Yang Shaobin's works in oil on canvas are always painted with a ruddy palette, using predominately reds and oranges, made up of sketched figures that occasionally include portraits of Mao. His canvases are always extremely violent, the figures often appearing in the act of devouring one another. It is not clear if the period that is being addressed in these social sketches is that of the past , the hard years of communism and the Cultural Revolution, or in fact the present period, competition. In certain pieces, like the one presented in this book, Yang Shaobin depicts very harsh sexual scenes that would seem to involve the possibility of homosexuality or rape. His work, though employing a very Chinese style, with much blurring and splashes of color, remains of the first contemporary Chinese artists who through universal themes, deals with the issue of sexuality as it relates to violence.