Agrand exhibition of some 40 award-winning traditional Chinese paintings, along with about 150 other samples is on display at the China National Art Museum in Beijing.

The exhibition for the First Lichang Cup National Exhibition of Traditional Chinese Paintings by Young Artists ends today.

Five top prize-winning artists -- Wu Yutao, Xiao Fan, Yang Yungao, Zhang Likui and Xu Hualin -- have been recognized for their well-crafted, visually refreshing works.

Each has melded a signature style with traditional Chinese aesthetics and approaches to create contemporary artistic concepts and new techniques, said critic Shao Daozhen.

The annual exhibition, with the theme of "inheriting the traditions while breaking new ground," is "aimed at providing up-and-coming young artists of traditional Chinese painting with an arena to shine and to arouse public awareness of the timeless beauty and value of traditional Chinese culture in the age of modernization and globalization," said Jin Shangyi, dean of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and head of the panel of judges.

Jin is satisfied with the progress the young artists have shown in mastering the art of traditional landscape and figure paintings but regretted that no works in the category of bird-and-flower painting captured the attention of the judges.

The exhibition is jointly organized by the China Literature and Arts Foundation, China National Art Museum, and Beijing Lichang Investment Co Ltd.

(China Daily December 29, 2003)