Conceptual artist and singer Yoko Ono in Beijing. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

It was Women's Day, and they came across a newspaper story that mentioned Ono as one of the women making a difference to society.

Zhang suggested they hold an exhibition in Beijing solely dedicated to Ono's works. Soon after their meeting, they ran into Jon Hendricks, who is an artist, curator and a friend of Faurschou.

But what stunned Faurschou and Zhang on the street that morning was seeing Ono with Hendricks.

"This exhibition was meant to be," Faurschou says.

Golden Ladders is Ono's second exclusive exhibition of the year, following Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-71 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from May to September.

In Beijing, where she is more associated with Lennon than her own artistic career, Ono's exhibition reinforces her identity as an independent female artist through a display of nine works, some re-created versions of her previous pieces, inside and outside the gallery.

Xu, who first met Ono at Venice Biennale in 1993, says Ono's works stress her way of expression not in a violent, rebellious manner, but rather she speaks out her views on the world through the imagery of the sky and human mind.

Two entirely new works on show will help people understand how Ono perceives emancipation and regeneration.

Golden Ladders, an installation Ono specially created for the Beijing show, includes seven ladders of different dimensions, each plated with 24k gold foil.

Three of the ladders were collected from northern and southern China. They are old and have been extensively used.

To See the Sky, a 6.5-meter-high spiral staircase, was first exhibited at Ono's MoMa show in New York in the summer.

In the Beijing show, it lets viewers climb up to the top to find a ceiling window, showing them a Bauhaus structure. As one climbs, the staircase feels shaky, but on reaching the top, one could see more architecture, less of the sky.