  ost people in the world of Chinese contemporary art don't know the name Li Shuang, but she was a pioneer.
In 1979, she was one of the 12 founding members of the Stars group -- a collection untrained, experimental artists who challenged the orthodoxy in China. They were a political and artistic group, and in a series of unauthorized exhibitions in Beijing these artists broke all the rules, setting the stage for the emergence of avant-garde art in China.
Li Shuang was the only female members of a group that included Huang Rui, Wang Keping, Ma Desheng, Li Xianting and poet Bei Dao, Mang Ke and writer A Cheng. And she was the only member imprisoned.
In Sept.27,1979, The Stars Group showed their experimental work in the garden outside the China National Museum, after having their request for a show turned down by the authorities. The exhibition was closed by the authorities after two days. Soon, on October 1, 1979, a group of artists marched through the streets of Beijing demanding freedom of expression. In many ways, this movement was a turning point for Chinese contemporary art, pushing forward the development of more radical expressions of art.
Later, in September 1981, at the age of 24, Li Shuang was jailed for cohabiting with a French diplomat, her fiance, Emmanuel Bellefroid, who had arrived in Beijing in 1975. Mr. Bellefroid was expelled from China soon after her arrest. He was accused of supporting anti-government activities.
Li Shuang spent two years in prison, mostly reading Chinese classics, and enduring psychological torture. Meanwhile, her fiance, Mr. Bellefroid lobbied the French government to get her released.
Her love story, and her release in 1983, were chronicled in The New York Times.
The release came after Francois Mitterand, who later served as French president, brought the matter up in a 1983 meeting with Deng Xiaoping.
Shortly after the meeting, Li Shuang was released from prison and allowed to travel to Paris, where she later married Mr. Bellefroid. They now live in Paris and have two sons, age 18 and 12.
Li Shuang never gave up her artistic life. She continues to paint, often colorful Buddha like figures, in a studio in the south of Paris, where she works six or seven hours a day. Some of her works have been sold at auction by Sotheby's and Christie's. And recently, her works have been shown at exhibitions in Beijing and Singapore.
Below, are a few previously unpublished photographs of the Stars group taken in 1979 to 1980. And also, there is a video of members of the Stars group, one of the rare moving images of the group from that time.
Video:
http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=CAB8101168201
From left to right:
Emmanuel Bellefroid , Wang Keping, French diplomat (married with a Chinese writer), Mang Ke, Mao Mao( Mang Ke's ex-wife, married with Philip Short, the BBC correspondant) , Li Shuang, Huang Rui, Ma Desheng, Yan Li
First line: Li Shuang, Huang Rui, A Cheng, Yuan Yunsheng
Second line: Yan Li, Ma Desheng, Li Yongcun ( Bo Yun ), Qu leilei
From left to right: Qu Leilei, Liu Xun, Li Shuang, Wang Keping
From left to right: Liu Xun, Li Shuang, Qu leilei behind and Wang Keping
From left to right: Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Mang Ke 
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