"Emerging Dragon" and "Flying Phoenix" created by Hou Chun-ming in 2007 are a set of two giant engraving works, which are derived from the documentary, "The Rise of the Great Nation". He visited China twice in 1993 and 2007 respectively. To him, Beijing is just like the convergence of two different generations,familiar and unfamiliar. Large quantities of construction are destructed for setting up modern buildings. Facing old Forbidden City and weathered Great Wall, he was even more susceptible and fresh creative thinking was emerging particularly at that moment.

Hou Chun-ming adopted Great Wall and pagoda, two masculine symbols, in his work,"Emerging Dragon", to show the doctrine of power under the traditional social structure. A dragon, the symbol of China, is breaking out of the pagoda, and ghost-like figures seem falling one after another. This is to express that a large country in the 21st century should be estranged from the military power, should stay away from war, should not be bound by some visible and invisible shackles of the past. And isn't the socalled "break through the tower" forced by the situation?

In contrast, Hou Chun-ming speciically talked about culture, construction, as well as the concept of harmonious in "Flying Phoenix". Beneath is Beijing, the ancient capital of millennium, with royal Forbidden City and the Palace Museum, the symbol of 5,000 years of Chinese culture. And around the Forbidden City is a greenbelt, modern buildings and the scaffold for construction. So this piece of work slowly presents a modern Beijing towards a new era with open-minded and comprehensive vision. Hou Chun-ming adopted a feminine symbol, the phoenix, who is guiding countless people to ly upward pleasantly with spreading wings. Hou Chun-ming expects that everyone will possess a pair of wings. And doesn't the wing mean freedom and independence? Chinese in the 21st century would like to have a share of independence and the freedom to be the master of their own, won't they?

Political issues are rarely mentioned in the creation of Hou Chun-ming. And facing the rise of a big power, he has not talked about the present situation as most contemporary avantgarde artists with sharp anti-social complex, nor eulogized the present authority with exaggerated words. He has only considered the role of totem in respect of Chinese history and culture, extending the current social situation from the traditional role of the totem. He has comprehended the long existence of a big power through this documentary, "The Rise of the Great Nation", and there should be a more open-minded and comprehensive vision. He has constructed his own view on the present situation based on the destruction/construction, lost/gain, ego/mass.