Mr. Qin is quite familiar with Yangtze River, “Born in Caiyuanba, even lived in a riverside hut next to the Shibanpo and Chuqimen. Shanhuba, Chaotianmen, river ferry and Shibati were all childhood memories.” Most of those old scenes have changed. After returning to the Chongqing main urban area after retirement, Mr. Qin found that many scenes from his memory had changed or gradually disappeared, so he decided to draw the old Chongqing from memory. Memory, data, field visiting, drawing… Mr. Qin found an integrating point between painting art and city memory. Therefore, he insisted in drawing for more than four years.

These paintings are the childhood stories and memories of Mr. Qin. Speaking of ferry, cable car, and the Mountain City Wide-screen Cinema, Mr. Qin has rich memories about them. “In my teens, there was no bridge across the Yangtze River in the main urban area, so we always took a ferry to Nan’an,” said Mr. Qin. He took the cable car at Lianglukou to go upward from Caiyuanba, “ it cost 5 fen per person for up river passage, and then watched a movie at Mountain City Wide-screen Cinema. The student ticket cost 2.5 jiao, while the open-air movie at Cultural Palace only cost 5 fen. However, watching a wide-screen movie was the most fashion thing.” In the painting by Mr. Qin, the majestic Mountain City Wide-screen Cinema building features an arch structure, with five arches, six columns and a high glass curtain wall in the front. There are also two movie posters for Wind from the East and Liu San Jie. “It restores the scenes from that time.” said Mr. Qin.

“As long as I can draw, I will never stop.” said Mr. Qin. He always takes a camera or sketchbook when going for a walk every day. He told the reporter, “Next, I want to visit all the ancient towns in Chongqing to show the beautiful scenery and life scenes in ancient towns as well as some disappearing old professions.” (Translated by Huang Juan, Fathom Language Limited)