In 2016, Fankuan had participated in a project on the study of the remains of the ancient murals in Shanxi province, in which he was shocked by the poor preservation of cultural relics and severe environmental pollution from the enormous factories near the ruins of the ancient temples and palaces.

 

Phantom of the Ancient and the Present is a work finished in Hangzhou when Fankuan came back from Shanxi province. Covered with fragmentary texts from local chronicles, embedded in the conflict between large-scale development and the withering of great traditions, also critiqued on the side effects of the Chinese economic reform in the past thirty years.

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