DPRK artists work at their creation base in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province. Cheng Zhang / For China Daily

Relying on his personal relationships, Cheng became acquainted with the DPRK paintings in 2006.

Different from the paintings of other countries, the DPRK paintings show realistic styles, unique emotional interpretation and strong feelings of national pride, all of which reflect the DPRK people's aspirations for peace.

From the very beginning, he was attracted by their distinctive features and made up his mind to bring the DPRK paintings and the DPRK artists to China.

At that time, Cheng was the director of News Painting and Calligraphy Institute, a new department set up by Mudanjiang News Media Group.

With this platform, he began to put on display and sell the DPRK paintings in the small city Mudanjiang.

During that time, some of the DPRK paintings appeared in the domestic exhibitions and at auction.

The successful deals made the General Directorate of International Exhibition in the DPRK realize that selling paintings could earn foreign exchange for the country, so they began to more actively push cultural and artistic communication with China.

The base was established against such a background.