Zhou Chunya began to paint Heigen, a shepherd dog, in green for the irst time in 1997. In the West, green is a vivid color, representing good fortune. Zhou Chunya explained that it was purely a coincidence. An art critic, Li Xianting, indicated in an article that Zhou Chunya's adoption of green attributed to his happy love life during that period. In China, green is linked with a positive attitude. There is no preference between the East and the West. But for the image of the dog painting, Zhou Chunya has scarcely anything to imitate. Dog is not a very common theme for painting whether in China or in the West. Therefore, he has tried a very personal means of expression, formed the image with the Western composition, and mingled with the elements of Chinese painting techniques. Much more attention has been focused on the effects of image, but still maintained the expressionism style of language, and created a series of green dogs, which is a popularly appreciated theme. When Heigen died of an illness in 1999, Zhou Chunya stopped creating "Heigen" series. It is only until early 2001 that Zhou Chunya's artistic career emerged the new turn. After he experienced the most painful period, the green dogs again appeared in his painting, but these dogs expressed the attitude of the painter and the complex of the frame and the posture of the dog, rather than the Heigen itself. This masterpiece created in 2002 depicting the green dog has shown his change in painting style. The actual subject of the painting is the vital broad brushwork, which constitutes a decisive theme of the picture. Green brushwork is very thin and it sharply against white background, identifying each stroke of the painting, as if the soul of the dog and the feeling of the artist could be penetrated at a glance.