Cheng Tcheng was celebrated for his poetry and prose, including his acclaimed book My Mother and I Through the First Chinese Revolution (Ma mère et moi à travers la première révolution chinoise), which was prefaced by the French poet Paul Valéry.

Cheng Tcheng and T'ang Haywen shared a deep intellectual and artistic bond. Philippe Koutouzis, in his research on T'ang, discovered that Cheng Tcheng was a frequent visitor to T'ang's residence at 43 rue Liancourt in Paris, where he admired the trees in the courtyard and engaged in meaningful conversations with the artist. Cheng Tcheng's influence is believed to have inspired T'ang's adoption of a Taoist way of life, which profoundly shaped his artistic philosophy.

In September 1995, Koutouzis met Cheng Tcheng in Beijing, where they spent an afternoon discussing art, literature, and T'ang's work. Cheng Tcheng described T'ang as "a master of chiaroscuro—chiaro for water, oscuro for ink," and noted that "the color of his mountains exists between being and non-being." He also expressed his conviction that T'ang's art would one day "touch people in depth."

Cheng Tcheng's connection to T'ang extended beyond their personal friendship. He was a profound admirer of T'ang's ability to capture the essence of Chinese spirituality and nature in his paintings, and their relationship highlights the interplay between literature and visual art in their shared cultural mission.

Cheng Tcheng's contributions to literature, translation, and cultural exchange remain a cornerstone of 20th-century intellectual history. His friendship with T'ang Haywen and his philosophical vision of unity between cultures continue to inspire scholars and artists alike.

As Paul Valéry wrote in the preface to My Mother and I: "Rare are the delicious books, and rare are the books of real importance.... It can happen that a charming work is the sign of an epoch of the world... Mr. Tcheng's work makes me think of the dawn, of the pink phenomenon, which, by its tender nuances, insinuates and announces the immense event of the birth of a day."