The title of the work, The Spirit Of Huangshan, came from his 2003 solo at the NN Gallery, where he veered from his more calligraphic strokes to more disparate structural forms. It was only his eighth solo. This trend was already heralded in his Shan-Hur (Mountains and Rivers) exhibition in 1998. But it was a family visit to Huangshan in the winter of 2002 with wife Marina and children Ruyee and Yisan that gestated something more meditative and spiritually imposing with its serrated topography and contours. Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, is sprawled in the southern Anhui province in Eastern China, with granite peaks at 1,864 metres high, amidst hot springs and winter snow. It is said to have been formed in the Mesozoic period some 100 million years ago, and was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1990. It was made more famous by paintings by the great Liu Haisu and eulogised in Chinese poetry, especially during the Tang Golden Age like that by Li Bai (701-762 AD) called Dawn Vista on Huangshan. Thirty six strange peaks, Immortals with black top knots, Morning sun strikes the tree tops, Here in this sky mountain world, Chinese people, raise your faces! Cheong Laitong is regarded as one of the precocious stars of the Wednesday Art Group formed in 1952 by Peter Harris. But he prevailed with his bold gestural vigour more from the latter half of the 1960s, after stints as USIS Exchange scholar at the Skowhegan School of Art in Maine in the United States (1960), and the LCC Central Art School in London (1961). But his commitment lessened after working at Rothmans Malaysia first as creative director (1963-1992) and then regional creative director of its Asia-Pacific region (1992-1995). He started making a brief comeback in a 1981 solo at  Universiti Malaya. It was another decade before he became active again – GaleriWan (1991 and 1995), and NN Gallery (1998). Early success was when he won 1st Prize in oil and acrylic in the Salon Malaysia in 1969 and 1979. In 1962, he won a major award in the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank mural competition in 1962. He was included in major Malaysian exhibitions abroad including the Commonwealth Art Today in London (1962-1963); Malaysian Art touring Europe (1965-1966); 1st Triennial of Contemporary World Art, New Delhi (1968); the Sao Paulo Biennale (1969); and Man And His World in Montreal, Canada (1970). He is best known for his iconic mosaic glass murals at Muzium Negara (1961).