One October morning this year, the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History presented an extraordinary sight. An art exhibition on the second floor displayed a row of arrestingpaintings that were a stark contrast to the typical Chinese ink paintings with their homogenous style. These were a collage of a wide variety of materials - sand, shells, straw, newspapers, cottonwool, iron tablets, woodshavings and even hair.

The special exhibition mainly depicted the landscape of east China's Zhejiang Province, seen through African eyes. Some of the 52 paintings were brought by four African artists from Gabon, Malawi, South Africa and Togo. The rest were created during their journey of cultural exchange in Zhejiang, overwhelming visitors with the rich and diverse combination of Sino-African cultural elements.  

A wide canvas

As one of the important activities in 2014 African Culture in Focus, the art exhibition brings the expected effects. According to Huang Yun, Director of the Foreign Exchange Department at Cultural Center of Zhejiang Province, the exchange activity is a seven-week project hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture.  

The past two years have witnessed a boom in cultural exchanges between China and Africa. Huang told ChinAfrica that it was not the first time the province had hosted such an exchange. Artists from Namibia, Chad, Burundi, South Africa and Liberia participated in such activities last year. These exchanges aim to promote people-to-people as well as civil-society interactions and the implementation of the African cultural visitors' program.

The program sees African artists spending one and a half months in Zhejiang, exploring the scenery and cultural customs, painting and interacting with locals.   

Illuminating trip

The scenic beauty of Zhejiang and the vibrant Chinese culture inspired the paintings done in residence. The visiting artists went to the campus, towns and villages and explored the mountains and the countryside to get a first-hand understanding of the province's unique culture. They also visited local museums, including the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum and the China Knife, Scissors and Sword Museum.

Minkoe-Minze Marcellin's eyes shone with excitement as he described his trip to local Buddhist temples and museums. "I am very interested in Chinese Buddhist temples and arcane symbols in Chinese culture," the artist from Gabon told ChinAfrica. "From the museums, I learned about the history of China's dynasties. That is very interesting."

Marcellin is an innovator whose work for the exhibition combined different materials including shells, newspaper, wood, wire and iron. "I loved the trip," he said."From Beijing to Hangzhou, from the countryside to an island, the monks at the Zhejiang Lingyin Temple and others treated me so cordially."

In recent years, China's grand real-life scenery performances have attracted a large number of foreign tourists. Well-known repertoires, such as Impression West Lake and Thousand Year's Feeling of Song Dynasty, aroused the interest of the African visitors too. In addition, they visited the 2014 Hangzhou China Cultural and Creative Industry Expo to get a glimpse of Zhejiang's diverse culture. 

Broadening horizons

They also went to Anji County, a famous artists' village, and the Waitongwu Arts Village to meet local farmer painters and participate in a variety of village activities. The other destinations were Chinese oil painter Yang Shenzhong's studio, the School of Art in Zhejiang International Studies University and the Hangzhou Arts Vocational School, where they interacted with the teachers.

Huang said this year, the cultural exchange activities are far more diverse, including peer interactions, field trips, painting and exhibitions. The visitors were encouraged to paint more during their sojourn and interactions with Chinese artists from different genres that were arranged to broaden the former's horizons and whet their artistic imagination for better work.

The cultural center produced a portfolio of the work of the four visiting painters. Though their styles vary, all explore Chinese folk customs and culture. West Lake and Anji bamboo have found place in the paintings, which combine Chinese and African elements.

Noah Ezer Kapitapita from Malawi specializes in portraits with a texture effect created by using different materials. Due to an earlier visit to Tianjin in 2002, China is a special place to him. He enjoyed the art of communication, so much so that he has rounded up a selection of his works. South Africa's Jahni Wasserfall has depicted her inner world in her paintings.

"The exchanges offer us a chance to appreciate unique African culture forms, through which we strongly feel their passion for life and the arts," said Yang Yueguang, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture. He was very pleased with the outcome of this exchange."The African artists' paintings show distinct personality and charm, as well as their love for Zhejiang and China. I believe that they will share their thoughts about the trip with their friends when they return home and enable more Africans to learn about the real Zhejiang and China. I think this is the power of culture." 

Cultural bonds

It was the second time that Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture organized an African artist exchange activity.

It got Marcellin thinking. Now he intends to share his experiences in China with his peers in Gabon, and hopes to have the opportunity to hold an exhibition in the Chinese Embassy in Gabon, or at a bigger venue in Libreville, the capital of Gabon.

Marcellin thinks both China and African countries will strengthen their ties through art exhibitions and cooperation between culture departments and artists' associations. He also wants more bilateral exchanges and mutual learning in terms of Chinese ink paintings, calligraphy, and Chinese art paint." I believed that our embassy is able to facilitate the further cultural exchanges between both sides," he added.