A collision of pop and traditional cultures

An exhibition themed on the dragon, the Chinese zodiac sign for the next lunar year, kicked off at the Jing'an District Culture Center in Shanghai on Nov 3 and will run till Nov 17.

On show are artworks from a research and training program for inheritors of China's intangible cultural heritages. The program was initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and sponsored by the Cultural Development Foundation of Jing'an District.

For this program, the Animation Industry Association and Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts invited creative talents from the animation and pop art scene and inheritors of intangible cultural heritages to collaborate.

"The dragon is recognized internationally as the totem for the Chinese," said Zhang Wei, secretary general for the Animation Industry Association of Shanghai. "Artists collaborated for five months and combined new styles, forms and ideas with traditional handicrafts. These creations will help to introduce China's traditional culture to the global audiences," he added.