The sorry tale of a 'deeply influenced' Chinese artist

Almost 20 days have passed since Belgian media reported that Ye Yongqing, a professor of painting at Chongqing-based Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, has been plagiarizing Belgian artist Christian Silvain's surrealist works for 30 years. And the condition of those who have spent millions of yuan to buy Ye's works, which he is said to have plagiarized, is now like cats on hot bricks.

Some are even thinking of suing Ye to demand compensation for their "loss".

Yet except some critics who had earlier praised Ye's allegedly plagiarized works, none has apologized to the public for the controversy - neither Ye or his curators nor the auction companies that publicized and sold his works at very high prices.