Between 1985 and 1990, a group of over one thousand young Chinese artists living in an environment without galleries, museums, or any systematic support for art and with unprecedented enthusiasm and passion, led a fundamentally influential artistic movement. It marked the end of a monolithic artistic model, achieving unprecedented freedom and opened a path for Chinese art to march toward internationalization and contemporaneity. After 1985, ‘contemporary art’ irreversibly became the driving force behind Chinese art. This is the famous ’85 New Wave movement. The ’85 New Wave movement represents a watershed in contemporary Chinese art history, which departed from the old time and pointed out a new direction. This movement also cultivated a group of artists that have impact in the world, with their works influenced and changed the direction and structure of Chinese and world art. And yet today, our understanding of this incredibly important period remains remarkably limited. Aside from a small number of printed materials, we are rarely able to see the original works from the ’85 period. A great number of works were lost or dispersed abroad. This is the first retrospective exhibition of the ’85 movement, twenty years after it has run its course, but luckily, we have found many important works from this period. In this process, we have been fortunate to have the enthusiastic support and encouragement of many artists and collectors, allowing us to re-present a basic outline of this precious period to the public. This exhibition also marks the publication of many previously unpublished documentary materials and manuscripts, allowing the viewer to bear witness to the deeply layered intellectual activity of the period.