Listen to a Spring Song amid Melting Snow, 1999, by Xu Dongdong, collected by the United Nations. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Going abroad

Inspired by Chinese rivers and mountains, Xu then began his international creation.

His large performance art activity "Dreams of Sunshine and Harmony" began in 1997, which involved thousands of libraries, museums and art galleries in Asia, Europe and America. Among them, 75 national libraries and more than 600 libraries made his works a permanent collection.

The activity, based on The Inner World of Xu Dongdong, is dedicated to promote cultural communications around the world.

It is said to be the largest-scale international folk cultural exchange since China's Ming Dynasty, and Xu was honored as "a person bridging Chinese and Western cultures".

In April 2001, Xu's retrospective "From tradition to Present" was unveiled at the United Nations in Geneva. The exhibition, hosted by the UN, shows 50 pieces created by Xu in different periods. Among them the painting Listen to a Spring Song amid Melting Snow was collected by the UN permanently and was included in the UN's book.

Vladimir Petrovsky, who was the director-general of the UN Office in Geneva, and Rubens Ricupero, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development attended Xu's exhibition and spoke highly of Xu's paintings. They said Xu conducted extensive communication with foreign art organizations, which is in line with the concept of "Dialogues among Civilizations" promoted by the UN.