In Paris, I was filled with the emotions of an Oriental; nostalgia

and a sadness for home surged in me. In reality, although China

gave birth to me and raised me, it was Paris that nurtured

and educated me. Zao Wou-ki is one of the few Chinese artists who were directly involved in the Western modern art movement. Not long after his arrival in Paris, post-war Abstract Impressionism flourished, and fate drew him to join this trend. Together with P. Soulage, H. Hartung, A. Manessier, and G. Schneide, Zao's place in this great era was assured.

In the 1970s, Zao began to experiment with ink-and-wash, which added a lot of variety and depth to the works of his later period. Zao was able to express chromatic variation and uninhibited spatial expansion employing nothing but shades of grey and black. While others were restrained by their strict adherence to only a single tradition, Zao, who was 'at home in two tradition' displayed in his later oeuvre a calm confidence and unbridled creativity that communicates the artist's emotions with a natural ease. “Même de petit format, les encres de Chine de Zao Wou-ki évoquent la dimension cosmique. Revenantà l'hule, le peinture use, comme irrésistiblement des formats de plus en plus grands. C'est la un trait caractéristique de cette derniêre periode. ” François Cheng ever wrote these words on Zao Wou-ki.