Inspired by the artist's works, she started thinking about the terms and signals, trying to combine her life experience and understanding of culture in the thinking, which later developed into the book.
"He is an artist, and I work in the media, but we both have been thinking about ancient Chinese views on the universe and life and their value and meaning against the backdrop of a time of great changes," she says.
She says Xu Dongdong's paintings are a combination of ancient Chinese wisdom and Western abstract logical thinking, and, with a new style, the artist tries to create a kind of artistic expression that can transcend different cultures and allow people to feel the charm of Chinese culture.
"That's why I wanted to cooperate with him to convey the ideas that I learned from his paintings," she says.
Xu Lijing spent three years writing the book.
"The 24 solar terms and 72 phenological signals are a comprehensive system. We need to accurately understand it and offer creative original ideas based on our understanding," she says.
She started writing on the day of Spring Equinox. But before that, she first observed nature according to the solar terms and phenological signals and felt the change in nature, and then she worked hard to study related philosophies, science, literature and art, which was followed by her understanding of Xu Dongdong's art.
She then integrated all the elements and her own life experience to create 72 articles.
There have been plenty of books about this topic, but "for me it's not a book to popularize related knowledge but to use the system as a vehicle to express our experience and thoughts on Chinese cultural values, nature, creatures, the power of life and the origin of Chinese people's spirit", she says.
