Shanghai leads way with nocturnal art studies(4)

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In addition to art courses, the fall semester includes more practical and lifestyle lessons to better cater to demand.

For example, classes on business etiquette and making PowerPoint slides have been set up for the first time, aimed at helping young people prepare for work.

A sign language class has been launched to enable participants to communicate with people with impaired hearing, and hopefully to help build a volunteer team to serve those with such conditions. A social networking class featuring pets and bridge playing has also been added.

Tao Xin, deputy head of the training department at the Shanghai Mass Art Center said: "We hope that participants can gain a basic knowledge of subjects they are interested in through the 12-lesson courses we provide. Apart from the art courses, we are also looking to cover subjects such as fashion, lifestyle, culture and sports."

The class venues are also becoming more diverse. Evening art courses used to be held mainly in cultural centers, but in the autumn, they will also be staged in luxury hotels and museums.

Wanda Reign on the Bund, which is located in the heart of Shanghai and features spectacular views of the Bund, the Huangpu River and Pudong skyline, will become the first hotel in the city to host evening art courses. Participants will learn to play the zhongruan, a traditional stringed instrument, at the venue once a week.

An exhibition hall featuring the life and times of Soong Ching Ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen, will extend its opening hours to cater to evening art courses. It will stage lessons in flower arrangement, basic piano playing, and dramatic performance from next month.

Wu, curator of the Shanghai Mass Art Center, is calling for more venues and market entities to join the evening art course program to offer additional public cultural services.

"We hope to build a bridge of communication through these art courses to enable more people to interact with each other, improve aesthetic literacy, and promote physical and mental health. Shanghai is home to over 20 million citizens, and our final goal is to equip them with one art skill each," Wu said.

Such art courses are not confined to Shanghai, as the nation is working continuously to meet people's intellectual and cultural needs.

Numerous cities across China have introduced similar programs in recent years, such as Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, and Luoyang in Henan province.