December 2009 we travelled to China to explore the origins of bonsai. In Yangzhou, we arranged to interview Zhao Qingquan, vice-president of the Association of Penjing Artists of China. Zhao Qingquan is the director of the Slender West Lake garden and an internationally acclaimed penjing master for several decades. For the interview we worked with an English interpreter who was appointed to us by the municipal foreign affairs office. We were interested in meeting a man who devoted himself entirely to penshin; the Chinese miniature landscape art from which bonsai evolved. What is his motivation? What does penshin mean to him? What did he learn about penshin?

During the interview we felt that a lot that was being said was lost in translation. We gave away control in trying to do an interview in Chinese. When questions are translated, answers are translated and reactions are translated. What is left? We think this is what both gave us the urge to keep something real from this encounter.