An item on display at an exhibition depicting the Dongba culture of China's Naxi people. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

As part of the cultural activities to mark the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties, an exhibition dedicated to the Dongba culture of China's ethnic Naxi group opened in Tokyo last week.

More than 50 oil paintings created by contemporary Chinese painter Liu Liqun are on display at the China Cultural Center in the Japanese capital.

Liu is skillful in adding ethnic elements to his paintings. He is so enthusiastic about the Dongba culture - a unique culture of the Naxi people in Southwest China's Yunnan province - that he stayed in Yunnan for over three years to study the local history and art.

The Dongba culture dates back over a thousand years. The ancient Naxi people created pictographic characters called the Dongba script in the seventh century, which is now the only pictographic character system existing in the world.

During the three-year work, Liu has successfully fused the mysterious Dongba scripts and the techniques used in local rock paintings in his art creation.