An exhibition of 100 Chinese contemporary artists, which opened in London on Monday, has attracted great interest.

"It shows the high level of contemporary Chinese artists," Chinese ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said at the opening of the exhibition, named Blue & Yellow :Swift Transition of Self, in the Mall Galleries near Trafalgar Square.

"The young painters are expressive of their thoughts about the fast transition of Chinese society," he said. "While learning Western techniques, these artists bear distinctive Chinese characteristics in their paintings."

The artists are professors and students from four prestigious art schools in China.

Many British visitors were attracted to the paintings, like David Paskett, former president of the Royal Watercolor Society.

One of his favorite paintings was an oil painting from Kang Yi. On the yellow background, black and white brush marks made it look like figurative painting. "But looking closely, you can see figures borrowed from traditional Chinese paintings and the roof of the old Huizhou building," he said.

"Looking at these paintings, one might feel like swimming in the Chinese contemporary art. There is a lot of energy here," said Paskett, who has been to China many times in the past 25 years.

"I was always asked what Chinese paintings were like, but it was difficult to answer," he said. "Chinese artists of different ages came from different traditions."

Ren Daqing, 43, from the Nanjing University of Arts had four traditional watercolors on display. It was his first exhibit in the UK. "I hope that these works could be welcomed by British visitors," he said.

The 106 paintings on display will be auctioned on Saturday.

Li Qiangsheng from the Nanjing Yourun Property Investment and Management Co. Ltd, which sponsored the exhibition, said that they have received inquiries about the paintings from potential buyers.

He estimated the prices could be several thousand or tens of thousands of pounds.

Xinhua