What's on

Beijing

Opera for singer

The adventurous travels to Northwest China by the renowned songwriter Wang Luobin (1913-96) have inspired a new production by the China National Chinese Opera and Dance Drama Company (CODDC).

Titled In That Place Wholly Faraway, the opera follows Wang Ge, a young musician, who, embarks on a trip along the Silk Road with his lover Yushan in the 1930s. During his travels in the remote Northwestern provinces, Wang is moved by the beauty of the folk music he encounters and bases many of his compositions on the popular songs.

The opera will feature Wang Luobin's most famous songs, such as The Girl from Dabancheng Town, Lift Your Veil, A Crescent Moon Rises, In the Milky Moonlight and In That Place Wholly Faraway. Tan Jing and Zheng Qiyuan will play the lead roles.

7:30 pm, Aug 24, 25. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district. 010-6655-0000

Children's drama

The classic tale Journey to the West has been adapted into a three-episode drama for the stage by the China Children's Art Theater. The play, incorporating music, dance and kungfu, features the story of the Buddhist master Tangseng and his three disciples who travel to ancient India to bring back holy scriptures.

19:15 pm, Aug 13-15 (each day stages one episode), China Children's Art Theater, 64 Donghuamen, Dongcheng district. 010-6521-1425

Finger paintings

Veteran ink artist Cui Ruzhuo's solo exhibition of finger painting is running at the Museum of the Beijing Academy of Fine Art.

On show are over 200 huge hanging landscape scrolls, hand scrolls of flowers-and-birds paintings, and calligraphic pieces that he has created over the past decade.

Finger painting is a rare genre, created in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) by Guangdong artists Gao Qipei and Gao Fenghan, in which painters uses their fingers instead of a brush to paint images and write Chinese characters on the rice paper with Chinese ink.

It has been practiced and advanced in the last century by master painters such as Pan Tianshou and Li Kuchan.

9 am-5 pm, until Aug 19. Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, 1 Liulitun Beili, Chaoyang district. 010-6507-1285

Aboriginal art

An ongoing exhibition at the National Art Museum of China featuring Australian aboriginal art celebrates the Australian Cultural Year in China. Entitled Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert, the show displays the collection of the National Museum of Australia.

The exhibits were created by a group of artists from the Papunya desert area of the country in the 1970s. Highlights of the large oils on canvas include Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri's Budgerigars in the Sandhills, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri's Honey Ant Hunt and Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula's Dreaming at Kamparrarrpa.

9 am-5 pm, until Aug 26 except Monday. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district. 6401-7076

Fujian artists

The National Art Museum of China is hosting a group show of works by artists from East China's Fujian province.

The largest exhibition for artists from the province since 1949, it presents over 220 works of ink paintings, oil paintings, prints, lacquer paintings and sculptures.

A seminar on the achievement of Min Pai - the Fujian painting school - was held early this week at the museum, attracting over 100 scholars.

9 am-4 pm, until Aug 16. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district, 010-6401-2252/7076.东城区五四大街1号

Lights of August

Spanish artist Soledad Sevilla is holding her first solo show in China.

Entitled Lights of August, the exhibition features about 30 of her poetic and mysterious mixed media works, installations, and oil paintings.

9 am-5 pm, until Sept 12. Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, 798 Art Zone, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district. 010-5978-9530

Urban victims

A solo exhibition by South Korean artist Lee Do is being staged at the Hanmo Art Gallery in Beijing.

On view are over 50 of Lee's latest acrylic-on-canvas paintings.

His favorite subjects are urban women who are obsessed with owning luxury goods and jewelry.

"When their materialistic desires are satisfied, they seem to become overjoyed, forgetting things that really matter in their life. They are the victims of the surging wave of consumerism in Asia today," Lee says.

9 am-5 pm, until Aug 18. Hanmo Art Gallery, 798 Art Zone, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district. 010-5978-9915

Shanghai

Children's ballet

The Ukrainian Children's Ballet will give two performances, one of Snow White, the other, Cinderella.

The ballet will also perform at the Ukraine Pavilion in the Expo Garden on Aug 24, Ukrainian National Pavilion Day.

7:30 pm, Aug 14-15. Shanghai City Theater, 4889 Dushi Lu. 021-6217-2426

Secrets of family

The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center will launch its new production of the modern Chinese drama Thunderstorm, by playwright Cao Yu.

It tells of a family tragedy in which everyone struggles between love and hatred. When dirty secrets from the family - both present and past - are unveiled, everyone has to face the cruel truth about life.

7:30 pm, Aug 19-22. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 288 Anfu Lu. 021-6473-0123

Modern drama

12 Angry Men, by American writer Reginald Rose, will be staged in Chinese by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. The play presents a jury deciding the fate of an 18-year-old accused of murdering his father. These 12 ordinary men from vastly different backgrounds find they have to take the boy's life seriously and reconsider such concepts as justice, responsibility and respect for life.

7:30 pm, Sept 7-12. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 288 Anfu Lu. 021-6473-0123

Group show

The exhibition M816 features 10 paintings, sculptures and new media works by artists from M816, an art community in Xingxi village, Meilong town, Minhang district. Artists started to build studios here in 2007. Now M816 has become a new cultural center in suburban Shanghai.

9 am-5 pm, Aug 21-28. Duolun Museum of Modern Art, 27 Duolun Lu. 021-5671-9068

Modern ink art

M Art Center will present a exhibition devoted to contemporary Chinese ink art. Curator Wu Wenxing will put together the work of 14 artists. Gong Yunbiao is the academic director of the show.

10 am-5 pm, Aug 14-Sept 13. M Art Center, Building No 2, 50 Moganshan Lu. 021-6299-6610

Guangzhou

Alice's wonderland

A musical inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is now on. Alice in Wonderland is produced by l'Arsenal Musique of Canada, with an original score by Canadian composers Denis Gougeon and Yves Daoust. Canadian Chinese actress Yan Wensi plays Alice.

7:30 pm, Aug 20, 21; 3pm, Aug 21, 22. Guangzhou Opera House, Zhujiang New Town. 400-818-3333