Other painters charged upwards of 45 yuan per month, with fees at studios run by older, more established Taiwanese artists reaching 60 or 70 yuan. No amount of scrimping and saving was going to put that within reach of someone like Hsia, getting by on a military allowance of just 25 yuan per month. The only choice was the Antung Street Studio, where the monthly fee was just 20 yuan.
當時其他畫室一個月的學費大多在四十五元以上，台籍老畫家的畫室束脩更要六、七十元，對於一個月軍餉只有二十五元的夏陽而言，再怎麼縮衣節食也湊不出學費來，除了一個月二十元的安東街畫室。