1952
ShanZuo is born in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, to a family of educators.

1955
ShanZuo travels extensively with his father, a poet-scholar, visiting the natural wonders of China.

1956
ShanZuo begins studying poetry and Chinese history. He completes his first painting, I Love My Family.

1957
DaHuang is born in Wuming, Guangxi Province. As a result of a political movement, the Zhou Brothers’ father is forced to leave his family and abandon his position as principal of a middle school.

1958
With their father in exile, the young boys are cared for by their mother and grandmother in Ningming. These years are filed with hardships. Their grandmother, founder of a girls’ school and an accomplished painter and calligrapher, helps ShanZuo begin school.

1960
DaHuang moves to Wuming with his grandmother. ShanZuo, feeling his brother’s absence, completes the painting Together Only in Dreams. In Wuming, DaHuang studies music and painting under his grandmother. During this time, he also begins training in the martial arts.

1962
The brothers are reunited, along with their grandmother, mother, and sister, in Wuming. Together the brothers explore each other’s artistic life and experience. DaHuang practices Chinese calligraphy in the Liu Gongquan style for two hours every day.

1963
The six-year-old DaHuang performs his first instrumental recital. His musical and artistic talents bring him recognition as a child prodigy. ShanZuo studies Eastern philosophy and history in middle school.

1964
The family moves back to Ningming in Guangxi Province, the home of some of the most renowned primitive cliff paintings in Huashan. The images leave a deep impression on the young boys, whose work in later years reflects these influences.

1965
The brothers experiences Western art through the huge book collection of their grandmother and their sister Daway, who attends art school. The brothers cover the walls of their home with murals.

1966
Paralyzed by the Cultural Revolution, every conventional organization, school, and business comes to a halt. Red is the only color allowed to be used, seen, or shown. During this time, known as the Red Period, the brothers’ most remembered work is titled Red Nightmare.

1968
The turmoil of the revolution leaves a deep scar. The family suffers physically and emotionally. ShanZuo explores the country alone on foot, visiting Beijing and many areas of China for the first time.

1969
The whole family is exiled to the Daming Shan mountain range, where they are forced to learn and adapt to farm life. ShanZuo produces many sketches during recuperation from a fall.

1970
DaHuang experiments with different paint mixtures to create special colors as used later in Eternal Memory and Years.

1971
DaHuang makes the state Ping Pong youth cadre and moves back to Wuming, where he lives at a boarding school and receives professional training. The same year, their grandmother dies and leaves the brothers with a mantra: To become an artist, one must possess the highest spirit.

1972
ShanZuo is chosen by the committee of the Cultural Exhibition Center to work on a monumental sculpture project to illustrate Chinese history in Nanning. He moves back and forth between the country and the city. DaHuang, still in school, receives honors in painting and is asked to teach a painting class.

1973
The brothers reunite at their grandmother’s house and execute their first collaboration, a painting that they entitle The Wave and for the first time sign a work as “Zhou Brothers”.

1974
ShanZuo is hired as a development director for a cavern excavation project in Yi Ling, close to Nanning. He heeds a team of artists, writers, and architects to plan and develop the area into a tourist destination.

1975
DaHuang graduates from high school and is sent to the country for his reeducation period (minimum two years). During this time, he paints every night after work using an oil lantern for light. He creates many sketches, portraits, and studies. ShanZuo works as an art director for a theater and film production company. His productions include Carmen and the movie Lau’s Third Sister. He becomes a member of China’s Directors’ and Actors’ Guild.

1976
After ten long years, the Cultural Revolution ends. DaHuang starts to work for the National College of Guangxi as an art director, designing museum exhibits. ShanZuo works for a musical group, creating a large number of stage designs for movies and musicals. The brothers return to the Huashan Mountains and work on four large scroll paintings, including Song of Life and Cradle of Life. They direct their attention toward the origins of Chinese art and culture and manage to evoke the time and spirit of the beginning of their civilization in this important series, which influences their work for many years to come.

1977
Touring with an art group, the brothers begin an in-depth study of folk art in different parts of the country. They write a series of articles entitled “A Study of Folk Art”, which is published in several newspapers and art magazines. They search for a unique language in the arts that is rooted in the tradition but is still relevant in their time. They conclude that in art, feeling is the key to liberty.

1978
The brothers attend the renowned Shanghai Drama Academy, studying Western painting and modern art. Their father is released from prison and is cleared of all accusations. DaHuang meets his father for the first time.

1979
Traveling along the Yellow River and the Silk Road, the brothers see many cultural treasures and examine this cultural heritage with the eyes of contemporary artists. They collect their thoughts in the book The Spirit of Primitive Art. Critics later describe the lines of their paintings as the “moving lines of emotions.”

1980
The brothers finish a large series of paintings entitled Heaven to Earth, with which they start to define their own personal language in painting. A part of the series is now in the collection of the National Art Museum of China.

1981
The painting The Feathers from a Hundred Birds is awarded the Creation Prize in the National Painting Exhibition. The brothers complete two paintings, Death Bears New Life and Hints of Dawn in the Dark Night.

1982
The brothers exhibit at China’s Central Academy for Art and Crafts, Beijing, for the first time. Their paintings appear in various art magazines. Critics acclaim their work as a “landmark to the creative impulses of contemporary Chinese cultures.”

1983
The brothers attend China’s Central Academy for Art and Crafts to study mural and fresco painting. They become acquainted with many contemporary artists and scholars in China. They travel extensively around the country in further pursuit of their studies of Chinese primitive art.

1984
Finishing their largest indoor mural, Light of Wisdom, the brothers hold a large-scale exhibition at the Guangxi Art Museum. The French government invites them to participate in an art exchange program. They join the Chinese Artists Association and attempt to establish the Huashan Art Museum. They complete their studies with master’s degrees.

1985
The brothers are awarded an unprecedented traveling museum exhibition throughout China, including the National Museum of Art, Beijing; the Museum of Art, Nanjing; the Shanghai Museum of Art; the Guilin Art Museum; and the Guangxi Art Museum in Nanning. Additionally, their works are shown in the Hong Kong Exhibition Center and Museum of Art in Tokyo, Japan. Their work attracts worldwide attention, and in post-Cultural Revolution China they are hailed as the “third wave of the Chinese renaissance.” They receive the prestigious National Prize for the Avant-Garde and are celebrated as national heroes. Museums and art galleries in China and abroad collect their works. The Peace Corps of the United Nations awards the prize for creativity for their painting Death Bears New Life. Zhou Brothers – A Collection of Paintings is published.

1986
Critics hail the Zhou Brothers’ art as the most intuitive and sensitive combination of Eastern and Western values and spirit to date. The brothers organize an international art exchange center and begin to exhibit in Italy, Germany, Greece, and Japan. They arrive in the United States in November for their first exhibition at the East-West Contemporary Art Gallery in Chicago.

1987
After several successful exhibitions in the United States, the brothers are interviewed on local and national radio and television programs, including the Voice of America and their works are published in newspapers and art magazines. Their painting Man and Nature wins first prize at the Smith Art Museum exhibition in Springfield, Massachusetts. They also create the first large-scale painting, Dream of Chicago, which is reminiscent in size of their earlier murals.

1988
The brothers exhibit a fifteen piece series entitled Spirit of the Earth at the Chicago Cultural Center. They exhibit at the C. G. Jung Institute, in Evanston, Illinois, where they also lead a workshop titled “Primitive Symbolism and the Modern Art World.” To illustrate the collaborative work of the brothers, director Mark Tang produces a documentary video with the title Two Artists – One Vision. The brothers purchase their first studio building, in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. One of the first paintings created in the new studio is Life Symphony.

1989
The Zhou Brothers’ father dies in China. Feingarten Galleries in Los Angeles presents the work of the brothers at the Armory Art Show in New York and in a large solo exhibition at its gallery in Los Angeles, where they show paintings as well as sculptures. Feingarten Galleries co publishes the brothers’ first catalog in the West with the East-West Contemporary Art Gallery, Zhou Brothers: A Retrospective. In China their sister Daway publishes a 535-page book, The Narrow Door: Biography of the Zhou Brothers. The brothers have their first exhibition in Taiwan at the Hsiung Shish Gallery.

1990
Life Symphony is exhibited at the first Art Tokyo. The brothers purchase their present studio on Morgan Street and call it “paradise.” There they complete another large work, Life Temptation, which they consider most representative of their style. Their first trip across Europe takes them to France, Germany, England, and Spain.

1991
The brothers focus on sculpture and start a commissioned painting for the Hong Kong Central Plaza Building, Eternity, which will measure 26 x 19 feet once completed. They start the Zhou Brothers Art Foundation. They accept an invitation from the Chinese Ministry of Culture and return to their homeland for an official visit to lecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. They exhibit at Connaught Brown Gallery in London.

1992
Their mother dies and the brothers return to their hometown, Wuming. Guangxi television airs a special report on their mother, and dignitaries from the town and province attend the funeral. Eternity is finished and shipped to Hong Kong. The brothers install their first show at Nahan Galleries in New York, and the exhibition sells out in the first week.

1993
During an exhibition at the Mandarin Fine Art Gallery in Hong Kong, the brothers learn that the commission Eternity at Hong Kong’s Central Plaza Building has been removed and has caused great controversy. The brothers have one of their most productive work periods in preparation for the traveling museum show for Germany and Hungary. East-West Publishing produces the catalog Zhou Brothers, with a full-scale monograph by Gerald Nordland. It is the first such monograph about the Zhou Brothers published in the West.

1994
The Chicago International Art Exposition commissions an installation celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. They create Wind Wisdom, an installation that covers 36,000 square feet, at the end of Chicago’s Navy Pier. A traveling exhibition, including 180 works, opens at the Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Germany. The outdoor sculpture Dancing Wall is completed during a painting performance following the opening of the exhibition. The catalog Zhou Brothers – Chinesische Symbiose, Vier Hande, Zwei Bruder, Ein Gemalde is published by the Kunsthalle Darmstadt, and Zhou Brothers – Woodcuts and Coloured Woodcuts 1990 – 1994 is published by Galerie Wolfhard Viertel.

1995
The exhibition travels to the Stadtisches Museum Schloss Salder in Salzgitter, Germany, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest. The brothers show a series of woodcuts at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago. They receive an invitation from the city of Rotenburg, Germany, to create a sculpture for the city square, concurrent with an exhibition at the Kunstverein Rotenburg. They give their first painting performance at the opening of the exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. In the winter they create thirty large wood sculptures in their studio in Rotenburg – their most productive period for sculptural work. The year is also one of the busiest for travel and the brothers visit Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Madrid, Beijing, New York, and Geneva, gathering many inspiring cultural experiences. Oxford University Press publishes Zhou Brothers in the Studio, a photo essay by photographer Steven E. Gross. The brothers receive the Best Artist Award from the Kunsthalle in Darmstadt, Germany.

1996
The Zhou Brothers have a solo exhibition at Art Frankfurt and Art Cologne, presented by Galerie Wolfhard Viertel. They exhibit at the DeSaisset Art Museum in Santa Clara, California, and Art Chicago. The brothers are granted the Heitland Foundation Award combined with a large exhibition at the Castle of Celle in Germany. They accept an invitation to teach at the International Academy of Art and Design in Hamburg as guest professors. They create a series of sculptures entitled Time Square and finish the Cor-Ten steel sculpture for the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. They participate in the exhibition Art in Chicago 1945-95 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and Galerie Wolfhard Viertel publishes the catalog Zhou Brothers: Sculptures.

1997
The brothers receive an invitation from the governor of Guangxi and present the concept of a 180-foot monument Timegate. They cast twelve life-size bronze sculptures at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. The Museum Beelden aan Zee in the Netherlands purchases Ballet Dancer. They lecture at the School of Design at Putnam House in Dorset, England, and create a body of sculptures, including their most representative wood sculpture, Solid Romance. In Chicago they design and build a sculpture garden close to their studio and install eight of the bronzes that were cast in Beijing.

1998
The Zhou Brothers create eight large sculptures in Berlin. A solo sculpture exhibition at Art Cologne is presented by Galerie Wolfhard Viertel and there is a sculpture exhibition at the Krassel Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan. The brothers accept an invitation for a guest professorship at the Sommerakademie (International Summer Academy of Fine Arts) in Salzburg and promote their philosophy and style in classes called “Painting: Feeling is Liberty.” They create the painting Life As Music during the now-famous performance at the academy. The sculpture Balance is purchased by the Paul Klee Museum in Bern, Switzerland.

1999
The brothers work mostly on architectural concepts and perfect the plans for the monument Timegate. They view architecture as sculpture and work on proposals for Paris, The Golden Ring, and Chicago, Timegate, neither of which are realized.

2000
The Zhou Brothers are invited to perform at the opening reception of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They create the painting New Beginning and meet many internationally known politicians, economists, and artists, including U.S. president Bill Clinton. They start a new series of paintings with the title Open My Door.

2001
The catalog Open My Door is published by the Sommerakademie in Salzburg, where the brothers exhibit at the Galerie im Traklhaus. The David and Alfred Smart Museum in Chicago adds the sculpture Life Temptation to its collection. The series Open My Door is exhibited at the Villa Haiss das Museum fur zeitgenossische Kunst, Zell, Germany, where 8,000 Zhou Brothers drawings are scattered from the sky during the opening reception. The Zhou Brothers Art Foundation finds a permanent home in a building the brothers purchase close to the studio.

2002
The brothers give a painting performance with red wine at the Galerie Rackey in Bad Honnef, Germany. A second performance is given at the Pacifica Institute in Santa Barbara, California. The brothers attend a dinner for the prime minister of China, Jiang Ze Min, during his visit to Chicago. The brothers show two pieces at the first Guangzhou Triennial, and the Guangdong Art Museum purchases a painting from the series Open My Door. The Ministry of Culture of Russia invites the Zhou Brothers to exhibit at the Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow.

2003
The Zhou Brothers Art Foundation opens at 3302 South Morgan Street in Chicago, adjacent to their sculpture garden. The first exhibition of Zhou Brothers works at the foundation, curated by Oskar Friedl, covers the widest time span of any previous Zhou Brothers show, and the exhibition travels to Austria and Germany. Drexel University in Philadelphia hosts an exhibition and painting performance.

2004
The brothers purchase an 85,000 square-foot warehouse building on 35 th Street in Chicago to establish the Zhou B International Institute of Art. They are honored with the Immigrant Achievement Award from the American Immigration Law Foundation in Washington, D.C. Production for the documentary film Zhou Brothers starts in Chicago and continues in China, the United States, and Europe. The retrospective Zhou Brothers: 30 Years of Collaboration opens at the Elmhurst Art Museum and the Chicago Cultural Center concurrently.