Liu Hongwei, 37, a friend of Meng, said Meng invited him to go on the Kuala Lumpur trip, but Liu declined because he was too busy at work.

"I really wanted to go. If Meng had insisted more, I would have gone with him," he said.

Liu said he is praying for all the passengers.

Yin Shi, the secretary-general of the Jiangsu Artists Association, confirmed that two painters and the wife of one of them were on the plane.

"Liu Rusheng, a director of Nanjing Painting and Calligraphy Academy; a painter, Wang Linshi; and Liu's wife, Bao Yuanhua, took the plane after attending an art exhibition in Malaysia," Yin said. "Some colleagues said that another two painters from the academy, Dong Guowei and Zhao Zhaofang, were also aboard.

"We are trying to connect with the missing people's relatives and comfort them."

Li Junfeng, a friend of Liu's, said they had planned to talk about work issues after Liu came back from Malaysia.

"I felt so shocked and saddened when I saw his name on the passengers list this morning," he said.

Also on board was Memetjon Abula, also known as Mai Mai Ti Jiang A Bu La, as printed on the award certificate presented to him by the Malaysia Chinese Assembly Hall. The Uygur painter, born in 1979 in Kashgar, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, teaches at Kashgar Normal University.

His friend, Kurbanjan Samat, a cameraman with China Central Television, posted on his verified micro blog that Memetjon Abula was with the group and on board Flight MH370. He also posted photos of Memetjon Abula with the award certificate he received in the Malaysian capital.

Kurbanjan Samat told China Daily that Memetjon Abula has been taking refresher courses at the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting for two years, while his wife stays in Kashgar to take care of their 9-year-old daughter, who attends school there.

Kurbanjan Samat received a call from Memetjon Abula on March 1 to talk about the visit to Kuala Lumpur. Kurbanjan Samat was too busy with work to meet Memetjon Abula, whom he hadn't seen for a year. That was the last time they talked.

"We've been friends for eight years. He is not a talkative person, but he can go on and on about the topics of fine arts and especially the oil paintings that he loves deeply and is so devoted to," Kurbanjan Samat said.

"He always looks for opportunities to learn new things about oil painting. Most of the paintings on my micro blog were created during his studies in Beijing, which show his broadened vision of art."

Cang Wei, Huang Zhiling and Dai Wenxiu contributed to this story.

The Star in Malaysia and Asia News Network also contributed to this story.