Hsia spent over 20 years in New York, painting in the cavernous gloom of his loft, eating Chinese food and listening to traditional Chinese opera music. The walls of the loft were pasted with simple verses, written by Hsia in language that was part literary Chinese and part colloquial.
在紐約一待二十多年，窩在前後不見光的大統艙裡，夏陽吃的是中國菜，耳邊聽的是中國傳統戲劇的音樂，牆上則貼滿他信手拈來的打油詩，半文半白地諷刺世事百態。