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The spiritual domain

Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting, one of the long-term exhibitions at the National Museum of China, frequently rotates its diverse collection and features selections from an assembly of some 10,000 classic Chinese paintings and calligraphic pieces. It is currently displaying dozens of landscape paintings produced between the 15th and 19th centuries under the theme "Traveling Through Mountains and Waters".The mountain-and-water genre is one of the three main categories of classic Chinese painting. Painters depict not only the physical world before their eyes but also contemplate the relations between fullness and emptiness. The works on show reflect a high point in literati painting in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. This particular style distinguished paintings by intellectuals, especially those serving as imperial officials, from those by court artists and commercial painters. Literati painting normally combined a sought-after dialogue with the universe with a half-realistic, half-imagined approach to depict nature. Those on show include the famous Album of Eight Views of Beijing by Ming artist Wang Fu. The exhibition unveils to the audience the spiritual, aesthetic and philosophical world of the literati artists of past centuries.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.16 Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6511-6400.