New school

The Shanghai School of painting emerged and developed quickly in the 1930s, and reflected the exchanges between Chinese culture and art from abroad at a time when Shanghai was a booming, dynamic and diverse metropolis, reshaping cultural appreciation in the city. It changed the appearance of classic Chinese painting, rendering to the style a modern tendency that addressed urban aesthetics. New Shanghai School, Emerging Powers, an exhibition at the art museum of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, is dedicated to the latest developments of the Shanghai School, and displays work in a variety of art forms by young teachers at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. Chinese paintings, calligraphy, oil paintings, sculptures, prints and art of other kinds are on show. The exhibition was conceived as a summary of their explorations of art and art education over the past three years, and reflects the social and cultural influences that the international city has on local art. The exhibition runs through to Dec 18.

8 am-4:30 pm, Mondays to Fridays.99 Shangda Lu, Baoshan district, Shanghai. 021-9692-8188.

Fantasy world

Out of This World, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, invites the audience on a trip into the fantasy worlds created by the featured artists, and to discover the intimate sides of the viewers themselves. Running until March 17, the exhibition has tasked 24 artists to provide new perspectives on understanding human beings and the world. Visitors to the exhibition are to reexamine themselves through the eyes of the imagined characters created by the artists, or viewers may enter the microcosms of the plants, insects and birds to be granted different views of the universe. This is a show to rekindle people's interest in their surroundings, to evoke their deepest emotions, and in the process to offer an opportunity to heal.

10 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.12 Hele Lu, Xingqing district, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. 0951-8426-111.

Cross-cultural views

Phenix Varbanov comes from a prominent, multiethnic family. His mother, Song Huai-kuei (1937-2006), was a fashionista and cultural influencer, while his father, Bulgarian artist Maryn Varbanov (1932-89), helped introduce fiber art to China's art scene while teaching in the country for years. Nurtured in such an environment and having lived in different parts of the world, Phenix Varbanov has adopted an approach to art which demonstrates his cultural background and endeavors to not make recourse to obvious symbols of either. These efforts are the ground on which his ongoing exhibition, Neither, is based. His work on paper blends the techniques and forms of ink painting, sculpture, drawing and photography, and their unique textures are reminiscent of the peaks and valleys seen during a flight. The exhibition runs until Dec 31 at the Ici Labas gallery in Beijing.

10:30 am-5:30 pm, closed on Mondays. D10, 798 Dongjie, 798 art zone, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 130-0117-0598.