"To do something, I have to understand it. The Chinese in America, I think I'm the right one to do this, because I have both experiences." Mian Situ

Mian Situ has painted historical scenes of the Chinese immigrants who came to California more than a century ago. In Situ's portrayals, these newcomers lay railroad tracks, peddle toys in San Francisco's old Chinatown, labor in laundries and gaze ashore from eastbound ships, approaching California for the first time. "He tells a story very, very well," said Howard Terpning, a 78-year-old Tucson painter who is widely hailed as the dean of living Western artists. "But in Mian's case it has to be more difficult, because he's depicting really another world."

‘THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN, ARRIVING IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1865’: Mian Situ’s favorite painting sold for $72,500 to Howard Terpning, a renowned Western artist.