Cao Yong’s new painting "Voice of the Orient" converges the past and the present into a meaningful whole. The magnanimous bird’s eye view and the depiction of the ancient past reveal the artist’s emotions and passions, which spans a vast space-time continuum. This is truly an epic on canvas.

From this perspective, ” Voice of the Orient” is about the motherland and its culture. For Cao Yong, who has lived abroad for so long, cultural values are not a set of values impregnated from childhood, but they are his cultural genes which molds his being. The motherland is not an empty ideology but the basis for human dignity and the source of national pride. The homage he paid upon return from his distant travels is an acknowledgement and ode of the 21st Century.

In the foreground of “Voice of the Orient”, one sees the grandeur of Tiananmen, flanked by the Vairocana Buddha and the mighty Terracotta army, allowing each one to identify with the existence of one’s own culture with a heart-felt surge of the dignity of one’s cultural origins. The fusion of these few enigmatic cultural symbols develops into a vast and boundless imagery unfurling the millenary lineage of cultural heritage.

The country is the coagulating force that allows the Chinese civilization in its myriads of complexities to take form, and the country itself is the product of civilization. Among the symbolic imageries of China’s ethnic civilization depicted in “Voice of the Orient” are the Terra Cotta warriors keeping watch over the mighty flow of the Yellow River, the prominent structure of Tiananmen of old, the lofty ornamental column that protrudes into the clouds, and the seated palatial lion.

The “layered style” of the painting unveils a great civilization emerging from the banks of the mighty river along with the progress of this great nation’s civilization. The nation gains a foothold for its civilization, and also contains the civilization, giving it conformity and dignity, quality and its motivating life force. In the artist’s work, the Great Wall is portrayed as a dragon, ascending towards the sky. That is the forcefulness of China’s civilization.

Civilization is the nation’s soul, its ethnic quality and character of its development. In the light effect of the painter, the Yellow River is also like a dragon, charging its way across the land. That is the gift of life from China’s civilization.

The philosophy behind the nation’s civilization across the vast land of China is upright and solemn.

Vairocana Buddha on the shores of the Yellow River looks natural and kind, as if graciously seeking for goodwill and peace towards all.  The stateliness of the nation’s civilization and the figure of benevolence are juxtaposed, indicating that the Chinese culture is prestigious yet not violent, and strong yet not tyrannical. The rainbow across the sky symbolizes such inner harmony and fusion.

The migratory swans begin their journey from one end of the rainbow, indicating the advance of the free spirit of Chinese civilization, not hovering in a maze, but with heartfelt longing for return to the homeland, cutting a clear path through the clouds. This free spirit on its wings is a nation’s never succumbing spirit.

With the palace, the ornamental column and the Terra Cotta warriors symbolizing the awe-inspiring dignity of the country’s structure, with Vairocana’s figure of benevolence towards mankind, and with the spirit of freedom in the wild swans’ flight into the skies, the three-fold framework of the spirit of the Chinese culture is signified.

The ornamental column standing between the great river and the palace with its open arms towards heaven shows the reverence of the Chinese people towards the eternal God, their thoughtful pursuit of the infinite universe, and their relentless search for the unknown.

When the horizon is blossoming with fortuitous clouds, heavenly inspiration is bestowed upon a glorious civilization.

Man’s offering towards heaven receives the radiance of the sun followed by the lunar corona, calling to mind the poetic magnificence of “the sun and moon illuminate like gold and silver.”

The 2008 Olympics torch reaches the peak of the world at Mount Everest.  In the painting, the floating clouds blends with the fiery torch on Mount Everest and merge into the propitious rays of the rainbow’s path, symbolizing China’s forward looking ascent in the 21st Century. It portrays China’s boundless future far beyond the horizon.

The sun is a flaming, fiery illumination, the moon a heart-warming glow, and the torch is a clear guiding light beckoning us onward. Every person of Chinese descent would hope for China to be such an illumined nation, as it becomes a peaceful force of the world and progresses into a bright and prosperous tomorrow.