Zhuang Hui's work is almost a nostalgic reminder of a time, not so long ago, when there was both clarity and uniformity of social relations, when the pretense of a classless society had some reputability. A longing for a time when individuality was discouraged and the communal spirit soared. When security was guaranteed by conviction in the strength of the group . The impassive gaze of Zhuang Hui's subjects testify not only to the obsolescence of socialist spirituality but also to the inability to comprehend its undefined and precarious replacement. It is in the constancy of transformation which China, since the early 1980's has been undergoing, that Zhuang Hui's schizophrenic play on history delivers its deadpan blow.
China today is a society plagued by incongruities.
It is a traditional culture shrouded in socialist mores and suffering the heat of global, post capitalist realities. The pace of its unstoppable economic, and subsequently, social development is occurring too quickly to be comprehended and often ends up appearing as ruptures in the evolution of time. Zhuang Hui marvels at this situation and endeavors to expose these ruptures. While gathering together historical elements that have given rise to the current situation he, in full post modernistic fashion, backs into the gray domain that history has become. His technique is an appropriation of a method that was popularized during the early 20th century, another period of rapid advancement in China's national history.