“Taiping Tianguo: A History of Possible Encounters,” a touring exhibition organized by Para Site, Hong Kong, began as a series of questions: How did Ai Weiwei, Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh, and Martin Wong—four artists of Chinese heritage hailing from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and San Francisco, respectively—all end up in New York in the heady 1980s? Did they know one another? By considering them together, what might we learn about their practices and the storied time and place in art history? With nuanced glimpses of the artists’ overlapping experiences, networks, and friendships, this book makes a unique contribution to a critical reading not only of New York art of the 1980s, but also of nascent contemporary Chinese art in the advent of the globalization of the art world.