Decades have passed on. Tan Xiaoping, hailing from Hunan province, remembers vividly the childhood excitement when once receiving a bunch of paper, made of bamboo fibers for writing and painting, as a gift, so that he could practice the techniques of ink painting. Then a boy living in a village of remote, he knew how precious the painting tools and materials were to support his interest in learning ink art.

Now an active ink artist, Tan has brought to Beijing more than 200 ink works, paintings and calligraphy, at his solo show at the art museum of China National Academy of Painting, running through Dec 23.

The exhibition traces Tan's development in mastering the three genres of Chinese painting — mountains and waters, flowers and birds, and figures, as well as an inspiration of the Dunhuang murals to enrich his vocabulary of ink art.