Chen Fengyue introduces some paintings at his exhibition booth at the 18th Beijing Art Expo. He brings about 100 art pieces to the event.[Photo by He Keyao/chinadaily.com.cn]

During his work to compile the books, Chen gradually built up his network of Russian artists and his understanding of Russian art grew deeper.

"Harbin has a strong link with Russia. We share similarities in cultural roots and we have the geographic advantage to communicate with them." Chen led his team to focus on Russian oil painting collections and cultural exchanges and set up Harbin Chenfengyue Russian Oil Painting Gallery.

Until now, the Russian Contemporary Artists series has published 10 volumes and has connected bout 2,000 art pieces from 500 Russian painters and artists. Chen was also awarded the "Prize for Outstanding Contribution on Russian Formative Art" by the Russian Art Association in 2015.

"I have a goal for myself. I want to collect representative works of 1,000 Russian contemporary artists before I retire and make a permanent exhibition for them, so that those works can pass on through the generations,”Chen said." I have 500 now, still a long way to go."