When the writing is on the wall

Li Sen, wearing a white coat and gloves, safeguards murals saved from the abandoned temple of a small village in Fengxiang county in the west of Shaanxi province in 2014. [Photo by Huo Yan/China Daily]

He joined the Xi'an Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts because of Zhou's reputation, he says. The museum director has curated a permanent exhibition for Xi'an Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts, titled Origin and History of Ancient Chinese Murals, set in a 1,000-square-meter hall, features 88 panels (67 of them original) from the Neolithic period to the Qing Dynasty. Li says he admired Zhou's passion for recounting Chinese history using murals.

Li, the youngest child in his family, has loved traditional Chinese painting since childhood, he says. He used to spend his pocket money on painting books and lianhuanhua, a Chinese palm-size black-and-white book of sequential drawings found in China in the early 20th century.

"I am very shy and quiet. The job suits me. When I look at the resurrected murals it feels as though all the characters have come alive, just like in the lianhuanhua I read as a child."

Li says his parents were not very supportive about his job decision.

"They didn't know the job until they came to the studio and watched the mural painting exhibition at the museum. Murals transcend art. They tell of history and culture from thousands of years ago. My parents are now proud and happy for me because this job not only provides me with a living but has fulfilled a dream."