Villagers admire paintings at the art exhibition in Houshe, Songyang county on Feb 22. [Photo/people.com.cn]

So far, 14 artists have opened studios in Houshe with the aim of better understanding and depicting rural areas. They promised to spend at least one month in the village every year and to open studios for the public more than 180 days a year.

Yang Xiaojin, an associate professor from the School of Art and Design of Zhejiang Sci-tech University, was impressed by the village during his first visit in December 2018 and decided to open a studio here. He said the natural scenes in Houshe are a source of inspiration for his creations.