After a few drinks, Li Chungang also started talking about some of his own matters.
Back in his youth, he was considered an intellectual and nearly became one of the art vocational students of the eighties—those who would be guaranteed a job and supported by the state after graduation. At that time, getting into a vocational school was a bigger deal locally than getting into Tsinghua or Peking University is today.
But then, his father disgraced the family by committing a crime and getting imprisoned, which effectively sabotaged Li's future. He failed the political background check and his dream of attending vocational school went down the drain.
Consequently, he went from intellectual to farmer, working the fields back home. It wasn't until his twenties that he found a rural woman to marry, had children, and provided for his family. Only after his children grew a bit did he find time in his spare hours to revisit his passion for painting and started painting at home.
