Art beat in October

Famous teahouse to host Beijing-Taiwan exhibition

Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

The first Beijing-Taiwan Folk Art Exchange Exhibition kicked off on Thursday in Beijing's Lao She Teahouse.

The month-long exhibition showcases Taiwan wood sculptures, tea, pottery, as well as traditional handicraft from Beijing.

Folk artists will be on hand to perform their craft including those classified as an intangible culture heritage - Xishui's ink stone carving, and Yixing's clay teapots.

Sponsored by the Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs Association and the Beijing Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, it also includes seminars, tea parties, and the launch of a book on traditional Beijing culture.

Taiwan woodcarving and Yixing clay teapot artists will be available to talk with visitors.

Lao She Teahouse is a major venue for tourists from Taiwan, and has hosted figures such as Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang.

until October 26, Bldg 3, Zhengyang Market, Qianmen Xidajie, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6303-6830

Exhibits from a writing career

Chinese literature icon Wang Meng jokes that he considers writing his lover. He is among the few writers honored with an exhibition at the National Museum of China. The exhibition is arranged in five sections, according to the writer's milestones. With photos, videos and manuscript pages, it tells about Wang's trials with literature during his youth, his influential works, his difficult days in Xinjiang and the period he served as the country's minister of culture. One highlight is the manuscripts of Wang's first novel Long Live Youth, which have been well preserved since the book was written in the early 1950s.

9 am-5 pm, until Oct 27. South 8 exhibition hall, National Museum of China, No 16, East Changan Avenue, Beijing.

Purple pottery exhibition

He is widely known as the master of purple clay pot art. His pots are sold for more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) by auction houses. He is Gu Jingzou, China's master of pottery art. To show their respect for Gu's art, his apprentices, including pottery artists Li Changhong and Wu Yaping, are bringing more than 80 artworks of purple clay teapots to Beijing. The pottery artists combine Chinese traditional ink painting and calligraphy with teapot making and create different styles and sizes of the purple clay artworks. On display are pottery artworks of Gu Jingzou and his three apprentices.

9 am-5 pm, until Oct 27, no admission on Mondays. Capital Museum, No 16, Fuxingmenwai street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6337-0491.

Watercolor show

The National Art Museum of China continues its celebration of the 50th anniversary of founding with a new exhibition focusing on Chinese watercolor paintings. On show are works by established artists including Yang Taiyang, Gu Yuan and Ha Ding, and many paintings are making their public debut. The paintings on display are all from the museum's collections, including Gu's Along the Songhua River in which Gu depicted the breadth and tranquility of the mother river of Northeast China, and Yang's Rain, in which the artist infused languages of art of the East and West.

9 am-5 pm, no entrance after 4 pm, until Oct 28. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6400-1476.

Lang retrospective

Thanks to a generous donation from the family of Lang Jingshan (1892-1995), the National Art Museum of China is presenting an ongoing exhibition celebrating the lifelong achievements of Lang, known as China's "Top Photographer" as early as the 1930s and the "Father of Asian Photography". Lang became obsessed with photography in middle school. Working as a photographic journalist, he developed an interest in artistic photography by borrowing the elements of Chinese ink painting, and further formed the unique style of "composition picture". His works especially express the aesthetics of paintings of the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.

For more photos, here

9 am-5 pm, no entrance after 4 pm, through Oct 30. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6400-1476.