GUANGJUN ZHANG:
“My dream since childhood was to become an artist, and I spent a lot of time learning when I was young. However, when I graduated from the Art Academy in the late 1990s, it was difficult to survive as an artist in China, so I chose other careers.

I worked as a designer for two years and ran a clothing store for ten years. In 2001, I discovered rock climbing and fell in love with it, along with ice climbing and mountaineering. In 2004, I co-founded a climbing club with a friend in my hometown of Chongqing. I spent almost every weekend and vacation day in the outdoors in those years.

I have travelled to many countries, including hiking from Pokhara to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal in 2009. After having my daughter, I sold my shop, which was open for 10 years, in 2010, and I continued climbing and travelling with her. In 2011, I took the course to learn how to become a professional climbing guide in CMDI (China Mountaineering Development Institute). I went to Italy and France for training and successfully completed my training. When we moved to Denmark in 2014 I had to stop doing the job that I loved, my friends even laughed at me, why would you move to Denmark? The country is flat, but I believed that Denmark is one of the most civilized countries in the world, I hope my next generation can grow up here.

So we travelled to The Sahara Desert in 2015, and started skiing in 2016. I ran a marathon in Copenhagen in 2018, saw the Northern Lights in Norway in 2019, and I earned my PADI AOW diving certification in the Philippines in 2019. I embraced challenges and overcame fears, accomplishing many feats.

In 2021, the outbreak of the new coronavirus and changes in my family led me to rethink my life. I needed a peaceful and focused way of living. Inspired by my childhood dream, I picked up the brush again and started painting hundreds of portraits and writing thousands of pieces of calligraphy! Now I am happy that painting and writing helped me get through that difficult period, and my dream has come true. I am an artist again with my own studio.

Standing in front of van Gogh’s masterpieces at the Van Gogh Museum this summer, I was overwhelmed with emotion, it is true that many people are content with everything life has to offer, but there are also a few who, despite all the difficulties, remain steadfast in choosing their own path”.