Nobility and the art of being young

A bowl of noodles or a piece of cloth draped over a bicycle shed are the simple kinds of things that can get the creative juices flowing

"Held high up against the sun, the violet bead of grape melts into a purple sea". Guan Yanfei wrote the lines when she was 12, for the thick album of paintings published in memory of art, in the way she saw it, as her first love.

Two years have passed since then. Today Yanfei is still fond of using sunlight as a metaphor, in an effort to describe the thrill and enchantment of a creative process, feelings that are almost beyond words.