If you had been an artist living in China in the 1980s, you probably would have traded everything you had for the opportunity to come to New York. But it would not have been for the skyscrapers dominating the Manhattan skyline, the 24-hour supply of hot water in most apartments or the air conditioning in the city's many McDonald's. Those were, indeed, luxuries that China lacked, but what really would have attracted you would have been a commodity that was rarer still in your homeland - freedom.
At least, the Chinese artists I know who came to New York during that time all say so.
Through the years, however, many of them have discovered that even freedom has its price. One who learned that the hard way is Pei-Shen Qian, the 75-year-old artist who was indicted on April 21 in Manhattan by federal prosecutors for forgery and lying to the FBI.
Qian moved back to China during the investigation last year.
No one thinks he was in the right but many Chinese artists in New York have sympathy for Qian. They say his situation reminds them of their awkward early days in the world's arts capital, when they, for the first time, felt the clawing of the invisible hand of market forces on their freedom and creativity.