In this collection of photographs, Liu Xiadong, one of China's most celebrated artists, reveals to us the inspiration behind many of his most iconic paintings. An album consisting of personal photographs taken between the years 1984 and 2006, these are the images that have stayed with Liu, inspiring and informing his art throughout the past two decades. Deeply personal and politically engaged, The Richness of Life reveals for the first time the great extent to which Liu's paintings borrow from the discipline of photography, making his art the final product of a complex project involving interviews, photos, sketches and analyses, with little to do with easel painting. Essays from leading scholars illuminate the actively rebuilt nature of Liu's work, while in-depth interviews provide Liu's own perspective on the process and passions involved in his painting.