Classical Chinese paintings used a roll of paper or silk as canvas, in a horizontal or vertical style. They were thereafter rolled out for appreciation to the delight of an individual or a gathering of acquaintances.

Handscroll paintings, laid out in the horizontal format, provide continuous perspectives for one to enjoy their details. Famous examples include Qingming Shanghai Tu, the vivid 12th-century genre painting by Zhang Zeduan.

The current exhibition at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang, As Picturesque as Mountains and Waters, shows 66 hanging landscape scrolls. Through viewing these pieces, one senses a pursuit of harmony and the unity of humanity and the universe by ancient artists. It runs through April 10.