What's on

A cure for the blues

Penicillin, a Chinese indie rock group, who rose to fame in the summer of 2019 after appearing on the popular reality show, The Big Band, produced by major video-sharing platform iQiyi, will give a concert featuring their original hits, including A Rainy Night in Manchester. Founded in 2012, the band consists of leading vocalist Zhang Zhexuan, better known by his nickname, Xiao Le, bassist Zhao Zhao and drummer Yang Yuhao. All in their early 20s, they started playing in front of fewer than 10 people at School, a small live-music venue hidden in a Beijing hutong, and now they have a stable fan base with about 1 million followers on Sina Weibo.

8 pm, Dec 24. Hangzhou OoEli Space, No 398 Tianmushan Road, Xihu district, Hangzhou. 400-188-6980.

A key performance

Celebrated Chinese pianist Lang Lang will give a recital, featuring repertories including Robert Schumann's Arabeske in C Major and Johann Sebastian Bach's The Goldberg Variations. The pianist released a new recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, featuring both a studio and live version of the same piece, in Beijing on Sept 4. In support of the new album, he is touring nationwide. Bach published the Goldberg Variations in 1741 and today it is considered as one of the best examples of its type. Written for the harpsichord, the work consists of 30 variations and an aria.

7:30 pm, Dec 27. National Center for the Performing Arts. No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.

The art of generosity

Late scholar, connoisseur and collector of Chinese antiquities Rong Geng once said, "Knowledge should be shared and used by all people. "Mr Rong's Great World, an exhibition at the National Art Museum of China until Jan 3, unpacks the diverse spiritual and cultural world of the learned scholar, offering a glimpse into his vast knowledge, his devotion to education and his generosity in sharing his findings with people. On show are nearly 300 objects, including paintings, calligraphy works, carved seals, manuscripts, letters and books once owned by Rong. They not only reflect his academic accumulation over the years but also form the basis of his well-rounded scholarship in the realm of Chinese cultural traditions. During his lifetime, Rong donated nearly 200 bronze objects, ranging in age and category, to the State, with the oldest dating back more than 2,000 years. All are now housed at numerous public museums and universities. It is believed that, to this day, Rong's donation is still the largest made by any private collector of such antiquities to the country. He also donated more than 1,000 classical Chinese ink paintings and calligraphy works, one of the largest submissions of ancient art on paper the country has received.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district.010-6400-6326.

An artistic journey

In his triptych of 2019, A Theater of Waiting, Xie Nanxing depicts three daily scenes at an airport: People wait in lines for security checks and at boarding gates, and sit in an aircraft cabin waiting for takeoff. He renders the common scenarios with a theatrical feeling, arousing the interest of the viewers in the individual stories of the people in the paintings: Who are they? What do they do? And where are they going? He also raises questions about the state of waiting and the uncertainty of the future, which are at the heart of his solo exhibition, A Roll of the Dice. The show at the Galerie Urs Meile's space in Beijing's 798 art district, which will run through Jan 31, displays a dozen paintings including A Theater of Waiting. Hung on blue and red walls, the works offer a glimpse of the spiritual theaters of romance and novelty in Xie's mind.

11 am-6:30 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. D10, 798 East Street, 798 art district, 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district. 010-5762-6051.

China Daily