Mr. JF, the inventor of the Enoki mushroom dry ski mat

Worshiping science is my belief;

At any time, on the side of civilization,

Hard work is the password to a perfect life;

Hobbies are the driving force for success;

To be a human being, Must have a bottom line

Life is a ship, and the captain is myself. The journey of thousands of miles will reach the destination safely.

Absolute time can be broken by space. Traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books.

How should I repay the country that sparked my fascination with dry skiing materials?

I arrived in Bournemouth in July 1989, and after a few months, I moved to London. My passion for skiing developed in the UK, and my first encounter with dry skiing was at a facility in the southern suburbs of London, where they used a triangular-shaped comb-like dry ski material called Diamond Mat. The straw on this dry ski surface was thick and hard, making it quite painful when it came into contact with the body during falls. It was easy to get injured, to the extent that during the first three lessons of the six-course series, the coach spent a lot of time teaching students how to fall and how to protect themselves. Every student was required to develop the instinctive habit of curling up and crossing their hands over their chest when falling. During the learning process, I had a very unpleasant experience with dry ski materials. Skiing didn't feel like an enjoyable activity until I later skied on real snow.

The dry ski mat in the photo is the earliest version in the UK, representing the first generation of dry skiing in the country. Due to its tendency to break easily, especially causing intense pain when skiers made contact with the surface after a fall, it had very poor safety. Shortly after, I discovered a new variety of dry ski mats, which had changed from a comb-like design to a brush-like one. I considered it a significant improvement at the time, as the pain after falling was reduced, and the appearance was much more appealing. I believe this must be the new generation of dry ski mats in the UK.

I can't bear to see the slopes disappear one by one for various reasons.

I visited the most influential dry ski slope in the UK in 2011, but it was completely abandoned the following year due to a fire. The design of this ski slope was meticulous, and I won't go into details. I skied on the professional slope and the adjacent Z-shaped slope a few times and felt it was quite good. It was as if I could still smell the scent left by skilled skiers in the UK. There were very few people that day, and although the equipment was old, I could still ski. The dry ski slopes had two types of dry ski surfaces, Dendix and Snowflex. I also noticed many safety hazards in various places (according to my requests). I always believed that dry ski slopes in the UK are too geared towards experienced skiers, similar to drivers with licenses who find complex road conditions not a problem. However, for a novice driver, it's a different story. The original intention of dry ski slopes should be for teaching, targeting beginners with zero experience. There are many uncontrollable factors, placing higher demands on the safety of the equipment compared to real snow slopes. The story of Sheffield Ski Village can be found on Wikipedia, and it is said to have received larger investments and has grand plans for the future.

During the 1970s, when I lived in the UK, there were over 260 dry ski slopes. However, nowadays, it's challenging to find even 60 of them. What forces could rejuvenate dry skiing in the UK and make UK dry ski great again.

London has a Leicester Square and an artist alley on one side.

Few know that I am one of the initiators of this alley.

In the early 70s, I moved from Bournemouth to London, needing to find a job to support myself. Initially, I worked in a restaurant. ​One day, while wandering around Chinatown, I discovered a group of street artists setting up stalls near Piccadilly Circus. They ​sketched portraits for passersby at the entrance of a bank. Each portrait took 30 to 40 minutes to complete, charging £10. After ​observing for a while, I decided to join them. I majored in oil painting in college, and my work "Aspiration" had been collected by the ​Hefner Collection in the United States. However, due to limited space, newcomers couldn't squeeze in even though I had prepared ​the necessary painting tools.

Mr.J.Feng’s oil painting [Ambition] - Collection of Hefner Collection Gallery (1986)

So, I decided to go alone on the other side of Leicester Square and try to attract customers. Due to the massive number of tourists in ​this place and my solid professional foundation, my business was excellent, and there were often long lines of tourists waiting. I ​often painted until dawn while hungry. Sometimes, there are too many people, and the police politely ask me to leave. That period ​was very sensitive, and there was an organization that often placed bombs in crowded places.

The location I chose is a pedestrian artery from Trafalgar Square to Covent Garden. During weekends, there is a massive flow of ​people and vast crowds. My business prospered, and many international students in the UK and Eastern European artists joined me. ​When I left the UK, Leicester Square had become a new street art corridor with over 60 artists, and this tradition continues today.

In addition, we also invented a slogan: "No good, Nopay!" Although the grammar is incorrect and not a common expression in ​English, it is very practical and easy for customers to accept. I painted there for three years and left thousands of portraits signed by ​my name (Jian Feng). Some of them should still be hung on the walls at home!

Furthermore, some of my peers around me joined the gallery purely because they didn't want to work in a restaurant (long hours) ​and lacked painting skills. The quality of the portraits they produced was poor. Seeing those customers generously paying for ​portraits that clearly didn't resemble them left a deep impression on me. The politeness and tolerance of the British people are truly ​well-deserved, and it seems that gentlemanly demeanor is ingrained in their genes.

One of my samples (signatures)

One of my samples (lots of girls sit down because of her)

Mr. J Feng was painting portraits of tourists (1990)

The recent pictures found online

My father is a cartoonist, and he influenced my first major.

One day, around 1991, I remember that my landlord in the UK knew I was a painter and offered me one month of free rent in exchange for a painting. The result was joyful, and the landlord surprisingly liked it. The four years of college were quite helpful. It gave me hard skills that I will never use up in my life.

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