Ａ Ｐａｉｎｔｉｎｇ Ｓｈｏｗｃａｓｅｓ Ｄｅｔｅｒｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ Ｆｉｇｈｔ Ｑｕａｋｅ

Wang Zheng， a young oil painter and teacher at the Art School of Xinjiang Teachers University， recently created an oil painting that describes the moment when Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao met at an airport when the president came to inspect the quake-hit area. The moment was at about 11 am， on May 16， 2008 and was captured by the Xinhua News Agency photographer Ju Peng.

The central government responded fast to the disaster. Premier Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan about two hours after the quake struck at 2:28 pm on May 12. His presence at the quake area had a great soothing effect in a world of chaos and heart-wrenching grief. Four days later， President Hu Jintao arrived. When the nation saw the picture， the people expressed their confidence in the leadership and expressed their appreciation in what the government was doing for the people in the quake area.

Wang Zheng was one of the 1.3 billion people who saw the photograph. He decided to recreate the handshake of the two leaders in an oil painting. He wanted to express his pent-up emotion since the quake had shocked the nation.

For a week， he worked at the canvas in his bedroom. Technically， he put into the painting the impressionist style of the traditional Chinese painting， the skills of the ancient Buddhist murals and the realist touches of oil painting. He explored and experimented. When the painting was completed， he thought he had made some breakthrough in his art.

In a telephone interview with me on June 13， the artist says that there were many touching moments in and after the big quake which is an important historical event， but he believes the moment in his painting is immortal， for the Chinese people see in the painting a spirit and national determination to pull through disasters. He regards the moment as most symbolic and meaningful.#8194;