While the realistic gongbi style of traditional Chinese painting is generally considered to lack imagination and be less capable of expressing emotion than freehand brushwork, painter Yu Jigao said he disagrees.

"The two major genres share the same spiritual essence, which is the expression of the meaning and spirit," said the 81-year-old painter, considered one of the most outstanding living Chinese artists in the traditional painting style of gongbi, or bird-and-flower fine brushworks.

Gongbi paintings usually depict birds and flowers, symbols of beauty and joy, in an artistic way with intense color.