Shanghai author Jin Yucheng sketched illustrations for Blossoms (Fan Hua), his novel which evolves around the changing life scenes of Shanghai between the 1960s and '90s and won him the Mao Dun Literature Prize — one of the country's top literary accolades — in 2015. His sketches, although monochromatic but full of vivid details, have animated the depictions of words to accentuate the mixed atmosphere of a metropolis: quiet and meanwhile sleepless, slowly-paced in somewhere and hustling in elsewhere.

The experiences of illustrating for his own work navigated Jin further and more deeply into the world of art. Over the past decade, he has been creating as a painter who has built a highly individualized vocabulary of imagery. More than 100 works made from this period are being shown at Blossoms, his solo exhibition running through Oct 29 at the Nanchizi Museum.

The museum is seated at Nanchizi Street, a quiet neighborhood not far from the Palace Museum and surrounded by hutong alleys and centuries-old Beijing-style courtyard houses. It is built in the structure of classic Chinese garden like those in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

The architectural style and its historic temperament have created chemistry with Jin's work in which he expresses reminiscence of the modern atmosphere of Shanghai and the pace of its residents.

And yet, Jin has not only focused on the life of Shanghai. He has extended the audience's vision to a broader scope of the relations between city and its residents. He adopts a surrealistic approach to depict his observations of how city life has reshaped people's emotions and mentality, dwelling on the truth underlying the blooming metropolitan scenes.

Photos provided: Jin Yucheng's drawings reveal the truth of life underlying the hustle and bustle of city life.

Videos provided: Animations based on Jin Yucheng's paintings.