Heigen is the most important dog in Chinese contemporary art history. It came into Zhou Chunya's life in 1994. He is playful and hyper. At that time, Zhou was still living with his ex-wife and had no children, he used to call the dog Heigen his "son". This shepherd dog, which had been with Zhou for more than five years, was not only his companion, but also played an important part of the artistic inspiration in his creations.

Heigen delights Zhou Chunya and further became his special companion and the main character in his paintings. The creation of the series of painting - "The Heigen's Family" - was an important transition of his art life. Zhou Chunya said. "Previously, I have painted subjects based on stone, human body and flower, and often I read books of Chinese traditional paintings at that time. From then on, I began to pay close attention to things around me, but still carried on with my previous drawing style." "The Heigen's Family" was an important artwork in his transformation which has integrated the traces of influence both from the east and the west. Just as the artist mentioned in his diary, the composition of the painting showed his state of mind: it is natural and simple, happy and relaxed.

This painting, the artist placed himself in the center of the picture to construct a more complete family with the Heigen's family. From the layout of it, the viewers could imagine the mood as well as the state of mind when he created this work.