Among various folk handicrafts like clay figures and paper cutting, the woodblock prints are Wang's favorite. With the invasion by the Japanese, he was driven by the wish to protect traditional heritage and went to study at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and Central Academy of Fine Arts later.

Now, Wang Shucun has published more than 50 books and more than 100 papers and he is also director of the China Folklore Society and a researcher in the China Art Academy. George has contributed to preserving popular French printmaking, especially those made in Epinal.

Compared with the mainstream arts, traditional folk art is also deeply favored by the common people. As stated in the introduction of the exhibition by Pan Gongkai, president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts: "It is due to the efforts of observant persons like Wang Shucun and Henri George that we are able to see the traditional arts today untainted by the clash between the east and west, and to think about another possibility of developing our tradition."

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