April 17 / HONG KONG

Elements en pointe

The Hong Kong Ballet's Choreographic Showcase for 2011 takes the five elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth as inspiration, highlighting the power to create, destroy, control and dissolve.

The program presents five dancers from the ballet, who will step into the role of choreographers to create dance pieces interpreting the themes of human relationships, the precarious balance between man and our planet and new beginnings.

8 pm. HK$150-350.

Hong Kong Cultural Center,

10 Salisbury Road, Kowloon.

852-2734-2009

April 18 / Shanghai

Go Back for Murder

In the play by Agatha Christie, staged in Chinese, a talented artist was poisoned 16 years earlier. His wife was sentenced to prison for murdering him, and died in the cell. Now their child, 21-year-old Carla, goes to a young lawyer for help, with a letter from her mother, who wrote that she didn't commit the crime.

7:30 pm, until May 1.

Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 288 Anfu Road.

021-6473-0123

April 19 / BEIJING

Liangzhu jades

The Beijing Arts Museum is showcasing 79 jade pieces from Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou, from the best of Liangzhu culture.

Liangzhu, situated on the north bank of the Qiantang River and to the southeast of Taihu Lake, was at the heart of the last Neolithic jade culture (5300-4200 BC) in the Yangtze River delta. Its area of influence included nearly half the country and its jades have long been prized.

Until June 12.

Beijing Arts Museum,

14 Wanshousi, Suzhoujie,

Xisanhuan Beilu, Haidian district. 010-6845-6997.

April 20 / Shanghai

Form is Formless

The group exhibition seeks to correct Western misconception of Chinese abstract art, and emphasize the genre's philosophy and characteristics. The Contrasts Gallery exhibition will showcase the works of nine Chinese artists - Feng Mengbo, Lei Hong, Qin Feng, Qi Yufen, Tan Ping, Wang Dongling, Zhang Jianjun, Zheng Chonbin and Zhu Jinshi.

Until May 31.

Contrast Gallery,

181 Jiangxi Zhonglu.

021-6323-1989

April 21 / BEIJING

Olivier Assayas

Olivier Assayas, an independent filmmaker and former Cahiers du cinema critic, started his film career in the mid-1980s. His individuality and diversity soon marked him as an innovator in the great traditions of French New Wave Cinema.

This month, UCCA Art Cinema and the French embassy present a series of Assayas' most outstanding films, with some of the most talented leading ladies in contemporary cinema.

Through April 23. Art Cinema, UCCA, 798 Art Zone,

4 Jiuxianqiao Road,

Chaoyang district.

010-5780-0220

April 22 / BEIJING

Shi Jingsong's art

Artist Shi Jingsong exhibits his latest work from the past three years at Today Art Museum. Born in 1969, Shi now lives and works in Wuhan. He portrays daily life and design and the authoritative force behind it through a normal, family-life perspective. His work includes sculpture, installation and on-site drama. His smooth and elegant steel cutting installation, accomplished with a cold, silver light, is well-known.

Today Art Museum,

Pingod community,

32 Baiziwan Road,

Chaoyang district.

010-5876-0600

April 23 / Shanghai

Heterotopia

An exhibition of Jiang Hai's works will kick off today at Duolun Museum of Modern Art. Jiang's paintings focused on how humanity becomes alienated in the society. He laid emphasis on the spiritual essence of individual lives as opposed to history and reality. These paintings of stimulating bright colors and high-tension compositions were created from the early 1990s to 2010.

Until May 8.

Duolun Museum of Modern Art, 27 Duolun Road.

021-5671-9068