Though autumn has technically arrived, the summer heat lingers on. This August, take a moment to slow down somewhere in Guangdong, step into a museum or gallery, leave the noise and heat behind, and simply enjoy some art. Here are our picks for exhibitions worth checking out:
Liu Heung Shing: Lens·Era·People
Circling Back to Guangzhou
This exhibition marks Liu Heung Shing's first solo public showcase in Guangzhou. In 1976, Guangzhou was where he took his very first photograph upon entering the Chinese mainland. Half a century later, he returns to the city that set his decades-long documentation of contemporary China in motion, a long-awaited reunion.
The first Chinese photographer to win the Pulitzer Prize, Liu has spent decades capturing pivotal historical moments and ordinary people across the globe. Curated with Guangzhou as its narrative starting point, the show gathers his iconic black-and-white documentary work spanning nearly 50 years. Beyond classic scenes from reform-era China, the collection also features images captured across the former Soviet Union, India, South Korea and more, opening up a cross-cultural dialogue about urban memory, openness, and how cities change over time.
Faces of the 1980s through Liu Heung Shing's lens. (ChunYangTai Art and Cultural Center)
Event Details
Guangzhou
Dates: August 8 to November 12
Venue: ChunYangTai Art and Cultural Center
Address: No.18 Qingyun Road, Langtou Village, Tanbu Town, Huadu District
Tickets: Adult ¥120; Student ¥60; Two adults ¥180
Where to get tickets: Via the WeChat official account of "春阳台" (pinyin: chun yang tai)
Boundless Sea, Endless Sky:
A 68-year Retrospective of Li Jinming
The Guangdong Museum of Art is currently presenting a retrospective of Li Jinming, one of China's veteran oil painters.
The exhibition marks Li's 68th year as an artist and brings together more than 50 representative works, including 20 pieces newly donated to the museum, across four themes: harbors and sea shanties, people and eras, travel and landscape, and home and daily life.
Having spent much of his life by the sea, Li has always perceived the world through color. Over nearly seven decades of practice, he has pursued a path of "freehand oil painting," blending the luminosity of Impressionism with the calligraphic brushwork of traditional Chinese ink to create a language that is both warm and powerful. His brush travels freely between glimmering fishing ports and the rhythms of everyday life, capturing the vibrant energy of coastal Guangdong and the quiet lives of ordinary people amid a changing era.
A work by Li Jinming. (Photo: Guangdong Museum of Art)
Event Details
Guangzhou
Dates: July 28 to October 11
Venue: Hall 16, Guangdong Museum of Art (Bai'etan)
Address: No. 19, Bai'etan South Road, Liwan District
Admission: Free
Reservation: Via the WeChat official account of "广东美术馆" (pinyin: guang dong mei shu guan)
"Granularity: Aligning…": Cross-media art action in Shenzhen
Bringing together 27 groups of artists, this cross‑media group show features more than 80 works spanning painting, installation, video, sculpture and new-media creation. Centered on the concept of "alignment," the exhibition examines how art can re-examine labor, daily life and urban experience within the fast pace of city life and its technology-driven surroundings.
Across four thematic chapters, it invites audiences to reflect on workplace culture, institutional constraints and individual perception in the digital age, and to reconsider the connections among the self, technology and the city.
Works on display at the exhibition. (Photo: Artron Art Center, Shenzhen)
Event Details
Shenzhen
Dates: July 26 to October 11
Venue: 5F Art Museum, Artron Art Center (Shenzhen)
Address: No.19 Shenyun Road, Nanshan District
Tickets: Adult ¥65; Concession ¥32.5
Where to get tickets: Via Maoyan or Damai
The Splendor of Luoyang: Cultural Relics from the Tang Dynasty
This exhibition gathers over 130 sets of precious cultural relics unearthed in and around Luoyang, one of the capitals of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) and one of ancient China's most important cities, including Tang‑sancai pottery, gold‑silver wares, stone carvings and brick reliefs. Arranged into three thematic sections, it unfolds the grand city layout of Tang‑era Luoyang, the daily life of Tang people, and the prosperous cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, of which Luoyang was a key eastern hub. Having traveled far from the Central Plains (China's ancient heartland) to Lingnan, these artifacts build a cultural bridge connecting northern and southern China.
Highlights include exquisite sancai horses and camels, elegant gold ornaments and ritual tableware, offering a vivid glimpse into the flourishing Tang Dynasty, widely regarded as one of the golden ages of Chinese civilization, and the open‑minded, cosmopolitan spirit of its imperial court.
Event Details
Foshan
Dates: July 16 to October 18
Venue: Foshan Museum
Address: No.13 Huakang Road, Lecong Town, Shunde District
Admission: Free
Reservation: Via the WeChat official account of "佛山市博物馆" (pinyin: fo shan shi bo wu guan)
Reporter: Li Muzi, Yang Shiyun (Intern)
Poster: Lai Meiya
