Xiang knows she is living in an interesting period of Chinese history. "I was born in 1968. We've gone through the Cultural Revolution, then the Reform and Opening Up period, then the recent years of rapid economic growth.

"These have been the decades when China has gone through the most dramatic, the fastest changes ever. And contemporary Chinese art has been born and developed within these last 30 years."

What that means for Xiang personally is not yet clear, though. Being thrown into the cross currents of history is, she says, "good fortune" on one hand, but she also says, "I'm not very adaptable."

In fact, an artist heralded by critics and collectors as exemplary of exciting new developments in a still-developing world, says she often feels out of step.

"I feel that I'm gradually becoming more and more alien to this era, as I feel that the world has become more and more extrovert, more and more superficial.

"It's become ever so easy to know, to see and to experience too many things. The ways for us to get to know the world have become more and more diverse. There are more and more channels ... and more and more platforms.

"People have become ... more and more extroverted. However, I think there should be another part that should look inward ... into an inner world ... a world that exists within us. And this world isn't small at all. In fact, it can be enormous."