective peculiarities in the harmonious overall atmosphere.  Most of the traces of strokes will conform to the overall effect of the painting, except one or more parts that are reserved or emphasized occasionally and seem extraordinary compared with the overall atmosphere. Those most impressive dot images, even if they appear to have been arranged in an organic way, show no indication of being planned intentionally beforehand. They all appear in a natural manner, or in other words, they all stem from the painter's natural mentality. These dot images are often completed finally at a certain unknown moment dependent entirely on Pingjun Shang. The appearance of this moment has more to do with mental elements than with formal considerations. The final dot images, after completed, become the generator of all energy, just like a few stars in the boundless summer night sky, dazzlingly bright or faintly visible, which emit their strength so forcefully that it is impossible to avoid the sight of them. Or they are like a cloud, a blast of cool breeze, a breath, which are faintly present and will disappear completely at an unknown moment, but now they exist.

　　The shapes of these dots and of the overall structures constituted by them, as a result of various feelings, have their respective features. Therefore one can hardly find images similar to each other in Pingjun Shang's paintings. He never repeats any single sign that has been drawn before, for every trace under his brush, without exception, stems from the most concrete sensation and mentality at a particular moment rather from something habitual. In contrast, in the editorial-like art before the 1980s and kitsch images since the 1990s, though the former is closely connected with politics and the latter with economy, mentalities, sensations and genuine feelings are lost. Both the stereotyped red-bright-brilliant and the image of a laughing baldheaded man belong to vulgar art. It is here that the significance of contemporary abstract art in criticizing reality lies. Though not intended subjectively, it is naturally directed against something by its being unconventional. These dot images stemming from certain sensations are in essence mental images.
　　In an era dominated by the desire for material comfort, the objectives people seek are nothing but limited visible things. It is here that the biggest crux since the beginning of the modern times lies. In a world where faith is lost, life can only be defined according to the secular standard. It is because it advocates the concept of "nothingness" that Oriental philosophy can show its effective energy in contemporary art. Nothingness means being void, actionless, and useless; however, it has great use. The world, nature and life must be created out of nothing. Only when "nothingness" is perceived will something arise in one's mind. Having practised Buddhism for the greater part of his life, Pingjun Shang has a deep understanding of it. Therefore, all traces in his paintings seem to have been drawn carelessly, with neither a beginning nor an end. Where does something begin to exist? In the heart of the painter, at the moment when Pingjun finishes the last stroke.
　　To Pingjun Shang, painting is what he devotes himself to, faith is what is pursued at the bottom of his heart, and abstract art is his language. For him, though he lives in the contemporary era and is engaged in art by chance, his mentality and his understanding of art are independent of time. It is in this transcendence that the energy of Pingjun Shang's abstract oil painting lies.

Dr. Qingsong Hao

作者：Qingsong,Hao