Art beat(June 27-July 21)

Guangzhou

Looking at a writer's life through his death

Chinese literary figure Xu Zhimo (1897-1931) is known for his poems and flings with writer Lin Huiyin and socialite Lu Xiaoman. While many TV dramas, movies and stage plays about the poet focus on these romances, the Shanghai Drama Art Center's latest production takes a darker angle. It starts from the poet's obituary and digs deep into Chinese intellectuals' bitter struggles in the 1900s through reactions to the rumor of his death.

8 pm, June 29. Baiyun International Convention Center, 1039-1045 Baiyun Avenue South, Guangzhou. 020-8880-0888.

Banquet culture drama offers food for thought

Taiyuan Drama Troupe's latest production Fan Ju, which will be staged at the Guangzhou Opera House this weekend, lays bare the Chinese convention of dinner parties where the focus isn't the food but how the host talks guests into doing favors through toasts. Such dinner parties are called fan ju and are a social issue worth studying. The drama debuted last year and won the Golden Lion, the highest award given by China's government.

8 pm, June 29-30. Opera Hall of Guangzhou Opera House, Exit B1 of Zhujiang New Town metro station, Guangzhou. 020-3839-2888.

Frightened bunny women and weeping flowers in oil

Chinese oil painter He Duoling is displaying works created from 2009 to 2013 in the Guangdong Museum of Art until Sunday. The painter combines Western oils and traditional Chinese techniques to create poetically ethereal atmospheres. There's always a touch of loneliness and sadness in He's paintings. Some exhibits in the Guangzhou show include the series featuring a woman with rabbit ears and big eyes filled with fear. He's known for painting women and started sketching flowers last year. His "weeping" flowers are on show at the Guangzhou exhibition.

9 am-5 pm until June 30. Hall 1-2 of Guangdong Museum of Art, 38 Yanyu Road, Ersha Island, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou. 020-8735-1468.