In the next two years, Xu was given the title of national level-one artist, and became a member of the China Artists Association, a rare distinction for a young artist in China back then.

As honors piled up, Xu went on to propose the artistic idea of "infinite universal consciousness", which means that a free and mature artistic mind can generate limitless images just like the changing universe. Over time, Xu's painting style has evolved from traditional Chinese to impressionism to abstract.

"Painting is a form of expression rather than an ultimate goal," he says.

Believing that art is a universal language, the painter has turned himself into a "diplomat and performance artist", hoping to introduce Chinese arts and culture to the whole world.

Through "Dreams of Sunshine and Harmony", a program he initiated in the late '90s, Xu donated copies of an album of his paintings to more than 1,000 leading libraries, art museums, universities and other cultural institutions throughout the world. In addition, 50 works of Xu were exhibited at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva in 2001.

"China's better integration into the world cannot be simply explained by political and economic reasons, it's also about the growth of cultural influence at its core."

liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn