This is an update to the Guiyang Handicapped Beggar’s Street Sidewalk Art story posted on chinaSMACK 7 months ago.
From Youku:
Under the hot sun, the artist with an amputated left leg sits cross-legged on the ground, his fingers covered with callouses; He bends his waist, and with deep feeling and concentration wields the chalk in his hand sketching the “Mona Lisa”. When pedestrians throw money into the cardboard box, the artist will always stop drawing, and respectfully bow his head in appreciation. “This Mona Lisa is drawn so like the real thing!” each of the pedestrians stop and praise! 2009 April 26, the filmmaker 四叶未明 ["Si Ye Wei Ming"] in Wuhan saw this touching scene…and the film-maker came to understand that the artist comes from Shandong, is named Cong Langui, and is close to half a century old. Because his left leg grew a “bone tumor” and was amputated when he was 16-years-old, he began to teach himself drawing to make a living. Within the past 20 years, he has been to over 20 provinces and cities throughout the entire country. Encountering stormy days, he can only hide under the eaves of shops, and spend the night in cheap small hotels. “Mona Lisa” is his best work, and other than this, he is also skilled at drawing tigers and calligraphy in the seven languages of Chinese, English, German, French, Russian, Arabic, and Korean.
Cong Langui told the filmmaker, in a few days he will take the money he has earned to return to his hometown in Shandong to see his mother who is over 80-years-old, “My mother is at home alone, and I cannot help but worry”. Wuhan filmmaker 四叶未明 Youku exclusive report.
In the video, the filmmaker asks some pedestrians what they think of the art and also interviews the artist, Cong Langui. The artist says many different things, including that many compliments and thanks for Wuhan and Wuhan people.
This video has been viewed over a million times with ~17,000 comments. On Youku, you can also see all of the different websites and BBS that have link to the video, including Xiaonei, Mop, etc.
Comments from Youku:
The male female couple in the background at 11 minutes and 22 seconds ruined the effect.
After watching, my eyes were wet. Uncle, you are truly very great very great! What I write you probably will not see, but I am convinced that you will be blessed/happy in the future.
Just think, how many middle school art teachers today can use chalk to draw the Mona Lisa? ~~~Yet uncle here cannot even be an elementary teacher…
Drawn extremely well, just that the smile is a little too obvious/noticeable. But for him to have drawn something like this with chalk and charcoal…that is simply too NB.
Another thing (the filmmaker’s voice is too lewd…)
Performer ~~ not a beggar!
This kind of person ~~ deserves respect!
People who depend on their true abilities to make a living are always worthy of respect.
Why is it that all the performers on our streets are poor, and are beggars,
while foreigner street-performers all have so much money,
so pitiful, we need to diligently build our country.
I do not know how to express myself…I am truly very moved,
I wonder how foreigners feel when they see this kind of scene.
The name of the video seems to be a little inappropriate. This “teacher” and beggars are simply not the same kind of people. He uses his own skill to make a living for himself, but beggars are a parasitic sort of people.
I think he does not think he is pitiful. We too should not use our own perspectives to go think he is pitiful. I think in his heart he is proud.
Two years ago he was in Wuhan performing on Luo Shi South Road, and the local newspaper and media all reported about him. I thought because of that he would find a steady job, and did not imagine that his life would still be so bitter. It is said that he is a teacher, but because of an accident became disabled, his wife also left him, and thereafter lived a very tragic life.
I think this can also be a street-performance/art, and if it is popularized…then this way many talented/skilled people will no longer have to beg for a living…and there can also be another type of culture…
He must have drawn in many cities before, because it is such a coincidence that I often saw him when I was in Guiyang, sitting on the floor drawing. He is normally drawing in two places, the fountain or major intersection. Pedestrians all stop to observe. He does not just draw the Mona Lisa, but also tigers. I also see him sometimes taking any picture and drawing that picture. He draws pretty well, truly very talented!
I studied a few years of western painting so I have a little understanding of drawing.
Drawing a human figure, especially busts, requires a very high level of depth perception.
This definitely is innate talent and what more, also self-taught.
It was because I am not sensitive to lines and proportions that I eventually gave up drawing.
So here I very much very much admire this person of unusual ability.
I hope I am lucky enough to run into him.
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Guiyang Handicapped Beggar’s Street Sidewalk Art 
Tattoo Artist Shows Off His Awful Work & Victims 
A Little Beggar Child In China 
A-Gan: A Handicapped Chinese Man’s Story 
Daughter Poses As Nude Model For Painter Father 
First! Yay for me.
Art in its purest form – drawn from the heart and from desperation.
“I wonder how foreigners feel when they see this kind of scene.”
I don’t know about you, but I feel like drowning some kittens. Arrrrgh I’m a scary foreigner!!
Foreigners aren’t allowed to watch because their frothing rabid mouths drip on the pictures and blur them. Then they tend to knock over the paint with their huge noses, and this is when they’re not lecherously stealing Chinese women and drinking beers at all hours of the day.
“I wonder how foreigners feel when they see this kind of scene.”
What I wonder is what sort of person asks such a question? “Foreigners” aren’t space aliens who function in a completely bizzare manner. I suppose we have people like this in America (who would honestly ask, “I wonder how Chinese feel when they see this kind of scene.”) but I generally think of them as not the sort of people who would know how to make use of the internet.
Perhaps my own exposure to “foreigners” and having lived in a number of different countries has made me see things differently but that is such a bizarre question to ask.
It never ceases to amaze me how commonly many, many Chinese people make comparisons between China and not-China – even at times when such a comparison seems totally inappropriate/irrelevant, such as this. Look at another comment:
“Why is it that all the performers on our streets are poor, and are beggars, while foreigner street-performers all have so much money”
Dude! Why are you even thinking about foreigners at this point in time??
The guy is being self-conscious of the shortcomings of China/Chinese society relative to what he sees from foreign countries. I’m not sure why that sort of comparative thinking is so surprising. Foreigners come to China all the time and remark about how things are different (usually worse) here than it is back home. A lot of foreigners from even worse off places often make remarks about how China is better. What’s so strange?
No, he’s spouting mindless rhetoric based on easily digestible and false assumptions that many Chinese hold as gospel truth. Foreigners = rich, therefore foreign street performers = rich. Of course, anyone who has ever known a street performer – even in a rich Western country – knows how preposterous such a statement is.
I’d like to see an expose of a Chinese crackhouse on here some time. I expect a Chinese netizen to chime in with:
“Why is it that all the crack addicts in our crackhouses are poor, and are beggars,
while foreigner crack addicts all have so much money,
so pitiful, we need to diligently build our country.”
If you find the original Chinese for that comment in the link provided to the source, it was:
“不知道老外看见这个场景是什么样的心情”
I think the commenter is basically wondering to himself what foreigners would think of China as a country/society/people when they see someone with such talent begging for money on the streets instead of being gainfully employed or put to more fruitful pursuits. The idea is that the Chinese feel a measure of shame and embarrassment that someone so obviously talented has been reduced to this in their society. It isn’t meant to be an insult towards foreigners, and instead actually speaks volumes about (at the risk of overusing the word) the concept of “face.”
Well, the difference is that the foreigners are in China at the time, so it’s natural to make comparisons, seeing as they’re in a different place. When the “foreigner” is at home (and perhaps is an individual who has never been abroad) – and sees a spectacle such as the above – I think most would not be thinking “I wonder what a foreigner thinks?”, as opposed to “that’s good/bad/ugly”
The constant comparison between “China” and “foreign” seems to be a peculiarly Chinese trait.
>I think most would not be thinking “I wonder what a foreigner thinks?”, as opposed to “that’s good/bad/ugly”
one comment mentions what a foreigner thinks and you go off on a rant?
When you put it that way, I don’t blame him. I wish this poor beggar, whom I shall probably never meet, all the best.
This foreigner thinks
“If that were my country, he’d be cared for by the state”
This foreigner thinks
“If that were my country, he’d be locked up for vandalism.
this foreigner asks Eric D :
which country are you from then? just curious :)
“I wonder how foreigners feel when they see this kind of scene.”
-> What a country? What a public? What a government?
Despite being shown all over the internet, why is he still struggling in the streets. We praise artists & their creations, no matter it’s a copy of Vinci or Van Gogh.
I just don’t understand why Chinese government is blind & deaf on such sight. Maybe they will come up with the other ‘Handbook Guide for Beating up Beggars’ in coming days ahead. sigh!
stop assuming china is a welfare state
WTF is so special about this? He isn’t drawing with his toes right is he??
Drawing from memory the master piece of Art on the pavement in 40mins that should’ve taken 5-6 hours! Let me see you draw one.
In my country, passer-by’s would give him some money, and strange looking art student will make praised video-work or documentary movie.
In USA, producers would make a feature movie, earn lot of money and send him to asylum.
Er, right. That’s exactly what happens in the US. You nailed it.
Of course I am. As I never been USA, I have just enough knowledge to talk about any aspect of USA society.
Well if you haven’t been there that doesn’t exactly give you the knowledge then does it?
I’ve been ironic.
Actually, in the U.S. most people watching would give money. Whereas in China .01% of those gawking would give anything.
Actually I would disagree, as an English gentleman I usually give at least 1 jin to these people, even though I am on a lowly foreign teachers salary.
Dear Mr V. W.
As one English gentleman to another, I have to ask why you would use use a name that very much evokes an image of onanism every time I see it…
Sincerely,
Coppice
I believe WineSoloSpunk was taken.
There are plenty of talented artists in the US and Canada living hand to mouth or on the streets. It is no different. Sure, some “make it”, but it has to do as much with their business/ people skills and who they know, as there art ability. There is no social safety net for “your a good artist so we are not going to let you starve”, anymore than there is anywhere else. At best state welfare.
Very true. Many art majors never find jobs after graduation and end up being cashiers at Walgreens.
Is it just me, or does this artist’s rendition of the Mona Lisa look like Sylvester Stalone in drag?
This makes me think of the whole Susan Boyle thing, too. Since when does an artist have to have 2 legs to draw pictures on the sidewalk? He doesn’t have to stand while he’s doing it. He still has 2 good arms with an obviously very talented set of hands attached to both. Why is this “so spectacular” just because he’s missing a leg?
Now, these impresses me, no armed guitar players
http://player.youku.com/player.php/Type/Folder/Fid/1505310/Ob/1/Pt/2/sid/XMjE1NjYzNjQ=/v.swf
http://player.youku.com/player.php/Type/Folder/Fid/1505310/Ob/1/Pt/1/sid/XMjI4MjI3Mjg=/v.swf
This man has amazing talent. It is Very hard to draw from memory and very hard to draw on rough pavement. His hand writing is extremely good too. I respect this man as It is not easy to draw in front of many people.
The missing leg is about his mind power and determination. He didn’t look down on himself because he is handicapped. It’s much harder for a Chinese to show every body he is handicapped than a foreigner to do the same, because of the Chinese concept of face. He draws the mona lisa from memory, so It’s okay that is not 100% likeness.
It shows how unexperiences Chinese netziens are.
Comparing this to foreigners reactions.
Maybe they should have a thread that describe the “project” in the US or drug dealers on the street, or the lack of gun control in the US.
Foreigners are full of contempt no matther what. Stop trying to impress them because they will not give it a damn if you are not master-race.
There are plenty of this type street drawing artists in foreign countries. Just visit Italy and you know.
hahahha~~~ I have not played the video but I’m very much amused by the comments here. I think in art appreciation, people do not give extra credit to the artwork just because the artist is deaf or has lost both legs. At best he has iterated the Chinese’s proficiency in replication.
We should probably accept that it is a social norm in China whereby if one is vain enough to post, there’ll be someone vain enough to respond, regardless the value of the subject matter.
The way I see it, the big hoo-hah wasn’t about an artistic amputee with abled-hands; rather it was because of the famous ‘lao wai’ painting that most Chinese has only heard of but not seen. Such spectators n netizens must’ve been intrigued to find out by first hand what is so special about “Mona”’s smile and more importantly, if “Lisa”’s eyes can really move!
What’s more impressive than the painting is a one-legged man sitting cross-legged
1: why is he one-legged?
2: where is a police? why is this tollerated?
3: where are local comunity leaders? why dont they their work?
4: why is his picture so ugly? Mony Lisa was never a male transvestite.
5: ahhhh.. crap.. i am borred..
Seems like he should have a nice seat and someone should pay him to replicate famous paintings from all over the world…then sell them to the tacky nouveau-riche in this place.