Joyous Occasion in Taihang Mountain Area by Chinese Wang Yidong.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Some exhibitions have progressed to be more creative, but they haven't developed to the extent of being recognized as independent voices.

Although Beijing International Art Biennale was founded as a platform mainly dedicated to paintings and sculptures, it has displayed a few installations and video works in recent years.

Liu has always believed that "highly raising the flag of classical art" marks this show differently from others. "I have never thought painting as out-of-date. It has found the soil of survival here in China," he says. "One can always present rich content and hail the spirit of modernity on a limited, flat surface. Why should people abandon such an amazing form of expression?"

Tao Qin, deputy secretary-general of the China Artists Association, says two works to be shown have enormously overwhelmed her.

One is a bronze sculpture titled Ghetto Child by Australian Anastasia Contoguris. It depicts a Jewish boy terrified by war and the winter.

Another is an ink painting on silk titled The Soul of the Takla Makan Desert - The Twelve Muqam. Its painter, Liu Xuanrang, pays tribute to the "mother of Uygur music" with a simple but powerful palette.

Tao, who is also the show's chief curator this year, says both works blend with the theme for the 2015 Beijing art biennale: memory and dream.