An exhibition with works from Chinese artist Zhou Yibo was held by the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

Starting on Thursday, the week-long exhibition displays 13 calligraphy works and 19 traditional Chinese paintings by the artist.

The exhibition was named as Midnight Ink Soul, as the painter liked to work at night. His expressive and humorous paintings depicted scenes of both rural and urban daily life.

"I am very happy to have this exhibition in London which is to host the Olympics," said the 59-year-old painter.

"In today's world, those who have advanced culture have greater influence," he said. "I hope that I could help promoting Chinese culture to the western world.

Zhou is the first Chinese artist to have an exhibition in the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

"Chinese community is growing and people are showing increasing interest in the Chinese culture," said Simon Freakley, Chairman of the gallery.

His personal favourite at the exhibition is a 6.8-meter-long scroll which depicts people in the rural area went to watch an opera.

"You can feel the joy in it," he said.

It took Zhou about two months to finish the painting. "With the development of China's economy, people began to have more spiritual desire, and this picture just showed their happiness to watch the performance by actors from cities," Zhou explained.

Many of Zhou's paintings focused on an interesting moment in real life. For instance, a picture named as Refusing to Budge portrayed a man and a goat met on a single-log bridge, but neither of them wanted to step back to let the other cross the river first.

There are also images of folklore, proverbs and fables, such as Delivering Food which depicts a tale of over 4,000 years ago when according to legend people began to eat cooked food. All works are characterised by the use of simple lines and block colours in ink.

Ian Dejardin, curator of the exhibition, said he liked one called Stranger Again, which showed an old couple, perhaps after a quarrel, sat back-to-back.

"I think his pictures will be well accepted by British visitors, because British paintings shared a lot of things in common with the Chinese," he said. "British people like water color and loose style," he added.

Monty Davis is a painter who liked Chinese painting. He had been to many places in China over the past decades to learn. Marvelled at the strokes of the paintings, he said, "I wouldn't be able to make such a stroke even if I learn another ten years."

The quiet Zhou, from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, started his career as a factory worker and is now a local official. The calligrapher and painter is also professor at two local universities.

Also an accomplished musician, he could play as many as ten kinds of traditional Chinese musical instruments. At the opening ceremony on Thursday, he impressed visitors with performance of three instruments, including Xun, one of the oldest Chinese musical instrument which is thousands of years old.

Editor: MetalAllen