Communicating with people in Xinjiang's literary and art circles, from different cultural backgrounds, can nurture his artistic creations. Meanwhile, the unity of various ethnic groups helps to inspire his patriotism.

Chen returned to his native Jiangsu in the 1990s.

"After my retirement, I still miss Xinjiang and the friends I once worked with there," Chen says.

Chen and his colleagues set up a group chat on social media platform WeChat, in which they often reminisce about the past, catch up on all the news and conduct discussions about art.