Visitors get a close look at the characters from fantasy films at the show The Future of the Visual Arts in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Large sculptures Weta Workshop designed for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are displayed at a silk factory that has been transformed into an art zone since 2014. The show continues through May.
Gandalf the Grey stands at the entrance of the water town, with colorful lanterns glittering above his head. In the distance, Smaug, a powerful dragon from The Hobbit films, looks into wooden houses inhabited not by those from the "Middle Earth" but the local Chinese.
"It's a good clash with the environment," Richard Taylor, co-founder of Weta Workshop, says of the contrast between the futurist exhibits and the old-world charm of Wuzhen.
