His self-conduct and paintings resemble very much his name, Dalu (meaning “the continent” in Chinese), extensive, profound, regression left on me by his spirit of silent and hard working.

　　He had a short but happy childhood. His childish heart was once quietly by the attractive sight of the lake and pagoda at the Sparrow Garden in the western suburbs of Beijing. The enchanting landscape there was elaborately arranged, with easy access to nearly everything, making people much at ease. Just as he embarked on a trail to seek beauty, a long-drawn-out “red storm” obscured people’s feeling and changed the colour of the country. He, thin and small, was easily sent to the Great Northern Wilderness in northeast China together with groups of innocent young sisters. High-sounding slogans were quit instigating, but the reality was harsh and grim, and those young people from big cities were forced to open up wasteland, mould adobe blocks to build houses and herd sheep and cattle in the way like their ancestors. But the problem was far beyond that. Obscurity in feeling, traumatic experience and the philosophy of bellicoseness turned the quiet grassland into a battlefield of struggles. Nobody was allowed to show leniency. Weeds were irrigated with blood. Disappointment and self-abandon crawled like vipers into the fervent hearts of many youth. Zhao Dalu spent eight years in the Great Northern Wilderness and experienced the hoys and sorrows there. Instead of giving vent to grievances, he buried them deep in his heart. On the difficult course of seeking beauty, he especially yearned for candidness and kind-heartedness, the collision of hearts with sincerity without disguise.

　　Later, I discovered that he seldom gave expression to his life in those difficult years in his nearly 1,000 oil paintings. “I am reluctant to show others my scar. I hate to see someone beautifying sufferings or extolling misfortune…”, he said. He has blende his feeling of this period of life into every stroke of his creations.

　　In 1978, he enrolled through examination in the fine arts department of the Beijing Film Academy with his character of honesty and the belief of caring only for painting. He was already 25 and had missed a lot in the past. He could only worked extremely hard before the 30 courses of the academy. He did not take seven classes a day as a burden, but acclaimed. “Bravo, it is really thirst-slaking. Let me take as much as possible.” He went all out to absorb and digest what he had learnt. Four years later, he set a record in Beijing Film Academy with 23 excellent marks.

　　He was assigned to the post of art designer in China TV Production Canter. The art designing of TV serial “Zhen San” created by him and his schoolmates vividly and truly remerged the sight of Tisnqiao (a former popular playground) of Beijing, overwhelming the spectators with admiration and making many “old Beijingers” reminiscent of the past with excitement, It was not easy for Dalu to have accomplished the work as he was born after liberation.

　　He worked assiduously on TV, but it was impossible for him to divorce from painting. Oil painting has a strong appeal to him like a piece of strong magnet. He yearned to create distinctive images with simple and vigorous composition and thick oils, “to arouse the live for life. Love for nature and love for the nation in his heart.

　　At the seaside he was told a story of a mermaid. In one serene night the mermaid walked out of the ice-cold sea water under starlight to look for sweet live in the world. Dalu took up his painting brush and painted “The Mermaid” which was put on display on the sensational “Star Painting Exhibition” in 1980. quite a few spectators were scared by the graceful carriage of the mermaid and labelled it “obscene” with a seemingly indignation for doing away with the painting. How lamentable and benighted they were. Dalu realized the difficulty of creation by bringing into play his true feeling. He said, “I always think, it would be impossible to create such a painting without the experience of suffering, but with too much experience, one would be hard to get rid of it. It that case, how could he stimulate the thinking of others?”

　　In 1985, when he became a teacher in the Beijing Teachers College, he was finally able to return to the world of oil painting. His works such as the “Early Morning” won prizes in nation-wide exhibitions one after another, and famous collectors of the world collected some of his figure paintings. In creating oil paintings, he has found himself, while people have also identified him, a promising painter, in his paintings.

　　His reply is, “An artist is destined to work hard for the whole life. He must be ready to be lonely and should only care for working, not harvest. It doesn’t matter, if it turns out to be a failure. Only that I have done my best.”

　　This is the character of Dalu: silent dedications for the bloom and harvest of the world.(Translated by Shao Xiao)

　　《CAAC Inflight Magazine》 12/1988. Vol.7 No.5