"This colorful painting combines features of Chongqing and Hong Kong, reflecting the painter's rich imagination. It's amazing!" On September 20, Shuren Sixian Primary School welcomed entries of the heat of the 6th Bauhinia Cup Cross-Strait and Hong Kong-Macau Youth Painting and Calligraphy Competition (Chongqing Division) in Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone (HTIDZ). Judges spoke highly of children's painting and calligraphy works.

The event attracted 16,000 students from 18 middle and primary schools and kindergartens in the Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone. After rounds of selection, 926 works entered the heat, and 270 of them were selected into the final of the Chongqing Division. They have also been uploaded to the CQCB (Chongqing Morning Post) app, competing for the Most Welcomed Work Award by voting, which will start from September 24.

Works of Kindergartener Group, including a creative face-changing collage, featured rich imagination

 "I really like this one. It's hard to believe that it comes from a child of kindergarten age." Zhou Xingyu, a representative from the Organizing Committee, was surprised at the works of the Kindergartener Group. She kept on recommending one work to judges.

A western painting work named Face-changing is very creative. Masks, pasted on a piece of paper, can be flipped like a book—turning one page is like changing a face, which is even funnier than the live performance. Zhou said from her experience at each round of selection, although some entries in other divisions were about Chinese opera, the collage with changeable faces was the first to be seen.

Zhou, as a 15-year learner and an inheritor of Sichuan Opera, was delighted to see kids endeavor to understand traditional cultures, saying she hoped this creative work could get good grades.

Works of Primary School Students Group are vivid and close to daily lives

Primary School Students Group always dominates the competition in terms of the number of entries, which accounted for more than half of the overall amount this time. Their quality also won judges' applause. Under diverse themes and with sophisticated skills, children embedded their naive and romantic imagination and careful observation of daily lives into their works.

Many of them integrated new and ancient elements in creation. For example, a painter put "well-armed" fighters against COVID-19 in ancient towns; another one drew a Chinese dragon in a fashionable CBD. These works are strongly impressive.

Calligraphy works from primary school students who have distinctive styles and complete layouts. Judges noted many children wrote classic poetry, which is good for learning and inheritance of traditional cultures.

Works of Middle School Students Group reflect their excellent techniques

"Traditional Chinese painting works by Middle School Students Group are outstanding in artistic conception. From the experienced painting skills and usage of ink, it's safe to say that they are adept in traditional Chinese painting." Gao Yang, one of the judges, said these works enjoyed varied themes, such as figures, landscapes, flowers and birds, and even Menshen (Door Gods), traditional Chinese operas, and other traditional cultural elements. Works about campus, family, and society also take up a considerable proportion.