"Painting Jiangnan (the lower reaches of the Yangtze River) and painting it well is my lifetime commitment," says Yang Mingyi, an ink-color painter who hails from Suzhou, Jiangsu province, one of those sparkling towns in Jiangnan.

Yang, now 79, has created a body of works praising Jiangnan's ever-changing beauty, poetic atmosphere and cultural depth which have cultivated generations of intellectuals, artists and luminaries in different areas since ancient times. An exhibition now on at the National Art Museum of China traces Yang's career over the past five decades, showing his paintings and prints which vividly present his attachment to Jiangnan not only as his hometown, but also a spiritual haven that keeps inspiring him.

The exhibition also reviews Yang's connections with several modern masters of Chinese art, such as Wu Zuoren and Huang Yongyu, bringing together letters he exchanged with them, photos, manuscripts and paintings gifted from them to offer an individual perspective of the development of Chinese art over the past four decades. The exhibition runs through April 27.