"When my great-uncle took his students to the banks of the Neva River in St Petersburg, I followed them. He gave me paint, brush and canvas when I was 5 and encouraged me to draw the things I liked in my heart, whatever they were. That's how I fell in love with oil painting," Yan recalls.

That her great-uncle stressed the importance of using paint lumps and texture, not lines as many artists in China do, to reconstruct the images on canvas influenced her understanding of the art. "The objects should be analyzed and understood by a painter, and she or he should first draw the objects in her or his mind, not simply copy them straight from the real world," Yan says.

Her first series of oil paintings, which focuses on the harmonious relationship between the people and the crested ibis, has been exhibited in many places nationwide, and many experts say her works can awaken people to the need to protect flora and fauna, nature as a whole.