With his artistic talent demonstrated in his childhood, Professor Wang Qijun published picture-story books when he was less than 20, said Hardy Yong Xiang, a professor in the School of Art at Peking University and a vice president of the university's Institute for Cultural Industries.

"Professor Wang Qijun's adeptness in different categories including arts and crafts, architectural arts, oil and traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy shows his profound art of composition," he said in his preface to Wang's new painting collection "Singing while Traveling in Nostalgia."

As a native of Jiangsu province, part of the Jiangnan region, Wang has painted riverside towns for many years.

He had his thesis "Picturesque Scenes in Dwellings in Jiangnan" published 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.

Peking Opera also originated in the Jiangnan region, developed to be a quintessential part of Chinese culture and became the definitive art form showing the value of the Chinese culture.

"Professor Wang Qijun, with his unique insight, selected Peking Opera as a theme of painting. No matter the long