A visual odyssey of China's longest river

In 1973, Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) and several other artists embarked on a months-long journey along the Yangtze River, starting from estuarine Shanghai and heading westward to Chongqing, a major city upstream.

The small group observed and sketched all the way in preparation for a wall painting commission that Wu later described as "an appealing assignment". Recalling the moment they reached mountainous Wanxian county, now Wanzhou district of Chongqing, Wu wrote that he was struck by "a lively scene of bustling riverside docks, busy boats and crowds of people".

Decades later, artist Zhang Wenchao undertook his own journey along the Yangtze, from Yichang in Hubei province to Chongqing. He traveled alone, armed with a camera, rather than a sketchbook.

He later transformed his observations into a 10-minute video work, Wading Across the River, portraying what he calls "a realm where the river connects different times and spaces, leaving traces of the origin of Chinese civilization".

He says the work seeks to inspire new perspectives on history, community and cultural identity.

Today, Zhang's video work is presented alongside Wu's vivid oil landscapes inspired by the latter's multiple journeys along the Yangtze. Wu was nurtured by the river, having grown up in Yixing, Jiangsu province, within the Yangtze River Delta.

Their works now meet in the exhibition Clear Waters Flow Eastward, on view until Thursday at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, forming a painterly odyssey of China's longest river.

According to curator Wei Xiangqi, nearly half of the artworks in the exhibition have rarely been displayed in recent years. The exhibition weaves together artistic interpretations and historical narratives, presenting the Yangtze not merely as a geographical presence but as a living cultural continuum shaped by memory, labor and imagination.

He says while the Yangtze nurtured brilliant early-stage civilizations, such as the Lingjiatan, Sanxingdui and Liangzhu cultures, "its magnificent scenery of both the mainstream and tributaries has provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists of all time".