Scrolls of beautiful Xiaoxiang unfold the past and present of Hunan

The beauty of the Xiaojiang and Xiangjiang rivers, in Hunan province, has been presented in poems, paintings and historic stories, one of the famous works associated with the rivers being the tale of Erhuang and Nyuying jumping into over the deep grief of the death of their husband, Shun, the legendary emperor in ancient times.

Xiaoxiang has become the synonym of Hunan to symbolize the natural scenery and cultural accumulations which have cultivated Hunan people's spirit to persist with.

Over the past three years, dozens of artists in Hunan completed seven landscape paintings, in long scrolls, to hail the views of Hunan and its history. They are now on show at Great Beauty of Xiaoxiang, an exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, in Beijing, through to Nov 7.

Supported by Hunan's provincial federation of literary and art circles, the exhibition gathers dozens of paintings to investigate on the development of landscape paintings in the province.