What's on

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Rong Bao Zhai is a time-honored brand that began life as a small studio in 17th-century Beijing, selling paper, brushes and other materials used in Chinese ink art. It later evolved into a destination where reputed artists, scholars and members of cultural circles came not only to purchase quality tools and materials, but also to meet like-minded people.

Now with its first Youth Art Nomination Exhibition, Rong Bao Zhai has taken on a new role as a launchpad for young artists. Dozens of pieces, including classical Chinese paintings, calligraphy and contemporary art, are currently on display at its location on the historical Liulichang West Street in southern Beijing.

Mostly in their 30s and 40s, the artists featured represent the dynamics and diversity of art in China today. The exhibition will end on Jan 31.

9 am-5 pm, daily. 19 Liulichang Xijie, Xicheng district, Beijing.010-6303-2398.

Rites and wisdom

Home to a number of important archaeological discoveries, East China's Shandong province has an abundance of artifacts from different periods that are of great historical significance and artistry. But what do these pieces of historical evidence suggest specifically? What clues to the development of Chinese civilization do they reveal? And what picture do they present of events in Shandong and how they've changed history? The answers to these questions are revealed at The Evolution of Rites in the East, an exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum that has gathered around 400 objects from the collections of several Shandong museums. Running through to Feb 18, the exhibition underscores the role of Shandong as one of the origins of Chinese civilization. Artifacts on show include color-patterned pottery and jade ornaments from the Neolithic Dawenkou culture, ceremonial bronzes and Buddhist statues from between the fourth and sixth centuries, and ceramics made in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province.

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

Hues of red

Passion, anger, love, dignity, mystery, supernatural forces … the meanings of red, a color imbued with rich symbolism, vary from time to time and from culture to culture, and it is one of the colors most used to depict and express complex feelings and emotions. Red East-West, an ongoing exhibition at the Ici Labas gallery, investigates the diverse implications of red in the arts and in different cultures. On show are some 40 paintings, watercolors, prints, photos and installations in which varying degrees of red are presented, including images of animals, body parts, architecture and clothing. The show invites the audience to look back on the history of the use of red as a cultural and historical carrier, and to open up a dialogue between the East and West. The exhibition runs through to Feb 4.

10:30 am-5:30 pm, closed on Mondays. D10, 798 Dong Jie, 798 art zone, Chaoyang district, Beijing.130-0117-0598.

China Daily