North Shore Times (Sydney): Ready for lights, Chinese, action!

Art belies pain of existence

by Mary
Powis

Paintings
by traditional Chinese artist Zhang Cuiying aim to give viewers a sense of peace.

A
selection of paintings from work she has produced during the last 30 years will
be on show from Monday, February 14 at the Momoya Restaurant in Chatswood as part
of Chinese New Year celebrations and she has a very personal reason for promoting
peace.

Zhang began painting as a child in China, studying with masters of
Chinese painting.

"I was taught that painting, like calligraphy, reflects
the kind of person you are," she said.

"Your painting is a reflection
of your character."

She arrived in Australia in 1990 with her young
daughter to join her husband, and continued painting for six years until she was
struck down with severe arthritis.
"It was so painful that it was impossible
for me to paint," she said.

"A year later my husband and I were
introduced to a system of exercises and meditation known as Falun Dafa or Falun
Gong and in a very short period of time the arthritis disappeared and I was able
to paint again."

However, when former Chinese Communist Party leader
Jiang Zemin banned the practice of Falun Dafa in 1999, Zhang – by then an Australian
citizen – decided to return to China.

"Jiang feared that Falun Dafa
would overthrow the communist rule but I wanted people to know that was not its
intention and Falun Dafa is good," Zhang said.

She was arrested and
imprisoned.

"I was beaten and kicked and my legs were chained together,"
she said. "I was moved around to different jails.

"In one I was
locked up with male prisoners and in another, locked up with someone who had a
mental illness.

"Temperatures were higher than 40C and the jails were
filthy."

After eight months she was released but today, almost five
years later, she still has a skin infection from her time in jail which does not
heal.

None of this shows in the tranquillity of her paintings.

"Nothing
can destroy inner peace," she said. "I want to give people a sense of
goodness and beauty."

Zhang has travelled to 100 cities and 40 countries
to show her paintings and she has received many awards.

Also, with her lawyer
Geoffrey Robertson QC, she is sueing Jiang Zemin for the inhuman treatment she
received in China.

Zhang lives in Bankstown and was named 2004 Citizen of
the Year on Australia Day, by Bankstown City council.

She was nominated
for excellence in painting, richness in compassion and contribution to human rights
and freedom of belief.

The paintings are on view in the Momoya Restaurant
until Monday, February 21.