A dragon dance is performed during the seventh Calligraphy and Painting Culture Festival in Zitong town, Chun'an county, Hangzhou on Nov 27. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The seventh Calligraphy and Painting Culture Festival was held in Zitong town, Chun'an county, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, on Nov 27.

Renowned as the birthplace of many famous paintings and calligraphy works, the town celebrated this year's festival with traditional Chinese performances.

During the opening ceremony, a road map for developing art in the town and a set of standards for outdoors sketching were released.

Zhejiang Art Museum signed a cooperation deal with the local government to promote the town's art development. A base for sketching from nature was also founded during the ceremony.

A woman sketches scenes from Zitong town. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Zitong gathers a large number of talents and provides a prime platform for artists to conduct exchanges, said Xu Jin, an artist working at Hangzhou Han Meilin Art Gallery.

In 2021, the town has received 400,000 visits, 10,600 of which were made by students coming to do outdoor sketches.