Hics from the sticks

In an episode of American television show Mad Men, one of the copywriters, while stoned, has the best idea for an advertising campaign ever - whereupon he proceeds to celebrate his achievement with lots of brandy. The next morning, waking up half-dead in his office, he remembers he had a fantastic idea but has forgotten - completely and forever - what it was.

The three artists of the Yangjiang Group need have no fear of suffering a similar loss. Instead of forgetting their bright ideas while sozzled, they get drunk with the specific intention of thinking them up. And the words they splash with inebriated hands all over the canvas aren't notes to refer to later - they are the art.

It's Easter and we have descended on Yangjiang, a 'tiny' city of 'only' two million people or so in southwestern Guangdong province. A four-hour bus trip from Zhuhai, this brand new town is home to Zheng Guogu (Zheng National Valley), Sun Qinglin (Sun Celebrate Unicorn) and Chen Zaiyan (Chen Again Scorching).

My travel companion and I have heard they do drunken calligraphy and installation art with a twist - yes, even in the often bizarre world of installation art, getting friends to write out all the words of Das Kapital in Chinese characters on 7,000 loose pieces of paper, then filling a stadium with these while a football tournament involving six teams is being played, counts as 'a twist' - but we don't know anything else about the three.