Chinese performance artists Hairong Tiantian (right) and Ye Fu enjoy the fresh air after breaking out of the glass room where they had lived together for a month, on Tuesday, May 22, 2007. [Photo: thebeijingnews.com]

Wielding big hammers, performance artists Hairong Tiantian and Ye Fu broke out of the tiny glass room in which they had been imprisoned for one month as an unmarried couple.

The artists first made headlines on April 22, when they shut themselves together in a glass room in eastern Beijing, promising to live together for one month in front of passersby, as a way to reflect the isolation of many of today's couples.

Beijing was hit by rain on Tuesday, but it didn't prevent the two artists from enjoying the fresh air.

Hairong Tiantian, who performed the wife, described the past month as long and unbearable. She said she would have headed for a breakdown, had the performance gone on longer.

The pair's ambition to demonstrate the life of estranged couples met with a cold response from the outset. Many citizens quoted by local newspapers said they thought the performance was more artificiality than art.

Hairong Tiantian, however, argued both she and Ye Fu don't care about the negative comments, and that they have enhanced their understanding of life through this experience.