Featuring 115 precious artifacts from over ten cultural and museum institutions across China, the Liaoning Provincial Museum’s blockbuster exhibition, China in Poetry and Painting: The Poetic Realm of Chinese Painting, has become a magnet for traditional Chinese culture enthusiasts worldwide. Standing out as the undisputed “star of the exhibition” is the Northern Song Dynasty copy of Tang Dynasty painter Zhang Xuan’s Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing. Due to the cultural relics preservation requirements, this masterpiece is scheduled to be withdrawn from display on March 1, 2026. If you haven’t made it to the exhibition yet, time is running out!

As a top-tier national treasure, the painting epitomizes the exquisite aesthetic taste of ancient Chinese people. Through masterful techniques, the painter captured the vibrant grandeur of the flourishing Tang Dynasty in breathtaking detail. During the Spring Festival holiday, queues for this masterpiece painting stretched long. One visitor from Shanghai, who waited almost 45 minutes, remarked, “The wait was long, but standing before this artwork filled me with an intense sense of pride. Our traditional culture is truly something to behold.”

The Northern Song copy of Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing was last exhibited six years ago, and its next appearance will be another long wait. However, it is delightful to note that starting March 1, the museum will exhibit its reproduction made in 1954 by the renowned painter Feng Zhonglian, who was a pioneer of ancient painting reproduction since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Her exquisite copy will remain on view until March 29, 2026.