Town portrait

In the next three years, the oil painting committee will also continue to provide instruction to Tunchang's oil painters, as well as invite Tunchang painters to showcase their work at exhibitions in Hainan's major cities, including Haikou and Sanya.

The fine arts school stopped enrolling students in 2018, and eventually closed in 2020.

Chen Chuantao, 48, son of the school's founder, started the Liuhe Painting Society in April of last year to teach children in the village oil painting for free, along with other volunteers.

He believes that the core of Tunchang's oil painting industry development lies in fostering talent. Twice a week, his organization provides oil painting lessons to a class of children from Xianliu Village Primary School. Most of these children's parents are migrant workers who left the village to work in big cities.

Chen Yating, a second grade student in the village, took classes with the Liuhe Painting Society. She thinks that oil painting is an emotional outlet and helps her better sense the beauty of life. "I can quickly observe and spot good things around me, and record them with my brush," she says. "I think my hand-eye coordination has been improved too."