New Year Paintings of China, part of the productive protection activities of China National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) program, made its debut at the Prince Kung’s Palace Museum (PKPM) in Beijing on March 30.

Themed "Stories in the Paintings", the traditional paintings exhibition sets out to reflect the Chinese style of national paintings and aesthetic standards among Chinese people.

The exhibition collects fine works from their origins: Weifang in Eastern China’s Shandong province, Pingyang in North China’s Shanxi province, Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu province, Huaxian in Central China’s Henan province and Tianjin municipality.

It is worthwhile to notice that Xinjiang’s New Year’s paintings in Shanxi province, manuscripts of Huaxian’s New Year’s paintings and Suqi’s lantern paintings in Henan province have all been made available to the public for the first time.

Sun Xuguang, director of the Prince Kung's Mansion Management Center of China’s Ministry of Culture, said that New Year’s paintings mark the longings and expectations of the general public to a better life.

“To hold such an exhibition at the Spring Equinox, the fourth solar term of the year, is a responsibility our center should take to promote Chinese traditional culture and build more cultural platform,” Sun added.

New Year’s paintings, a form of decoration art in China, have close relationships with social life and customs in ancient and modern China. Some contents in the New Year’s paintings have drawn from Chinese classical stories and traditional operas.

The Dream of the Red Chamber, Three Kingdoms and The Yang's Saga, all well-know stories with Chinese local characteristics, can all be traced back in the exhibition.

The traditional exhibition New Year Paintings of China lasts till April 12.

Source: chinaculture.org