Macao artists are making their debut in Beijing in a group show entitled "Chinese Treasures" at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) until November 25.

The exhibition features 269 paintings, calligraphies, prints, posters, photographs and video works by 98 Macao artists.

Through various forms the artworks show the eight cultural and natural attractions in China that are registered or applying for registration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as world cultural and natural heritage sites.

With their fresh perspectives and passionate brushworks, the artists have depicted such sites as the historic monuments of Macao, the Honghe terraced fields of Southwest China's Yunnan Province and the Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province.

The artists made sketch tours to the sites last year, organized by the cultural institute of the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

"When we launched the project we couldn't imagine there were so many artists on the small island with a population of 400,000. Finally, 183 artists handed in more than 1,000 works," said Chen Yingxian, curator with the institute.

The exhibition showcases the quality and characteristics of artistic creations in Macao, said Chen.

The 269 works on display were selected from more than 1,000 submissions by a judging committee consisting of President of the China Academy of Fine Arts Xu Jiang, renowned Japanese designer Shigeo Fukuda, New York-based Chinese artist Gu Wenda, Chinese ink artist Zhou Kai and photographer Wu Jiabao from Taiwan Province. Most of the featured artists are natives of Macao.

"The names of Macao artists are quite unfamiliar in Chinese mainland art circles except for a few that arrived from the mainland like Shi Hu," said Yang Lizhou, director of the NAMOC.

Macao was the conduit through which Western oil painting, watercolor, print and photography techniques first landed in China in the 19th century, said Chen, but local art groups have had few contacts with their mainland counterparts in recent decades.

(China Daily November 22, 2003)