Arts students beautify village in Ningxia

Project part of autonomous region's cooperation agreement with university

Traveling more than 2,000 kilometers from southern China, 42 students and six teachers from Huaqiao University's College of Fine Arts in Fujian province visited Minning township in Yongning county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, over the summer break to take part in an outdoor art project.

The students, including eight from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan, were separated into three groups for their 18-day stay, which began on July 17.

The group's main task was painting murals on the walls of Yuanlong village－some 2,000 square meters in all－depicting subjects that reflected Fujian and Minning.

Hong Kong student Daniel Liang was visiting Ningxia for the first time, a place he'd thought desolate and cold.

That impression changed after he arrived in Minning. He noted that the government had turned the town into a beautiful place in a relatively short time, and he said he felt lucky and proud to be Chinese.

"It was both a pleasure and meaningful to create a cultural bond between Ningxia and Fujian," he said.

In 1996, Fujian paired with Ningxia as part of the country's poverty alleviation program.