What's on

New prints

Some 90 years ago, Lu Xun, the noted writer and avid collector of prints, set up a research unit for woodcuts in Shanghai. He introduced his collection of modern European prints to youngsters, which inspired the "new wave woodcut movement" and encouraged artists to make prints as a way to address social issues and people's concerns. This cultural phenomenon initiated by Lu Xun continued for decades and influenced generations of artists who kept their creations in pace with the times. In 2021, the Shanghai Artists Association launched an annual exhibition, Year-After-Year Archives, to showcase the development of contemporary prints by local artists. The second exhibition is being held at the Liu Haisu Art Museum through to Feb 19, and displays works that depict cityscapes, urban life and, most importantly, people of varying social ranks who have contributed to social progress.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.1609 Yan'an West Road, Changning district, Shanghai. 021-6270-1018.

Women of history

In Chinese history, Fu Hao, a royal consort of the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) ruler Wu Ding, was a woman who led a life of glory — she was a military commander, ceremony administrator and mother of the heir to the throne. Aspects of her life are revealed on objects unearthed from her tomb in Anyang, Central China's Henan province, and also oracle bones from her time. One engraved ox scapula, for example, bears inscriptions suggesting that she had just delivered a baby and was asked if the process was smooth. This object is now on show at Women and Femininity in Ancient China, an exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum displaying dozens of selected artifacts from the collection of the Nanjing Museum in East China's Jiangsu province. The statues, pottery pieces, paintings and other objects present insights into the lives of women centuries ago. While conventional roles such as being a wife or mother are displayed, the exhibition also shows the women's artistic talents. The exhibition ends on Feb 27.

10 am-6 pm, Monday, Wednesday-Friday; 10 am-7 pm, Saturday and Sunday. 1 Man Lam Road, Sha Tin, Hong Kong. 852-2180-8188.

Ceramic show

Throughout centuries, artisans have perfected their craft and influenced aesthetics by molding a mixture of water and clay into various shapes, then firing them into fine ceramics. The earthy apparatus, glazed with creamy coating, lights up people's houses and lives and reflects their takes on beauty and the relations among people, materials and the soil. From Clay to Apparatus, an exhibition now on at the Bund Finance Center in Shanghai, brings together ceramics by dozens of artists from China and Japan. The show investigates the traditions of ceramic-making. Meanwhile, it shows how artists in the two countries, both with a long history of creating elegant ceramics, ushered tradition into a modern context to renew the techniques and to create new aesthetics taste. The exhibition, running through to Feb 28, at the Kyoto House, initiates "a dialogue "between Chinese and Japanese artists and explores ways to realize the show's aim of "delivering emotions through objects".

Bund Finance Center, 600 Zhongshan Dong Er Road, Huangpu district, Shanghai.021-6366-9999.

China Daily