What's on

Drawn from abroad

Illustrations for different reading materials, such as books and magazines, help readers of many ages better understand the content. Meanwhile they also stand alone as quality works of art for fine techniques and colors. Image of the West, an illustration exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum, gathers such works by acclaimed artists in Europe and the United States. It is a celebration of imagination. The paintings on show reinterpret fairy tales and literary works, many of which are also quite familiar to Chinese audiences. Some were for original stories created by the illustrators themselves. The bulk of the works, on show until Feb 28, are from the collection of Fondation Les Maitres de l'Imaginaire, an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, which seeks to collect works by renowned illustrators of children's books from around the world. The rest are works by Etienne Delessert, the foundation's founder and a graphic artist in his own right.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. Tsinghua University, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-6278-1012.

Mountains of opera

Visitors on the Snow Mountains, an original Chinese opera based on the 1963 domestic movie of the same name, will be staged in December. Set in the early 1950s on the borders of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, it involves the love story between a 16-year-old girl and a young man, both from Xinjiang, and how they helped the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army suppress spies. Soprano Dilber will play the leading female role in the opera. Born in Kashgar, Xinjiang, she has performed with the National Opera House of Finland since 1988. The creative team behind the opera includes composer Lei Lei, director Chen Xinyi and librettist Yi Ming.

7 pm, Dec 3 to 6. National Center for the Performing Arts. No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.

Seal of approval

In 1933, ink artist Qi Baishi achieved a major breakthrough in art and began to garner fame in the cultural circles of Beijing. Also a noted seal-making artist, he once carved out four characters on a seal, zhiji you'en, which means remembering the kindness from best friends. This anecdote inspired curators at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, an institution famous for its rich collection of Qi's works, to mount an exhibition focusing on Qi and those in his close personal circle. The ongoing exhibition, Kindness from Bosom Friends, will run through Jan 31 and shows artworks which are a testament to the support Qi received from six people, who helped the master artist progress and innovate, or introduced his art to wider audiences.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 12 Chaoyang Gongyuan (Park) Nan Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6502-5171.

Variations in performance

Bass-baritone Shen Yang's art song concert will feature a program of pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, including The Last Rose of Summer, from variations on six folk tunes for flute and piano, and Russian folk song, Beautiful Minka, from variations on a Russian folk song for flute and piano. Flutist Gergely Ittzes, pianist Konstantinos Valianatos, violinist Julia Glenn and cellist Yeonjin Kim, will perform at the concert.

7:30 pm, Dec 4. National Center for the Performing Arts. No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.

Scripture and verse

Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka, a 900-year-old Buddhist canon discovered in Guangsheng temple of Zhaocheng, Shanxi province, in 1933, is a reprint of the first woodcut copy of the Buddhist Tripitaka scriptures dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The 4,900 or so volumes kept at the National Library of China is seen as one of the four most precious treasures of the institution. Another 19-meter-long volume of the canon from private collection, part of the annotation of the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, is on an exhibition tour in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou before auction on Dec 20.

10 am-5 pm, Nov 27 to 30. Rongbaozhai Mansion, No 19, West Liulichang Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6303-5279.8:30 am-8:30 pm, Dec 1 to 3. Shanghai Library, No 1555, Middle Huaihai Road, Xuhui district, Shanghai.021-6445-5555.

9 am-5:30 pm, Dec 5 to 6.Hangzhou Library, No 58, East Jiefang Road, Jianggan district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.0571-8653-5011.