Chinanews, Shanghai, May 12 - Professor Reagan of University of Pennsylvania and Professor Ruben of Wake Forest University published their view on the "Chinese elements" in American works of art in Shanghai on May 10, at a grand American art exhibition in Shanghai Museum.Both of them are major planners of the exhibition, which is one of the biggest of its kind in China.According to Reagan, American works of art with "Chinese elements" can be traced way back to 1840, when Sino-US trade relations were first established. At that time, Chinese artworks were fashionable in the US, and they brought Chinese culture to that country. Researchers these days are astonished to find so many "Chinese elements" in American artworks. For example, "Chinese merchants" and "Chinese women" are two common themes of the items on display in this exhibition in Shanghai.Cultural fusion in the 19th century in the US made American artists combine different cultural elements in their works, particularly Oriental culture, which even caused the entire style of American art to change."Back in the 1950s, many American artists were crazy about Chinese calligraphy, they tried to move their wrists like Chinese calligraphers did when working on oil paintings," said Reagan.However, the two professors don't say much about modern Chinese artworks, which are quite popular in the world market, as they believe it is not right time now to judge modern Chinese artworks. Besides, they don't know much about such works, as foreigners. Nevertheless, they think it is reasonable for those works to be auctioned at very high prices, for the value of a work of art is often hard to tell.