[Photo provided to China Daily]

For the Year of the Horse in 2014, which is also referred to as the Jiawu Year in the Chinese numbering system of "stems and branches" that comprises 60 terms in a cycle, he wrote: "It (the year) reminds me of the War of Jiawu (also called the First Sino-Japanese War) that took place 120 years ago, when the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty court was defeated.

"Then, after the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) lasted eight years before they surrendered.

"Yet, have they ever admitted their guilt? Or apologized for killing so many Chinese?"

Huang says that working on the zodiac series has enabled him to better understand the tradition. He says that he was so unfamiliar with it that when a friend in Hong Kong asked him to paint the subject many years ago that he included the cat to make it 13 animals.

"The friend said: 'It is fine for you because you are like a cat－you have nine lives.'

"He was right because I almost died twice due to bombings by the Japanese."

Asked if he would continue with the zodiac series, he says he's unlikely to paint for another 12 years.

If you go

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays, through Feb 12. 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6511-6400.