A file photo of Xu's work.

Bridging China and the World

In 1997, Xu took a bold step, initiating a large-scale work of behavior art based on his painting album published the same year. The project took place in libraries and museums worldwide with the aim of enhancing cultural exchanges.

The idea behind the project originated in Xu's travels around China in the 1980s. When planning his itinerary, Xu classified rivers and mountain ranges and looked them up in relevant historical documents, poetry anthologies, and paintings. His journeys to dozens of well-known mountains and rivers were finally presented in his painting album which he described as, "a conversation between me and the landscape." He explained that it also displayed a Chinese artist's perceptions of the traditional culture of his motherland and the course of understanding a foreign culture. He continued, "The rejuvenation of the Chinese ethos is embodied in Chinese wisdom. But where does this wisdom exist? This was the question in my mind as I made these trips. When people of different regions, beliefs, cultural backgrounds, and social classes view this album, it is expected to generate various responses, which can be deemed as an extension of my original creation."

According to Xu, this work demonstrated that Western culture shone bright like the sun while that of the East was profound and harmonious. He pointed out that the theme of harmony in this work not only referred to human society, but also embraced the whole universe. Calling for harmonious coexistence, this artistic creation shows tolerance and justice as well as concern for the world.

Xu spent five years creating this work. The original painting album of the project has been collected in over 1,000 libraries, museums, and art galleries around the world. Xu traveled frequently to promote cultural exchanges, thereby bridging China and the world.

Moreover, sponsored by the United Nations, 50 items of Xu's oeuvre were exhibited at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in April 2001. One of them, Listen to a Spring Song amid Melting Snow, was collected by the UN.