Pioneers of art

In his view, it's in his hometown, Taizhou, a historical city in South China's Jiangsu province, that he became enthusiastic about folk art and in his second home, Xinjiang, he refined his artwork thanks to the region's blended cultures.

Chen was imbued from a young age with a variety of folk arts, growing up amid a rich atmosphere of traditional culture. Family members were equipped with the skills of making folk handicrafts, such as clay sculptures and colorful lanterns.

When traditional festivals came around, temple fairs and other folk activities, in which visitors were surrounded by a wide array of folk-art practices and works, would spring up everywhere, particularly in historical sites scattered around Taizhou, Chen recalls.

"Consequently, I became an aficionado of folk arts," he says.

He learned drawing and paper-cutting and started to publish his works in local newspapers during his school years.