"The Five Oxen" is a small handscroll and is thought to be the earliest extant painting on paper (extant paintings of earlier date were executed on silk). The five oxen depicted in the assured strokes of a master were said to represent the artist's five brothers. Zhu Wei has re-cast Han Huang's oxen. The oxen are depicted singly or in pairs on a plain ground with a faint grid pattern. Though all are shown in profile facing left, the animals are drawn in different postures, some with heads lowered, others with heads turned or raised. In his massive portraits of recent years, Zhu Wei has depicted people in similar fashion. The ox has always been prized in China as a gentle animal, obedient to its master until death and it is in this that we find the kernel of meaning in this group of paintings. Zhu Wei seems to be drawing parallels between the oxen and his own brothers, the Chinese people. Are the Chinese people obedient to their government to the point of losing control of their own destiny? Does loyalty to their country lead them to lower their heads to avoid seeing the societal troubles bubbling on the placid surface portrayed by the media?