Year of cultural exchange refreshes China's image in Latin America

Artists perform during a performance showcasing traditional Chinese operas at a theater in Lima, Peru, Nov 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

In October, Mexican archaeologists uncovered thousands of fragments of a 400-year-old shipment of Chinese "export-quality porcelain" long buried in the Pacific coast port city of Acapulco, revealing the rich history of ties between China and Latin America.

The Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange introduced a new and modern China to younger Latin American audience.

"As you wander through the first rooms, you realize that Chinese contemporary art is not really how you had pictured it," Mexico's monthly lifestyle magazine Gatopardo wrote of "Masterpieces."

Wu Weishan, sculptor and director of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), said the exhibits showcased "the most representative works by the best artists of contemporary China."

Like artists around the world, they are experimenting with new art forms as well as using traditional techniques to create artwork that is unexpected and multilayered.

"China's fine arts draw experience from western arts in the search for transformation, but they also inherit tradition," said Wu.

"What Chinese and Mexican cultures have in common is that both are pursuing innovation while trying to preserve tradition. That practice creates a virtuous artistic environment," added Wu.

The exhibition, which runs through Feb 19, also features the highlights of NAMOC's collection, which includes such traditional folk arts as intricate shadow puppets and paper cutouts.

"Masterpieces," the magazine Gatopardo said, offers "a unique opportunity to see a collection of artwork that helps to stop stereotyping a culture and an era... as well as an opportunity to strengthen the union between two cultures, as Wu said."