A summer night in 1996. At Udo Hoffman’s house in the Summer Palace. A few days before, Liu Anping gave me a call and said he wanted to do a performance that night and wanted me to come. As always, I didn’t know what to expect of his performance. Udo’s house was a traditional compound around a courtyard, extremely pretty, situated within the quiet and beautiful Summer Palace. After I got there I realized that the whole night was just a big party, and many artist friends were there. Liu Anping was wearing a shirt dappled with ink and looked well put-together; Uli held a thermos in her hand—a gift typically given by friends to newly-weds. I am not too certain whether this was a performance or an engagement party, but either way Liu Anping clearly did not want me to know the truth about this “performance.” So I chose to simply enjoy myself, and in the meanwhile take a few photos.