[Photo provided to China Daily]

Adding modern elements that contemporary people can relate to in their own lives has turned out to be "an easy way for the audience to remember the ancient paintings".

According to Zhu, the creative team started to prepare for the show in July last year. They researched many ancient Chinese paintings and spent lots of time working on the costumes, makeup and scripts.

History of the paintings is also vital as each episode of the show opens and ends with the historical background of the featured artwork.

He notes that the second season of the show may shift its focus to paintings portraying natural scenery and works that are larger in scale. One subject under consideration is the masterpiece Along the River During the Qingming Festival by 12th-century painter Zhang Zeduan, currently housed at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

The 5.28-meter scrolled painting gives a panoramic portrayal of flourishing urban life, covering all social classes, in Bianliang (today's Kaifeng in Henan province), which was the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).