"At that time there only one or two art galleries in town. You would be informed of an exhibition by text message, but it might already be over by the time you got there. I decided to stay for another year anyway, I could sense that something was going to happen. It was exactly at this time, 2001-02, that the first galleries opened on the 798 brownfield sites. It was a very stimulating period, and I really did meet a lot of artists and curators at that time," he writes.

"Things really began to explode after Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics. I would describe the mood at that time as sincere, optimistic and forward-looking. So I decided to move to Beijing permanently in 2006."