Ancient artists expressed their spirituality and their takes on relations between humankind and the world by creating flower-and-bird-style classical Chinese paintings. In a modern context, painters adopt the style these days to address concerns for nature and environmental protection.

An exhibition now at the China National Academy of Painting until July 27 teams up noted painters of the flower-and-bird genre.

The exhibition shows an enormous change in the long-standing style of which modern painters no longer focus on the microscopic world of plants and feathered animals. They depict the same motifs but have shifted to express the extensiveness of social changes and the importance of environmental conservation.