Geoff Ruby:Beijing welcomes me and that's how I feel about Beijing

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, and huge changes have been made in Beijing, capital of China, over the past 40 years. We have invited 40 foreign experts to participate in a series of interviews named “New Era, New Insight” jointly hosted by GMW.cn（The official website of Guangming Daily） and the Information Office of Beijing Municipality and share their “Beijing Stories”.

In the 1980s, there really wasn't an art scene in China. There was institutionalized out through 美术馆, the national gallery, some official museums, but there wasn't an industry if you like, there are no private galleries, and so the emerging contemporary artists faced a challenge which is common historically, it's like the French impressionists in the 1890s. They were not part of the academy, they were not part of the formal system, and so they look for other ways to exhibit their art.

And one of the most common ways back in the 1980s was artists to exhibit their works in diplomatic apartments and I held many exhibitions in my apartment. And there was some works you'll see out of the studio from analyse your server from the 80s analyse and this gave them exposure to an international connecting community.

Over time, of course, an industry developed around the artists but it wasn't and this is quite extraordinary until 1991 that the first contemporary art gallery opened in Beijing. and that was the first contemporary art gallery in all of China. And interestingly enough, the person who opened Brian Walters is a Australian and the gallery called the Red Gate and the first opened in a shop front 国贸 China World Hotel, and after any months so it moves to the Watch Tower东便门 and that's where it took its name the Red Gate from.

And successfully operating there continuously until late last year when the cultural relics bureau wants to reclaim the cultural centers and Red Gate moved to 798 and it's doing very well there and it's appropriates in the art district and Brian are still running the gallery and he's an amazing figure and made an incredible contribution to the cultural life of Beijing, but also to the cultural exchanges between Australia and China. And it's in that tradition I guess that I myself promoted China's contemporary up when I was ambassador.

One thing people ask me, when they come to the embassy and see China's contemporary art. Why I was so interested in? Why did I want to show it in the embassy. And answered those questions with one, but I had a strong connection among sciatic community of many my close friends and still. And two, I felt through Art you could demonstrate to people who were unfamiliar with China, the incredible creative potential of the country. Like any developing country, China has been through a period of imitation and copying its normal with its Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hongkong, but as countries develop, they start to create their own intellectual property and their own creativity moves to the front.

And I said to people look how creative these artists are and look at this work, and it's only a tiny percentage, huge population. Imagine once that creativity space more widely in the population, what to potential theories for creating new ideas and shifting parameters and people got the message that way and I was very pleased to be able to convey what I think for me was a profound insight into China through the work of contemporary artist.

Now there's also a very strong connection between many of the contemporary Chinese artists and Australia. In the 1980s through these friendships and the Australia embassy was very active in the space in those days and you need to remember that relatively few countries had diplomatic missions in China.

In the 1980s, the Australia embassy because the prime minister at the time was very committed to the relationship with China was one of the biggest and most active embassies in Beijing. Of course such change now every country in the world has not only an embassy here that huge embassies and the Australia embassy is not the biggest embassies anywhere in the world, but the embassy in Beijing.

But we were disproportionately big members of the diplomatic community back then, so we had much more contact in relations with the artistic community, and many of them to develop their careers internationally because they look to international art scene. Receive scholarships and opportunities to come to Australia and study, and study art and many stayed in Australia for several years.

And during that time, build the international reputations and as artists they have to make a living from their work and it wasn't really until the end of the 1980s, that within China, I (have an) art business had developed. as I've said 91 there were no galleries very few still through the 90s.

So it's very hard to make a living in China as a contemporary artist up until about the late 1990s and then there was an explosion international recognition took off prices became very high, and many galleries opened throughout China but particularly Beijing again it was concentrated in Beijing, and these Beijing artists who had gone to Australia to develop their art learned more about the international community and to make a living came back to Beijing, and all of them came back to Beijing, and establish themselves either in 798 or 宋庄 or 何各庄art villages and their own ??? took off even further as a result.

One of them 王伟 is a very well established that in Australia，his single biggest collector in the world is Cate Blanchett, the famous Australian actress, who is now also the UN human rights ambassador and she has a huge collection of hiswork. Sometimes she comes to Beijing, just a visit 王伟 to see what his doing and to buy work from him.

So the art has built a very strong connection between Australia and China, and of course it's not just Australia and China, similar stories can be told now between China and the united states, China and Europe. It's true the contemporary out say that there be these bonds created, and they continue to flourish and I think are extremely important for helping peoples in different countries understand each other and camera grips with the contemporary reality.

Coming back to Beijing itself, one of the biggest challenges of being an ambassador is to help your home country and your home government stays across the contemporary reality of modern China. No one in history has seen a country transform itself as rapidly as China, and I've had the opportunity of moving here in Beijing through much of that transformation. So I understand it in a way that very few people outside of China really do and I’ve had whereas ambassador it was a big challenge for people to understand what was going on, and particularly the period I was here starting in the mid 2000 change accelerated in a way we had never expected and continued to do so.

And so having to explain the contemporary reality to people back home is as I said a big challenge and I've been dedicated to their task of Beijing is the best example of how much China has changed, and it's one of the things I want to say to people, you have to come to Beijing to experience. China is contemporary reality.

Beijing welcomes me and that's how I feel about Beijing. I've made my home in total for 18 years. And I have to say China has been very good to me, professionally and personally, and Beijing has been the bulk of my experience in China. I've been to every single province in China and the only Australian ambassador to ever done that efficiently. And I'm very proud of that achievement. The Beijing's home, it's been home as I said for 18 years I feel very welcome in Beijing. It's a very welcoming place.