Visitors look at Chinese oil paintings on display at the China Cultural Center in Berlin, June 11, 2018. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

Since China's reform and opening-up in the 1970s, Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province has grown from a poverty-stricken fishing village to a first-tier city in today's China. When economy booms, so does art industry.

Themed Opening and Integration, a new exhibition underway at the China Cultural Center in Berlin showcases 40 oil paintings created by artists in Shenzhen's Dafen village, Longgang district, to show the prosperous art development in the city.

Chen Jianyang, head of Chinese culture center, said at the event's opening on June 11 that Dafen village has now become a leading demonstration area in China's cultural sector. Dafen is also the biggest base for commercial oil painting production and trade in China, according to Shang Boying, deputy head of Shenzhen's Longgang district.