画船听雨眠 Original

Jiangnan’s water towns, known in Chinese as “Shui Xiang,” are characterized by traditional buildings, captivating lifestyles, and Wupeng boats, also known as black awning boats, that date back to the Tang Dynasty as the common means of transportation in the water towns. The minute details of all of these highlight a strong atmosphere with human and cultural touches. Wei Zhuang wrote about the picturesque Jiangnan in one of his poems, “More appealing to the eyes the virid spring waters than the blue heavens, you’d enjoy taking a nap in the color-painted boats while listening to the rains.” How moving and vivid these few lines are! Drawing inspiration from “You’d enjoy taking a nap in the color-painted boats while listening to the rains”, this art piece combines the form of a paper boat and technical lights and “paints” the boats with elements local to Chinese Jiangnan water towns by imbuing the mixture of old and new with life.