An exhibition displaying 100 paintings created by artists from Yudong village – administered by Quzhou city, in East China's Zhejiang province – opened on June 8 at the Zhejiang Exhibition Hall in the provincial capital of Hangzhou.

The paintings depict the landscape, day-to-day lives of villagers, local customs and rural culture with a unique style combining bright colors, naive motifs and a wide range of stylized elements. Some of them were created by people in their eighties and some were presented by children from the village.

A colorful picture depicts villagers making bamboo-weaving products in a bamboo forest in Yudong village. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

A charming naive painting of farmers [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

An illustration of students playing a basketball game in Yudong village [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Over the past five decades, the residents of Yudong have improved the quality of life through painting.

Lan Genliang, a 69-year-old farmer, has recorded the development of local agriculture and rural areas through works that span 50 years. His creations demonstrate the tremendous change that villages and farmers have undergone in the new era.

According to Lan, in the old days villagers mainly relied on farming for a living, but now they can earn an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,655) through painting on walls.