A cold dish chef at Tsinghua University who loves painting has recently gained widespread attention for his perseverance in pursuing his passion for painting.

Hailing from a rural area in Henan province, Liu Tao's passion dates back to his childhood days. Growing up in a life of poverty, he could not afford drawing materials, so he bartered homemade sugar water for drawing paper with his classmates.

In his teens, Liu left his hometown to work as a chef with the culinary skills that he learned from his uncle. Before settling in Beijing in 2004, Liu worked in over 20 places for more than a decade. However, his wandering life and straitened circumstances did not deter him from drawing after work.

A turning point for him came in 2009 when Liu worked as a chef at Beihang University, where his love for painting and talent caught the attention of Cai Jinsong, founding curator of Beihang Art Gallery, who offered to organize a solo exhibition for him.

Due to his lack of professional training, Liu always wanted to study under professional mentors. After seeing the works of Professor Du Dakai from the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, at an exhibition, Liu was deeply inspired. In 2016, at the age of 35, he enrolled in the calligraphy and painting training program at the academy.

Through unwavering diligence, Liu's painting skills have greatly improved, with his work subsequently selected for exhibitions at home and abroad. One of his representative works, The Five-colored Soil, an Emblem, is on display at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and has become a permanent collection of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In 2019, he became a member of the Chinese Artists Association and in the same year, Liu landed a job at Jiasuo Restaurant of Tsinghua University's reception center.