1980

Medium: woodblock print

54.5 x 55.4 cm

By the end of 1977, Xu Bing had returned to Beijing and passed China's National Higher Education Entrance Examination, gaining admission to the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and entering the department of printmaking. The most representative woodblock print artists of 1930s and 1940s Li Hua(1907-1994) and Gu Yuan (1919-1996) still taught at the department at that time, they become important mentors of Xu Bing.

While at university Xu Bing performed exceptionally well and once won first place in a student art competition. At the same time he traveled to remote regions throughout China, getting involved in the ;ife of the people at many levels in the capacity of an artist, and producing many realistic portraits of daily life.