Both Lulu and Violet are susceptible to the same temptation. They have imaginative temperaments and can be deeply moved by works of art. Lulu’s attraction toward Lu Shing intensifies after she views his painting. She projects her own identity onto the painted landscape and sees herself reflected back from it. This narcissistic mirroring causes her to believe that Lu Shing is a deep thinker with a profound knowledge of her heart.

Her ill-fated decision to follow him to Shanghai stems from her reaction to his painting. It isn’t until later that she learns his work is a reproduction of a German painting. Lu Shing essentially paints the same scene repeatedly for various customers and varies the coloring and details of the landscape to suit their tastes. As he admits to Lulu, he is a fake artist with shallow emotions. Lulu’s real awakening to his inauthenticity comes after he paints her portrait. When she sees the result, the face he captured is a stranger to her. At that moment, she realizes that Lu Shing doesn’t know her at all. He is incapable of seeing her depths because he has none of his own.

Violet makes much the same mistake with Perpetual.