Chongqing- The China Three Gorges Museum and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute have become popular destinations for leisure tourism among local citizens during the National Day holiday and have been visited in large numbers as families seek to immerse themselves in the rich atmosphere and long history of artistic expression.

Inside the atrium of China Three Gorges Museum, young visitors created traditional woodblock New Year pictures with brushes dipped in paint and then applied them onto fine rice paper. Elsewhere, guests carefully assembled small wooden pieces according to a diagram, and before long, a true-to-life model of the Liberation Monument in downtown Chongqing was formed.

The Three Gorges Museum, Song Qingling Memorial Hall, Baiheliang Underwater Museum, and Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science have maintained regular open hours during the National Day holiday and have also prepared a fascinating series of exhibitions and activities for greater interaction with visitors.

The museums have been overwhelmingly popular with young families over the past few days. In one exhibition hall, a father knelt, introduced the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai to his son, and asked whether he remembered any of his famous poems recited at school.

Fellow visitors Mr. Shao and his wife brought their 3-year-old son from Shanghai just before the holiday began. Following visits to Fairy Mountain and the Natural Three Bridges in Wulong District, they came to the Chongqing Urban Area on a two-day itinerary. The China Three Gorges Museum is featured highly on their list of places to visit.

Once inside, Mr. Shao marveled at the scale of migration and natural magnificence of the Three Gorges. At the same time, he also felt amazed at seeing the golden military seal dating from the Western Han Dynasty, with a square base and intricately carved turtle figure sitting on top. Only 15 seals remain from this period of history, so this historical relic is a treasured exhibit of the museum.

Furthermore, University City Town, located in the west of Chongqing, is home to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, which has organized an exhibition themed on Chinese contemporary art from the years 1937-1949 and has received lavish praise from the large number of citizens who have come to visit during the holiday period so far.

One of the most popular exhibits has proven to be the Renwu Great Heat (12th solar term) piece of artwork, painted by Xu Beihong in 1942, and the Chinese painting Chongqing Night created by Zong Qixiang, who excelled at depicting night scenes from the 1930s-1950s. The impressive works of art prompted many visitors to take souvenir photographs using their mobile phones frequently.

At the same time, the rare series of miniature paintings named Zodiac, another famous creation of master painter Xu Beihong, also gained much admiration from guests as they eagerly searched for their astrological sign to take pictures of.

Xu Beihong was primarily known for his Chinese ink-and-wash painting of horses and birds. He was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a new modern China at the beginning of the 20th century.