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Testimony of classics

The successive reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, three powerful emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), saw social stability and prosperity. The period also resulted in high productivity in arts and crafts, and the three emperors' personal interest further promoted the making of the works to decorate the imperial palace.

One of the trends at the time was to adopt the classic styles and motifs from previous times. For example, ceramics were modeled in the shapes of bronze ware of the Shang (c. 16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c. 11th century-256 BC) dynasties or featured color arrangements of porcelain from the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Historical Witnesses, an ongoing exhibition at the Shenyang Palace Museum in Liaoning's provincial capital, shows a selection of Qing court treasures fashioned in the old styles. Ceramics, paintings and calligraphy pieces are featured, some of which were created by the three emperors who were self-assured of their cultural accumulation and art taste. The exhibition runs through to Nov 15.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.171, Shenyang Road, Shenhe district, Shenyang, Liaoning province.024-2484-3001.

Spiritual resonance

Xie He, the painter and critic who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries, laid down the "six principles "of Chinese painting that have influenced artists over centuries, and one of them is to present spirituality and naturalism. In his art career spanning more than four decades, Ma Lu has been pursuing that principle while also reinventing it with a different approach, oil painting. Ma, a retired professor of oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, has enriched the presentation of his works via a journey through figurative to abstract styles. The evolution of Ma's art can be seen at a solo exhibition through to Saturday at the Yunshang Art Museum, a Gothic-style architecture at the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting in Beijing. On show are his paintings, drawings and sketches from different periods, surveying Ma's experience that has reformed his viewpoint of art. Born into an artists' family and trained at the CAFA, Ma studied in Germany for two years, which exposed him to the developments of abstractionism, expressionism and other genres of modern art. He returned home and, while he taught, explored to find his way of expressing Chinese aesthetics. He says painting is to depict something beyond one's sight, deep in one's heart and mind; it is something as expansive and profound as the universe.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.1704 Culture and Art New Street, Gaobeidian, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-8773-9533.

Magic of lines

French illustrator Serge Bloch has experience with children's and teen literature, as well as magazines, rendering his works a diverse perspective when seeing the world. He has utilized the simplicity and changing forms of line to create a world of art with innocence, humor and wit, enjoying popularity among both children and adults. Hello, the Line, an exhibition in Beijing, is showing Bloch's illustrative works, in which he presents creativity in using lines to depict the world and people. He has also incorporated daily objects, such as fruits, vegetables and a fried egg, among others, in his creation. The exhibition invites people to embark on a journey of imagination to feel the "magic of line". The exhibition ends on June 11.

10 am-6 pm, closed on Mondays. W4, Beijing Fun, Qianmen, Xicheng district, Beijing.

China Daily