Liu Jianhua's Yiwu Survey focuses on the export trade, a pivotal move for China's economy in the 2000s.

In the work, Liu produced a container of goods made in Yiwu in Zhejiang province, a city that attracted thousands of businessmen from across the globe for its small commodities.

The container is open, with goods - such as plastic trash buckets, coat hangers, toothbrushes and swing rings - falling out.

The Shanghai-based artist says he made several visits to Yiwu and was stunned by the scale of goods shipped to cities across the world and the number of businessmen from various countries there.

"I felt clearly the pace of economic development when I was in Yiwu, as well as the connection between China and the world," says Liu.

In Yu Hong's work Girls of Baota Mountain, the oil painter depicts a phenomenon she discovered during her visit to Yan'an in Shaanxi province, a city that was once home to the central government of the Communist Party before 1949.

In her picture, a girl dressed like a soldier poses for a photographer in front of a landmark in Yan'an.

"The pagoda in Yan'an was a sign of China's revolution. Now people treat it as a tourist landmark," says Yu Hong.

Three other artists, who were from younger generations, concentrated on factory workers.

Video artist Yang Fudong used five screens to show the lives of miners in Shandong province while multimedia artist Cao Fei trained her lens on factory workers in the southern part in China where there are factories that produce goods exported to other countries.

The youngest among the three, Sun Xun, made a 3-D short movie Time Spy inspired by his visits to watch factories in Switzerland.

If you go

10 am-6 pm, through Jan 31. Guardian Art Center, 1 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6518-9968.