Above: Neneh Ada Yang's artwork has been shown on many occasions and has been bought by both collectors and galleries. Top: Yang and her husband Yang Yan. Photos Provided to China Daily

It was love at first sight for African Neneh Ada Yang and her Chinese husband Yang Yan. They share the same passion for painting and have jointly exhibited their works. Chen Yingqun reports.

Two years ago Neneh Ada Yang knew nothing about China, but today her talent for Chinese art impresses even masters in the field. "I'm very proud that I might be the only African that can paint Chinese art (and hold exhibition in China)," she says with a smile, sitting in her Beijing art studio surrounded by paintings of trees, flowers and towering mountains.

The 26-year-old, who couldn't understand any Chinese when she arrived in China in 2011, is now skilled in several traditional Chinese art forms, including Peking Opera, calligraphy and the seven-stringed guqin.

But her specialty is in traditional Chinese painting, which is distinguished from Western art in that it uses xuan paper, a high-quality paper made for painting and calligraphy, or silk, with a special brush, ink and paint made from mineral and vegetable pigments. Some of her work has been good enough to be exhibited in the National Museum of China.

Many people come to China in search of the exotic, but for Yang it was a relationship with Chinese landscape painter Yang Yan, who visited Africa in April 2011, that brought her to the country.

"I was a third-year college student learning business administration in Sierra Leone," she says. "The only thing I knew about China was the kung fu star Jackie Chan, whom I had seen in movies."

Yang and Yang Yan met through friends and soon fell for each other, even though they did not speak a common language.

For the 55-year-old Yang Yan, it was a romance he'd been waiting for 20 years after seeing a sculpture of an African girl. When he saw Yang, instinct told him this was the woman he'd been waiting for.

Yang was also drawn to this man with a long beard. "The first time I saw him, I was attracted to him," she says.

"He is very different. He likes to visit different places and mingle with people. Even though he doesn't speak English, he could still have fun with people, with action. He also likes nature."

The two got married in Sierra Leone a month after meeting and Yang followed her husband to China without telling her family. It was a bold move for her and not without challenges.

"I talked to my friends and realized that there are big differences between my country and China - language, culture and climate. But I know when you go to any place, you need to respect their culture, so I decided to follow what people do here," says Yang, who now speaks fluent Chinese.

She was surprised to discover her husband was a painter when she saw his studio.

"I see him painting every day," she says. "Mr Yang is that kind of person. When you see him painting, you want to paint. When he paints, he puts all his attention, his effort, his love into it, which can be very infectious."

When Yang Yan left his desk, Yang picked up the brushes and began to paint mango trees - common in her hometown - using different colors and brush strokes to show how they looked at various stages of growth.

At the end of the 2011, she held her first exhibition. Since then, Yang's art has been shown on many occasions, including at the China-Africa People's Forum, and has been bought by both collectors and galleries. Some have even made it to Africa, with one buyer from Morocco.

What stands out in her work, Yang Yan believes, is its innocence and purity.

"She can be very focused and expresses everything in the scene she paints, which is very precious. To her, art is only art; it has no connections with anything else," he says, who has been painting for more than 40 years.

Huang Yonghe, an 80-year-old master of Chinese painting, even wrote to her, "The purity in your paintings has taught me a lot".

Yang and her husband have collaborated on some artwork, including on a series of paintings of plum-mango trees. On the treetops there are plum blossoms, while on the trunks there are mangos. This series of work was sold to African embassies and Chinese museums.

"Chinese people like plum blossom, which symbolizes integrity and nobility, characteristics that are admired in Chinese culture, while mango symbolizes Africa. This creative idea is very refreshing," Yang Yan says.

Yang adds, "Chinese painting is like a spirit for me now. "

Contact the writer at chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 06/02/2013 page5)