In 1981, Zhang made In Search of Paradise, a work in pocai style in which he used expanses of green to create a utopian realm, rendering a serene, seclusive mood. Meanwhile, one can also detect Zhang's homesickness for his native Sichuan province, which he hadn't returned to since leaving in the late 1940s.

In Search of Paradise will be part of a sale of modern Chinese ink paintings by Christie's in Hong Kong on May 1. A selection of the works to go under the hammer was shown in Beijing on April 6 and 7.