In preparation for the 2009 exhibition The China Project (Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia), Wang Youshen’s 1986 painting Yu Gong and His Later Generations was cleaned. Wang graduated in 1988 from the Folk Art Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, majoring in illustration and graphic art. Wang’s practice was formed during the New Wave period (1985–1989) in China, and he was included in the seminal 1989 exhibition China/Avant-garde held in Beijing. The Queensland Art Gallery’s painting is a rare early student work on hardboard. It is unvarnished, well bound, and of variable gloss. The paint film is generally stable; however, there are areas of yellow paint that are actively flaking. The painting was very dirty. Solubility testing showed that dirt was best removed using aqueous solutions but that all colors were sensitive in deionized water, particularly red paint.