“When I was studying at the Art Academy, I received a letter that was written with very strange, crooked Chinese characters. I didn’t know who sent it, but I opened the letter anyway and it said, ‘I like your works very much and hope we can meet and talk’. The letter was written by Nicholas Jose, a staff member at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. He later became my good friend and we communicated by letter and telephone a lot. It was very baffling; these strange incidents would always occur. They [foreigners living in Beijing] would find you through all these different channels. They paid attention to Chinese artists and found ways to get in touch with them. We’d also hang works on the walls of the bar later opened by [a foreigner named] Inma. This was called an exhibition because at that time there weren’t any proper exhibitions. It was very lively back then. There was a vibrant relationship with foreigners and embassies.”