Photo taken on November 27 shows that villagers are drawing traditional Chinese paintings in a painting studio in Wushi Village, Xiaohe Township, Liuyang. (Photo/Guo Liliang, Hunan Daily)

 

Xiaohe Township is located in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has beautiful scenery. At the end of 2016, the township launched a new development mode of “Tourism + Culture + Poverty Alleviation”. A village studio was opened. Professional painters were invited to teach the villagers free of charge. Painting venues and consumables were also provided free of charge. Painting works were sold together, and participating villagers were paid by the piece. Painting has gradually become a new job in Xiaohe Township.

 

Generally speaking, it takes three steps to complete a landscape painting: painting the rocks and mountains; painting the trees; and, coloring. Each villager completes one step. A landscape painting can be completed in a few hours. According to different complexity, each painting is priced at a range from 8 yuan to 15 yuan.

 

"These hand-painted works have large market potential. They were mainly sold as household decorations to countries and regions including Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao," said Mr. Meng from an art company.

 

At present, Xiaohe Township has over 430 villager painters, including more than 50 poor villagers, in 6 painting studios. Some villagers have also established family painting studios. Xiaohe Township can sell more than 50,000 landscape paintings a year, with an output value of more than 2 million yuan. It thus is reputed as the "Landscape Painting Township".

 

Source: en.changsha.gov.cn