In ancestral culture, an ancestral hall, apart from its role of recording the deeds of ancestors, is more importantly the embodiment of ancestral culture which appropriates folk legends and myths to elaborate the Chinese classical studies, philosophy and other relevant self-cultivation, family rule and government of the nation. Mr. Lo combines inlaid porcelain and ancestral culture in his artworks, inventing a gestalt of art and architecture. In his art a quiet and mysterious historical context is created, from which the myths could be better understood. Besides, the viewer could associate the culture of the ancestral hall, temple and clan with such context.

　　Ancestral culture is the cornerstone of Chinese Culture. In the pre-Qin Period, our ancestors have established the philosophical culture of "isomorphism of home and country" and "harmony of human and nature", which fundamentally differ from Western culture. "Isomorphism of home and country" refers to the familial purpose. Its institutions and grade are equivalent to the system of the country. Both family culture and ancestral culture focus on "filial piety": be obedient to the parents at home and be allegiant to the country when outside.

　　The family and the nation share the same system and structure. But the question is how to present the solemn, institutional and systematic attribution of a country through a family culture. In this case an altar is needed: the ancestral hall. An ancestral hall plays an important role in the family. It reflects the homage of the Chinese to the heaven and the earth. The Chinese see the heaven as their father and the earth their mother. The heaven and the earth brood every thing and thus they represent the ultimate rule of the world. The spirituality, life and vitality of humankind are granted from the heaven and the earth. As a result human could grow up healthily and then gain his own mind and soul. The Chinese express this harmonious relationship among the heaven, the earth and the humankind through the ancestral hall. When you face the building, you confront the heaven, as there are sculptures of Buddha, Taoist or the ancestors represent the heaven above inside the hall. In return the hall, as the emblem of the heaven, stares at you. You are surrounded by a celestial spirit. The floor of the ancestral hall symbolizes the earth gives birth to all lives. So in the hall there are all kinds of flowers, herbs and beasts. We, the mankind, together with the flowers, herbs and beasts are fostered by the earth that offers air and the heaven provides with light. In this way the harmony of man, the heaven and the earth is built. As we enter the hall, the culture formed by piety and loyalty reveals itself. As the key issue in society, filial piety and loyalty incarnate the rules for behaviors. Piety has even been divinized in the Chinese culture.

　　Based on the “24 Stories of Finial Piety” Mr. Lu has executed many artworks. Filial piety is the premise for a decent person in China. Known as “filial piety is the greatest” and “filial piety takes the lead”, this personality formulates the regulations of behaviors in ancestral culture. However, an intact picture of “24 Stories of Finial Piety” could hardly be found nowadays in Cantonese culture, its ancestral halls or temples. Filial piety established by the ancestors provides a guideline for people’s correction of their behaviors. The stories of finial piety are commonly seen in traditional ancestral halls. But ancestral culture declines as modern culture and urbanization develop.

　　One exception is founded in Lingdong Region in Chaozhou. There the ancient culture is well preserved. The reason could be traced back to Tang Dynasty. The degraded official Han Yu was forced to move to Chaozhou, where he began his Confucian education. He introduced the advanced science, together with the Confucian culture to the resident in Chaozhou. During the process of education, Han gradually was transfigured from a simple person to a god in the local’s mind. The deified Confucian culture assimilated into the local culture and derived a new culture in Chaozhou. This culture, different from the mainstream culture, has stayed aloof for a long time. Hence the traditional cultural elements in Tang Dynasty are maintained in this local culture. Another reason lies in the deified Han Yu. Treated as a god, Han represents the rule of the heaven. Any change of the Chaozhou culture could be seen as the rebellion of the rule of the heaven. The people in Chaozhou follow this rule strictly. Therefore I name the exhibition of Mr. Lu “Ultimate Law” which indicates the rules in the heaven, the earth and the human.

　　When Han governed Chaozhou, he brought the advanced technologies to the region apart from Confucian philosophy. Porcelain and agriculture are among those profits from this innovation in technology. Porcelain was highly valued in traditional society in China. The production of porcelain involves technique, culture and material and so on. Porcelain was highly treasured in Chaozhou, the region developed from a primitive state. During the process of firing porcelain waste and inferior would inevitably appear. How to recycle the inferior? In pre-Qin Period, Han, Tang and Song Dynasty, simplicity set the tone of style. The craftsmen in Chaozhou tactfully applied the inferiors to decorate their ancestral halls. Different porcelains gain different textures. The craftsmen artfully collage them to form natural, zoic, botanic and continuous patterns by following their unique textures.

　　The glazing color reflects purity in simplicity and innocence in elegance and it engilds the dim and earthy ancestral culture. The unpredictability of the color produced during the process of glazing incarnates the will of gods, which perfectly fits the faith of residents in Chaozhou. The craftsmen skillfully combine all these factors together. To my knowledge of the culture in Chaozhou, figures executed in inlaid porcelain first appeared in the Wanli Era of Ming Dynasty. Compared to non-figural inlaid porcelain, a different texture is required in the figural inlaid porcelain. This texture should be combinative with the body structure and clothes of figures. Different from rice paper, inlaid porcelain resembles anaglyph that reflects a tridimensional effect, since porcelain itself possesses anaglyptic feature. Therefore, in this bas-relief-style painting Mr. Lu, thanks to his knowledge in porcelain texture, plastic arts, materials, and painting, creates a distinct texture resulted from a unique organic interaction of firing, clay and temperature.

　　As a preeminent artist gains deep comprehension in painting, Mr. Lu consummately combines his execution of figures with his knowledge of material, endowing them with a new feature. His works, as a result, become the incarnation of the harmony between human and nature, human and god, will and body, and heart and mind. This is the canon of a perfect artwork of inlaid porcelain. In traditional painting brush is the vehicle of ethos. Painters express their understanding of the nature through lining and rendering of ink. But in inlaid porcelain the knowledge of objects in reality and materials is constituted through tile with combination of the apprehension of ancient culture. It requires a deep understanding in history, nation and material, which does not necessarily be learned from school. Since such an understanding is edified from an ancestral culture, a mouth-to-mouth way of apprenticeship becomes the ideal approach of learning. Apprentices apprehend the culture encompasses behaviors and rules through their training of depicting. Unlike painters, for those engaged in temple culture the principle to abide by is the ancestral culture.

　　An ancestral hall stands for the temple of a clan. It symbolizes the history of our nation and reflects the homage of posterity. From Mr. Lu’s behavior and his attitude towards human relationship we could discover the scholarly trait of a group of artists, who persist on the spiritual cultivation in traditional Chinese culture, through which we could catch sight of the myth of Confucian culture and traditional culture. Such a personality has helped Mr. Lu in execution and gain recognition. The recognition could be viewed in two points. Firstly, as the successor of inlaid Porcelain, one of The Intangible Cultural Heritage that has declined, Mr. Lu bears the responsibility on one hand to preserve the tradition, and on the other hand to introduce modern ideas, so that no estrangement between this craft and the society would be sensed. This has been one of the contributions of Mr. Lu. He brings innovation to this traditional craft and yet sticks to the fundamental of tradition, avoiding any cause for distortion. Secondly, the themes of Mr. Lu’s artworks center on ancestral culture, namely filial piety and loyalty, the cornerstone of Chinese culture. Piety brings respect and loyalty leads to awe. In fact filial piety and loyalty liken to a religion for the Chinese, for they are the embodiment of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Our contemplation of the ancestral culture has turned into the religious awareness since thousands of years ago, albeit such awareness is more humane and focuses more on life compared to the traditional religion we know. Mr. Lu skillfully expresses the loyalty, awe, behavioral norm and the harmony of the world through his works of inlaid porcelain and lime sculpture on ancestral halls.

　　Ancestral culture is created in a clan shares the same ancestor. It is refined through time. As part of the traditional Chinese culture, ancestral culture and Confucian culture complements each other. This traditional culture becomes part of the culture of Chaozhou, as well as its culture of inlaid porcelain. The ancestral culture in Chaozhou hence reflects the “ultimate law”. The awe and homage to the “ultimate law” ground the Chinese culture. Therefore the works of Mr. Lu will be showcased in the central hall during the Forum of Curators, as it is out intend to show the essence of Chinese culture at the central position. By reproducing an ancestral hall, the stories of Filial Piety and folk stories a loyal and filial context could be brought back. We would like to present our cultural essence to the Western, to the Cantonese, and to our people under the context that reflects the “harmony of human and nature”.

　　Luo Yiping

　　(director of the GDMoA, vice-chairman of Guangdong Artists Association, member of the Theory Committee of China Artists Association, Dean of Visual Culture Studies Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Chairman of the China Committee of the Asian Artists League.)