Leisurely Moon, an oil painting by Wang Qijun, will be on display in the painting exhibition in Berlin.

A native of Jiangsu province, part of Jiangnan region, Wang has painted riverside towns there for many years.

He once had a thesis, Picturesque Scenes in Dwellings in Jiangnan, published in Art Research, a CAFA publication, to explain why so many painters have shown a strong interest in the riverside towns of Jiangnan. He wrote that they combine the beauty of traditional dwellings and that of river channels.

"Riverside towns have been very affluent since ancient times. So there have been many literati and painters in the region. In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911), famous painters from the region accounted for more than half of China's total. Painting their hometowns reflects the spontaneous flow of their powerful feelings," he says.

Last December, the Beijing Poly International Auction Co Ltd auctioned Wang's painting Slow Rowing, which fetched 240,000 yuan ($39,344). The Jilin Fine Arts Press published an album of Wang's works last November, collecting more than 40 oil paintings by Wang in recent years.

"Wang's painting exhibition is expected to boost the cultural exchanges between China and Germany, and enable Germen visitors to understand China's regional culture and traditional dwellings," Xu says.