Ye once said: "I like people. Most of the time, I study their movements, their mood, the atmosphere surrounding them and their relationships. I work hard on showing their physiques in motion."

Ye Qianyu: Research of His Themed Works and Illustration Art, an exhibition now on at the China National Academy of Painting, explores how the artist turned his understanding of figures from varying social ranks into artistic presentations.

On show are dozens of drafts he drew for The Liberation of Beiping, an ink-color painting that depicts a joyful scene of people in Beijing welcoming People's Liberation Army troops entering the historical city in 1949. He created the piece in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and it is now in the collection of the National Museum of China in Beijing.