Beauty in North, an oil painting by Wang Qijun. Huang Zhiling/China Daily

Beauty in North, an oil painting by Wang Qijun, was sold for 1.1 million yuan ($171,880) at the Beijing Hanhai 2015 Autumn Auctions on Friday.

Wang, professor of the Beijing-based China Central Academy of Fine Arts, is famous for mingling with ordinary people and doing paintings in a true-to-life style.

"His figure paintings are in a realistic style. He is good at depicting the work scene of ordinary people of different nationalities and the touching moment in their life," said Du Zhesen, an art critic in Beijing.

Message of Spring, an oil painting by Wang three years ago, gives testimony to Du's comment.

In December 2001 when Wang was chatting with an old Tibetan woman in Lixian county, Sichuan province, her son called from outside her hometown. The joy of the woman who had purchased commodities for the upcoming New Year in answering the call touched Wang, inspiring his painting Message of Spring.

The painting was placed at the entrance to the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing during the National Day holiday last October when the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Culture jointly held a painting exhibition.

Wang has visited many Tibetan-inhabited areas including those in Sichuan many times.

His book Contemporary Realistic Oil Painting Techniques will be published by the Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House. He hopes that more readers will share his realistic painting techniques.