——Eastern Gongbi Meets Contemporary Aesthetics, Artist Collaboration Dragon Boat Festival Zongzi Launched Simultaneously
BeijingMay 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing, in collaboration with curator Yang Xuzi and artist Jia Chenlan, jointly hosted the art exhibition [Blazing New Horizons • Phoenix Rising in the East] at the hotel’s L-level art space. Simultaneously, they launched the artist collaboration edition “Blazing Like the Wind” and the hotel’s custom edition “Jade Hidden Treasures” Dragon Boat Festival zongzi gift boxes. Blending the elegance of silk gongbi painting, the auspicious symbolism of the East, artistic aesthetics, Dragon Boat Festival customs, and luxury hospitality, the event presents guests with a feast of Eastern aesthetics that transcends both vision and taste. On the opening day, representatives from lifestyle, fashion, and art media, industry artists, curators, and hotel VIPs gathered at the Lobby Lounge to witness the contemporary rebirth of traditional gongbi and the innovative reinterpretation of festive culture.
Opening Highlights
The opening ceremony of the [Blazing New Horizons • Phoenix Rising in the East] Jia Chenlan Art Exhibition was held on the afternoon of May 22 at the hotel’s Lobby Lounge. Mr. Alfonso, Regional General Manager of Marriott International, curator Yang Xuzi, and artist Jia Chenlan delivered opening remarks. Alfonso stated: “True luxury extends beyond exquisite service and spaces; it lies in the nourishment of culture and art. This collaboration with artist Ms. Jia Chenlan is a perfect continuation of our efforts to integrate Eastern aesthetics and contemporary art into the hotel’s daily experience. Ms. Jia uses silk as her canvas and brushstrokes as her rhythm, infusing the brilliance of the ‘Book of Songs,’ the auspiciousness of ‘purple air from the east,’ and the vitality of dancing phoenixes into her gongbi work. This elegance, strength, and rebirth align seamlessly with the aesthetic spirit pursued by The Ritz-Carlton. We look forward to every guest discovering the beauty of the East amidst ink and color, and experiencing a meaningful dialogue between tradition and modernity through the fusion of zongzi fragrance and art.”
Curator Yang Xuzi remarked: “Jia Chenlan has completed a contemporary deconstruction of traditional gongbi through an extremely restrained female perspective. She has significantly simplified the elaborate colors of traditional Chinese painting, using a minimalist background to unify the whole, creating a unique personal visual grammar of the East. This is not merely a technical innovation but an ‘ideal realm’ constructed from her inner spiritual world—an ‘Eastern fairyland’ stripped of historical heaviness and modern anxiety.”
Artist Jia Chenlan said: “On silk, colors blaze like the wind. I hope to use gongbi as a bridge, bringing traditional aesthetics into contemporary living spaces. In the art space of The Ritz-Carlton, I aim to complete a dialogue about Eastern artistic conception with every viewer.”
Exhibition Highlights: Purple Air from the East, Phoenix Dancing to New Life
This exhibition takes the artist Jia Chenlan’s 2024 representative work “Blazing Like the Wind” as its core inspiration, systematically presenting important series of works she has created in recent years. Using silk as a plain canvas and layering mineral pigments, the artist constructs an “Eastern fairyland” that blends classical charm with contemporary temperament.
Key exhibited works include: “Blazing Like the Wind” — The exhibition’s namesake inspiration piece. A white phoenix spreads its wings against a gradient of purple, with wingtips adorned in gold foil, sparkling like dancing fireflies. “Blazing” speaks to its magnificent splendor, while “Like the Wind” captures its ethereal grace, symbolizing female power akin to a phoenix’s rebirth, emerging anew from brokenness. “Dragon in Motion” — Inspired by Zhuangzi’s “Free and Easy Wandering” (“Riding the clouds and mist, driving the flying dragon”), it embodies the Eastern spirit through winding dragon momentum, evoking the dawn of all things as the sun rises in the east. “Pine Realm and Orchid Freedom” — Inspired by the “Imperial Indigo” glaze of Palace Museum porcelain, it creates tension between upright pine branches and unrestrained orchid leaves, with silver foil ground into a Milky Way ribbon, light flowing through the strands. “Flowers Play with Shadows • Moon Radiates Light” — Silver foil scattered into a clear, bright moon, embedded in the center of a flower cluster, drawing from the “Avatamsaka Sutra” (“The Bodhisattva’s cool moon”) to illuminate the true nature of all things. “Eastern Garden • Orchid” — “Buddha’s Head Blue” supports the fiery orchid, with flying white brushstrokes revealing inner tension, and the silver foil moon “transparent” like stars hidden in mist. “Purple Fire” Series — Dominated by purple tones, it takes the auspicious meaning of “purple air from the east,” blending Eastern auspiciousness, the philosophy of water and fire, and female spirit, igniting the blazing brilliance of contemporary “her power” in traditional gongbi. “Flower Goddess” — The romanticism of the monthly flower goddess is uniquely Eastern, “half elegance, half immortal,” embodying classical imagery of wisdom, beauty, youth, and love.
Additionally, works such as “Hibernating Dragon Raises Its Head,” “Golden Stamen,” “Treasure Box • Purple Lady,” “Immortal Dwelling,” “Bathing in the Wind,” “Spring Water Rippling,” “Dancing,” “Embracing Gold Dust • Resting in Cool Mist,” “Wave Hooves,” “Butterflies Crossing to the End of Dreams,” “Lantern Fairyland,” “Orchid Room,” “Sending You the Bright Moon,” “Viewing the Wind and Moon Unfolding,” “Green Pine and Bright Moon,” and “Clear Wind Brushing the Pines” are also on display, covering diverse themes such as dragons, phoenixes, flowers, moons, seas, butterflies, landscapes, and immortal dwellings, fully showcasing Jia Chenlan’s artistic pursuit of “weaving an Eastern fairyland with gongbi colors.”
Academic Perspective: The Contemporary Construction of an Eastern Fairyland
Jia Chenlan’s uniqueness lies in her use of minerals and silk as mediums, constructing a spiritual field through restraint and negative space. She abandons traditional formulaic coloring, instead employing single, high-saturation pink-purple and沉稳 cinnabar as base tones, complemented by brilliant pure gold foil—a contemporary activation of traditional mineral pigments and a masterful practice of transforming classical color systems into modern visual language. The eternal light of gold foil intertwines with the mysterious mist of purple, symbolizing the mature, strong, and reborn power of life after being tempered by time, becoming a universal symbol that transcends culture and geography. The phoenix, this divine bird standing atop human civilization’s totems, has evolved a striking “auspicious resonance” across Eastern and Western cultural rivers, despite being separated by mountains and seas. It transcends the boundaries of region and mythology, becoming a shared spiritual totem for all humanity.
Cross-Border Collaboration: Art Enters Zongzi, Dragon Boat Festival Brings Auspiciousness
The opening ceremony also launched The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing × Jia Chenlan artist collaboration Dragon Boat Festival zongzi gift box, extending aesthetics from the gallery to the dining table. The “Blazing Like the Wind” artist collaboration zongzi gift box (6 pieces, RMB 398/box) takes inspiration from Jia Chenlan’s painting “Blazing Like the Wind,” channeling the aura of “purple air from the east” and the posture of the dancing phoenix to convey hope for blossoming and rebirth.
The “Jade Hidden Treasures” Ritz-Carlton custom zongzi gift box (8 pieces, RMB 498/box) is inspired by Eastern elegance, taking the form of ginkgo leaves to symbolize enduring hearts, and the color of jade to hide the treasures of time. A box of deep blue, like the night sky embracing the moon; leaf veins faintly visible, like two hearts connected. May this Dragon Boat Festival, The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing convey sentiments through gifts, hide treasures in boxes, and allow festive blessings to transcend fleeting tastes, transforming into a beauty of life that can be carried and cherished.
Both gift boxes include classic flavors such as purple sweet potato zongzi, golden silk honey date zongzi, tangerine peel and red bean paste zongzi, five-grain zongzi, egg yolk and pork zongzi, and abalone zongzi. From now until June 19, 2026, these two Eastern-inspired zongzi gift boxes are available for purchase at the zongzi display stand on the L-level of The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing.
Gifting Art, Writing a New Chapter of Eastern Aesthetics
The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing is committed to integrating Eastern aesthetics and contemporary art into guests’ daily experiences. This collaboration with curator Yang Xuzi and artist Jia Chenlan is not only a presentation of a visual feast but also a deep dialogue on cultural heritage and contemporary innovation. From the gallery to the dining table, the “Blazing Like the Wind” collaboration zongzi allows art to cross boundaries and enter daily life, while the “Jade Hidden Treasures” custom gift box interprets sustainable living aesthetics through Eastern elegance.
The [Blazing New Horizons • Phoenix Rising in the East] art exhibition officially opened on May 22, 2026, and will run until August 18, 2026. The hotel looks forward to every guest pausing here, discovering the beauty of the East amidst ink and color, and experiencing the beautiful dialogue between tradition and modernity through the fusion of zongzi fragrance and art—this is the contemporary extension of The Ritz-Carlton’s spirit of “ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” in the cultural dimension.