The unspoilt charms of Wuyuan county in the northeast of China’s Jiangxi province known for its beautiful villages tug at the heart of Singapore watercolour doyen Ong Kim Seng like no other. Until today the place seems unblemished by modernisation. Bounded in the north of Anhui and Zhejiang in the east, the country has several quaint historical sites, some dating to 740 during the Tang Dynasty. It is also near Huangshan and the ancient pottery capital of Jingdezhen. Ong likes to travel to the deep interiors and out-of-the-way places all over… Tibet, Nepal, all over Southeast Asia and China. Oh, the life! Simple people sitting outside the narrow doorway of their houses chatting with their children at play nearby, instead of bending over their handphones for hours on end, as the stream waters gurgle by. Notice the net and pail attached to the long poles? Ong Kim Seng is Singapore’s consummate and legendary watercolourist. Self-taught, he is known for his mastering of the light and his gushy golden washes. His book, Mastering Light & Shade In Watercolour (2003) is required reading for those who would like to get to know the intricate details. Working at several jobs, he rightly decided to turn fulltime painting in 1985 and has never looked back since. He is the first and only Singaporean to have won six awards by the prestigious American Watercolour Society, of which he was conferred membership in 1992, the only Asian outside America to be admitted (that time). On April 3, 2017, Ong set a new record when his acrylic, Nepal, sold for HKD735,000 at the Hong Kong Sotheby’s auction. He was also the President of the Singapore Watercolour Society from 1991 to 2001. He has been an Art Advisor to the National Arts Council since 1998. His most recent solo was at the Arts House in Singapore in August. His works are in the collections of dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anand, and the former Prime Ministers of China, Japan and Thailand.