Art exchanges and exhibitions can come about for various reasons and one is taking place in Beijing after a brief social courtesy.

During a 2016 visit to Belarus, Wu Weishan, director of National Art Museum of China and sculptor, dropped by the studio of Konstantin Selikhanov where he saw dozens of statues of Chinese cultural figures, such as Qi Baishi, made by Selikhanov's grandfather, Sergey Ivanovich Selikhanov, who visited China in the 1950s.

This rediscovered link between two nations surprised Wu and motivated him to hold a joint exhibition of the grandfather and grandson sculptors at NAMOC a year later.

For years, NAMOC has brought Belarus art to the attention of home audiences and also, Chinese art to people in Belarus. An ongoing exhibition now on at NAMOC, running through to Sunday, continues the exchanges between the two sides.

On show are eight modern Belarusian artists whose works dwell on the social transformations in an ever-changing world situation, as well as people's reflection on history and cultural traditions, which has produced diversity and dynamics in the Belarus art landscape.