very first exhibition at China's National Art Gallery. He turned the art gallery into a "temple filled with totem-like images", by using cutouts of footprints that were suspended in mid air, as well as silhouette patterns accompanied by illegible calligraphy. Lu's display at China's National Art Gallery caught the attention of local art critics, but Lu Shengzhong felt no sense of glory as he described his art as “a lonely struggle along a desolate path.” Lu later wrote a more detailed description stating: “Exerting the utmost strength I squeezed out of a marketplace filled with contentious crowd, and found a silent, forgotten little path to walk on. Intrigued by unfamiliarity and longing, I followed it to retrieve original characteristics of humankind that have been filtered out by civilization, to summon images of lost souls in the polluted air, to understand the spiritual pursuit of mankind in its infancy, and to search for the deep connection linking my native land with the rest of the world. All my efforts are to nourish the ancient culture. Thus suddenly I gain confidence, because in my mind I have paved a path for today’s art.” (Lu Shengzhong: Book of Humanity: Empty Book 2005) Within Lu Shengzhong's early career as an emerging artist, he has entered many solo and group exhibitions between the late 1980s and mid 1990s including: 1989: Life-Ephemeral and Eternal, Taipei, Taiwan 1989: China Avant-Garde, NAGC, Beijing 1990: Calling the Soul Hall, Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Beijing 1990–1992: Calling the Soul Around, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Hunan, Guanxi, and Liaoning provinces 1991: Calling the Soul, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing 1992: Red Train, Emden, Berin, Wiesbaden, and Hamburg, Germany 1992: Begenung Mit Den Anderen, Halle K18, Gesanthochschole, Kassel, Germany 1992-1993: Post-Mao Product, New Art from China, traveling exhibition in Australia 1994: Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan 1994: Soul Stele, Adelaide, Australia 1994: Soul Market, Beck Forum, Munich, Germany 1994: Emergency Center, St. Petersburg, Russia 1995: ORT -+, Wuppertal, Germany 1995: International Biennial Art Show, Gwangju, Korea 1995: 4th Asian Art Show (Realism as an Attitude), Setagaya Art Museum, Japan 1996: ARCOS DA LAPA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1996: Origin and Myths of Fire, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan 1996: Calling the Soul, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan 1998: Notes Across Asia, Berlin, Germany 1998: Recalling Tradition, German Embassy, Beijing 2000: First Encounter, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA