Editor's note: This report focuses on Chongqing as part of our special series, "Rising Star Cities," about Chinese cities whose annual GDP exceeds 1 trillion yuan ($155.4 billion, or more than the GDP of Qatar). At the end of 2020, there were 23 such cities. Click here for more stories on Chongqing. You can also explore our earlier coverage of Ningbo and Changsha.

There is an amazing place that exemplifies the aura of art in Chongqing – the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI). Going there will fill your heart with an "artistic spirit." It's not so much a university as a park. Every element of this college is designed to attract people's attention.

Established in 1940, it is the only art college in Southwestern China. There are two SFAI campuses; one is at Huang Juping, and the other is at University City in Huxi, Shapingba District.

SFAI became one of China's five academies of art in 1959. The other four art academies are the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, also in Beijing, the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in Guangdong Province.

The Luo Zhongli Art Museum, also known as Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Art Museum now, is the largest art museum in Chongqing. It was established in 2012, and construction was completed in 2014. After the construction, it became the new landmark of University City.

What's even more fascinating is that the external wall of the art museum consists of waste. The museum purchased broken tiles from many different factories. Therefore, the wall is cost-saving and environment-friendly. Moreover, because it is one part of SFAI, more than 30 students participated in the construction at that time.

"This work contains our understanding of art, culture and tradition, including our understanding of ecological protection, conservation and low-carbon, a comprehensive adjustment, or a reflection, and an opportunity," said Luo Zhongli, a contemporary Chinese painter known for his portraits of laborers in rural parts of China. His best-known work is "Father" (1980), an empathetic portrait of a wrinkled elderly man holding a bowl to his face. Also, he was the former director of the SFAI. The museum was built when he was the director of the institute.

Luo also added that the construction of the new campus of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts is another three-dimensional work of him after "Father."

The art museum is not simply a place for exhibitions. It is also a place for family gatherings and a place for parent-child activities, said He Guiyan, director of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Art Museum. In the beginning, they had a basic positioning for the museum that should serve the academy's teaching and serve as a platform to promote the scientific research and exhibition of the academy.

"We hope that the museum will be a rich and diversified place suitable for people of different ages, gaining something and feeling different power or experience from art," he said.

Talking about the art creation atmosphere, Luo said the city is the important element to affect the artists' creation. The mountains and rivers of Chongqing have fostered the character of the Chongqing people. And the "dock culture" is the origin of strong and fierce Chongqing people's character.

"I think the cultural difference between Chengdu and Chongqing is the basic reason for the difference in people's character," added Luo. But in fact, Chongqing people are very forthright and sincere. This trait has also become the reason for SFAI to continuously export its works and talents to the art world in the past two years.

(Cover: Luo Zhongli Art Museum, also known as the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Art Museum in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China. /CFP)

Videographer: Ma Tianwen, Zhao Yuxiang

Scriptwriter: Ye Qing

Video editor: Ye Qing

Executive producer: Wu Gang

Supervisor: Pang Xinhua