Was the sage Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) dreaming of the butterfly, or vice versa. The Zen poser could be expressed if this was a batik (art) dreaming that it was a Chinese ink painting. Beautifully simulated as a shan-sui (mountain and water) vista, the Malaysian element is insinuated through decals of coconut trees and attap huts. The conventional cracked lines of the batik dovetail the hemp strokes in Chinese brush painting, while the image is a mixture of nuanced darkened colour splotches with the resonance of watercolours. Chuah Siew Teng, the eldest scion from the House of Teng, that is batik-art founder and doyen Dato Chuah Thean Teng, is well-rounded in Western aesthetics, Chinese art and above all, batik painting. Trained at the Ravensbourne College of Art (1965-1966) and the City and Arts Guild (1966-1969) in London, he had sound foundation. His prizes in the North Malaya Open and national art competitions in the early 1960s attested to his talent. In 1992, Unicef used his image from his work entitled, The Monkey, for its greeting card. It was a symbolic tribute to S. Teng, as he is known, for he was born in 1944, the Chinese lunar Year of the Monkey. Despite being low-key in his early career, he had had solo exhibitions in London (1969), United States (1971), Australia (1972) and Japan (1975).