Fascinated by this gray-haired man with a receding hairline and ponytail who was teaching farmers to build scaffoldings, assemble formwork, and do carpentry, members of the mainland media made multiple expeditions to remote Mao County-several dozen kilometers north of Chengdu-to profile him. They portrayed Hsieh as "an idealistic Taiwanese architect" who lived and drank with the locals and "who knew when art needed to take a back seat to practicality."
大陸媒體曾多次開拔到距離成都北邊數十公里遠的四川茂縣，介紹這位髮線退到後腦杓、頭髮花白、梳著小辮，教農民搭鷹架、釘模板、做木工，和農民一塊喝酒、生活，「帶著理想主義，卻又懂得妥協藝術」的台灣建築師。