What's on

Highlighting rituals

Figure paintings that depict Taoist and Buddhist themes add to the distinction of classical Chinese art, in terms of the richness of the palette, content and brushwork. The abundance of underlying historical and cultural messages reflect the exchanges between the East and the West, with the communication inspiring local artists, artisans and art patrons to create and enrich homegrown styles of art. The Capital Museum is showing selected Taoist and Buddhist figure paintings from its collection at The Boundless Universe in Paintings. The works are from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, when the genre of figure painting gained momentum, backed by booming commerce and urban life. A category of this style of art in spotlight at the exhibition is the shuilu ("water and land") painting, which was commissioned for shuilu fahui, a ritual assembly of the Chinese Buddhist repertoire. It was held to show reverence to deities and saints and to pacify spirits on land and in water. Shuilu paintings, attesting to both high society and grassroots pilgrims, epitomized the rituals and social customs related to this kind of event in ancient times. They are important in the study of religious beliefs, aesthetic evolution and social life of the Chinese living centuries ago. The exhibition runs through to July 23.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 16 Fuxingmen Wai Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6337-0491/92.

New Year paintings

Few people do it as a warmup celebration for the Chinese New Year these days, but putting up nianhua, or New Year paintings, used to be an essential part of family life to help intensify the festive mood and express wishes for a year of harvest and peace. New Year paintings, once a predominant craft across the country, were normally produced in the formats of woodcut or half-woodcut, half-painting, and varied in style from region to region to form several hubs of production. China in New Year Paintings, an ongoing exhibition at Guangdong Museum, allows people to savor the intense atmosphere of Spring Festival in a display of 300 works, as well as materials and tools of making them. They are from several museums in the well-known production centers of woodcuts and New Year paintings, such as Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Wuqiang in Hebei province and Foshan in Guangdong province. In the vibrant paintings, one can "enter a world of immortals" from Chinese mythology and the figures are depicted as guardians to protect people from illness and the evils and to guarantee a stable, prosperous life. Some other paintings show daily scenes of life in an atmosphere of relaxation and prosperity, such as family gatherings in a well-designed hall or children playing in a courtyard. The exhibition runs through to March 29.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 2 Zhujiang East Road, Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province.020-3804-6886.

Investigating sound

Southwest China's Guizhou province is inhabited by several ethnic groups and famed for its magnificent landscape and diverse culture and arts. That has motivated creators of contemporary art to make installations, which are now on show at Blooming Echoes. The exhibition has been mounted by Beijing Times Art Museum. It shows 14 artworks that investigate the role of sound — from living things in nature, city life to artistic activities — as an embodiment of history and culture. Artists Zhao Yan, Liu Haofan and Xiao He are jointly presenting a work in which singing and performances of musical instruments of ethnic groups in Guizhou are interwoven and take on a new look with the help of artificial intelligence. Another artist, Zhang Zhen, has created a work showing the distinctive Danxia landform and the rich water resources of the province, reflecting on the interaction between people and the environment, technology and social development. The exhibition runs through to Feb 27.

10 am-10 pm, daily. 69 Fuxing Road, Haidian district, Beijing.132-4080-6818.

China Daily