...Around 1996, I studied abroad in America, whereas he traveled to France and European countries, thus we lost contact. We met in Beijing again until 2001, when he upheld the Art Space of Red Square Club to provide a stage for those young avant-garde artists to show their artistic talents. At that time he has already stayed in Europe for six years, after doing serious research on the modern art of Matisse, Dali, Picasso and others, he obviously has been full of international experiences, broadened his horizons, and has had brandnew and clear knowledge to the increasingly internationalization of real life and the understanding of contemporary art and his own artistic development. He said: "My biggest visual shock in overseas was that their practical art was very powerful. It has already reached the stage that pure artists don't know how to deal with. Noble and graceful pure art in Twentieth Century,  specially
after the Second World War, was confronted with huge challenges. In the 1960s, artists of English and American Pop arts believed that if painting could not response to an era which filled with designs, then painting could never reach a new stage."(3) Such thinking was obviously full of foresight in the rapidly developing Chinese society and the Chinese art field which is re-seeking the cultural coordinates. He attempted to continually develop his art in a higher level. The journey to Europe was an acceleration of his transformation from modern ink painter to contemporary artist.
　　At that time, which is in early new century, a big transformation has occurred in Chinese art circle and its social environment. Contemporary art was gradually accepted by the art system of China's community and government. The mass media has also paid more attention to the development of
contemporary art. Moreover, China became more involved in the international society and changed in terms of industrialization, urbanization and information technology. Contemporary art became new art which is reflection of new development of the society and real life, and thus gained identification from
the community. Then, came new media art, behavior art, images and network art, art system, exhibition curator, experimental art, biennale and others became the key words for describing Chinese artistic ecology. Young and up-to-date artists were unceasingly emerging out. Tong Zhengang realized that transformation, he no longer hoped to be a new ink artist in its original sense, but to develop in the direction of experimental and contemporary art.  As a mature artist who had deep experiences on life and art, Tong Zhengang recognized that the key of contemporary art is not necessary to make use of new media and astonished behavior art, but the crucial thing is close attention towards present life that shown in the art and the fresh visual languages that appeared in it. Perhaps, the material was not new but traditional. This often appeared in the practice of international contemporary art. After thorough observation and studies on the world art inheritance in western developed countries, plus the extensive association in Beijing's young and modern art circles, Tong Zhengang increased new targets on his own artistic knowledge and pursue. Especially in Red Square Club where had many beautiful women, he gained personal experiences to China's reality and young women. He also created new series of ladies, "Backstage".Compared to the previous "Hope Series", which was purely respecting the  technique of traditional brush and ink effect, "Backstage"  showed visual stimulation and freshness. For the temperament and mood of female figures, compared to "Scenery from Flower's Bottom Series" exhibited in 1995, "Backstage" lacked certain distant, sad and pitiful feelings, but protruding their tension of individual desire and the seduction of the human body. At the same time, he tried to abandon the aesthetic rules from traditional ink, but emphasize on the visual effect and stimulation to audience. Purely looking at the visual effect, there was already a big difference from the original female paintings: perceptual and random ink and lines were reduced to minimum  limits. In the meantime, he integrated mixed materials, such as acrylic pigments, industry dyes, large number of background colors, even painting on canvas. Large area blank space and straight lines and full tinges of large areas of color made the picture filled with clear sense of structure. Ink painting has already been reborn completely,
even though the pictures were a bit similar to modern abstract ink painting. Looking from the overall pictures, in all respects, factors of vision and language even more united. His personal visual image system was more vivid and full of material atmosphere of the time. The characters in the paintings, that are those girls coming in and out of night clubs, express a feeling of "coolness". The traditional female temperament which is sad and pitiful no longer exists. Obviously, Tong Zhengang tried to reflect his new feelings toward young women in his works after he returned to China. They were the generation of only child who was born entirely in the 1980s and were materialistic. They embodied the notable  transformation of Chin's city community. He said: "In these paintings, the images of the ladies are more realistic than before. I think this transformation is the result of the changes of my thoughts and viewpoints after working in the Red Square Club. When I was the art director at the Red Square Club,
I got in touch with some girls who worked there, under such atmosphere of feasting and revelry, girls would be more anxious and contradict in emotion."(4) Young girls at that moment were entirely different from traditional Chinese female; they were facing and going through all kinds of problems in present China's society. For Tong Zhengang who always cares about female in city, young girls are the weatherglass of fashion and material civilization development. They go after trends, are fond of new fashion, yearn for material consumption and fulfilled desire, traditional sexual morality has already disappeared on them, they are the toys that men chase after and play with in the urbanization of commercial social environment of China. Even though Tong Zhengang still likes to draw women as the subject, his paintings show more of his rational thoughts and knowledge to social problems, and gradually departing from his obsession of young women.
　　 This new series of art exploration is called "Backstage", it is apparently because when the artist came into contact with the splendid material life in today's consumer's society, he found that behind there are many mental problems. After the economic development,many people have lost their ideal moral integrity and spiritual pursuit, and the whole nation's cultural identification is changing too. However, many people also seem to lose their directions, flamboyance and extravagance which were brought by the high speed economical development, and are unable to conceal people's innermost feelings of loss and desolateness after the fall of humanism. Of course artists are not sociologists. He is only using his insight and art languages to convey his own concern towards social transformation. However, it is not the problem in this group of women themselves that he drew; it is the crisis of the social reality that they embodied. Therefore on this point, Tong Zhengang's attitude is to transit from Retrospective Romanticism to Realism, using his art to follow and care for the moment has become his conscious, no matter the language is still ink, which filled with new forms and elements with  composition. At that time, although many of his contemporary ink painters still stick to the position of pure ink, he has already walked out from that. Ink painting and the training of traditional beauty judging has become the disposition that stored deeply in his mind, sublimated to a cultural accumulation that stayed in his blood. To him, ink is a bridge leading to a broader art world, but not restricted chains. (Of course, I also respect those artists who are still focusing on pure ink art, even traditional artists, because in this way, art will have a multiplicity and fine ecology.) He has tried all types of block print art in France. Also he created a large number of modern porcelain art, at the same time, his started to use canvas and acrylic pigments for painting too, even he is brewing large-scale art installation and others.
　　Ink is not original ink; women are not those original women. Also, the world is not the former world; Tong Zhengang's art is not his original kind of art. His art is unfolding his own significance among constantly innovation...