Art competition calling for entries from across country

The tourism bureau in the city of Kunshan, Jiangsuis province says that it is soliciting freehand works depicting the natural scenery and cultural landscape of the city.

Watercolor, oil painting, ink drawing, pencil or marker work, or computer graphics are all admissible. And the bureau suggests that they be accompanied by a 20 to 50-word story.

Works can be posted to the competition webpage of Tianya.cn, an online community with more than 100 million users, until May 10, and the final choices will be announced on June 16 after an Internet vote and an appraisal by a panel of experts.

For the winners, there is a grand prize of an iPhone 7 or iPhone 6s. And there will be a best visual-effect award, an online-popularity award and a Jiangnan style award, for the work that best reflects the charm of the water towns in the area south of the Yangtze River.

Five towns in the suburbs of the city are possible areas for the participants to look for inspirations:

Zhouzhuang is a 900-year-old water town of 800 households of native residents. Its charm has inspired many painters, such as Chen Yifei and Wu Guanzhong. The painting Zhouzhuang created by Wu sold for $30.4 million at the Poly Auction's spring sale in Hong Kong, on April 4.

The town of Jinxi, which has a tranquil air, is imbued with romantic tales about the Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the Concubine Chen. It is also home to a number of private museums with artifacts such as clay pottery and ancient bricks and tiles.

The town of Qiandeng is famous for its 1,000-meter long stone road and the Qinfeng Pagoda, which was built during the Southern Dynasties period in 503 and is now a relic site under national protection.

The town of Bacheng, next to Yangcheng Lake, is home to the popular hairy crabs.

Dianshan Lake town, next to the Dianshan Lake, is home to rich aquatic lives and has developed a string of leisure and sport facilities.

One work submitted for the competition, titled Jinxi, a town in the suburb of the Kunshan city. [Photo from Kunshan Tourism Resort]

Weaver in the town of Zhouzhuang, in one of the works submitted to the competition. [Photo from Kunshan Tourism Resort]

Typical canal town scene with bridges and old architectures, one of the drawings submitted for the competition. [Photo from Kunshan Tourism Resort]