From black soil to paintings of oil

The black soil of Northeast China not only cultivates high-quality cropland and other agricultural produce, but it also nurtures the hearts and minds of the people living on it, primarily in the three northeastern provinces — Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.

Wang Jianguo is one of those who grew up in the region, and has been celebrating the expansive landscapes and its people with paint and brushes.

Wang's ongoing exhibition at the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting in Beijing, Scenery of One Thousand Miles, has dozens of works on display that evoke the strength of nature and the vigor of social life through forceful strokes and vivid colors. It runs until Jan 7.