Xia Xing was born in Beijing in 1958. He is notable for the programmatic nature of his approach, both in terms of choice of subject matter and style. The first decision was to deal with daily events in the political and social life of China through the pages of Xin Jing Bao. Every few days he selects an image that will become the subject matter of his painting, with the result that the relationship between the individual canvases is as unpredictable as the news itself. In effect he has no control over the thematic content of his paintings although particular situations might lead to a more sustained development of certain issues throughout the year.
