One couple, both artists, have been inspired differently by the borderland where they live.

The works of Shi Hong and Wu Yiying, depicting Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, will be shown at the National Art Museum of China till Sunday.

Featured art includes spectacular landscape paintings capturing the area, bringing deserts, rivers, deserted temples, mountain ranges and the ancient Silk Road to life in paint.

The weeklong exhibition "Wind of the Borderland" has been highlighted as one important part of the Xinjiang government's regional image promotion work in 2006.

Shi and Wu have been living in Xinjiang for over 40 years since they graduated in 1963 from Shanghai Academy of Drama.

Both have a strong passion for the borderland but approach it at different angles. The pair's respective painting characteristics have evolved and grown while living and working together for nearly four decades.

Shi uses the color green to express his fondness of nature and the strong local landscapes. His works are passionate and deliver messages of peace and happiness.

Wu shows her interest in historical sites, using the ruined sections of the ancient Great Wall, towers, cities, religious relics and ancient remnants as objects of her artistic language.

"I cannot help but arouse my romantic passion and imagination whenever I see the broken ancient constructions and sites," said Wu.

In the past 40 years, the couple has traveled many times to the riversides, desert edges and patches of grasslands to get a real taste of the sceneries before they represented them in their paintings.

(China Daily June 29, 2006)