African art is flourishing in China with a number of exhibitions and performances having taken place in recent times.

One of the highlights of the “Meet in Beijing 2008 Culture Events” was the African Night staged on August 1 and 2, which gathered nearly 100 artists from South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritius, Senegal, Rwanda, Cameroon and Kenya, presenting an African visual feast for Chinese audiences.

This was the first time African Night was held in Beijing after the Sino-African cooperative forum closed in Beijing in 2006.

Another event, “The Africa and the Olympics Exhibition” held from July 29 to August 3 also sought to deepen the cultural exchange between China and Africa.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality and the State Administration of Radio Film and Television, the exhibition displayed 70 pictures recording the wonderful moments of the athletes from Africa performing at the Olympics.

The images also presented scenes of the Olympic flame passing through Africa capturing the essence of the various African nationalities.

Often when we think about Africa, traditional notions of “primitive” arise, though this is simplistic and cannot stand for all the characteristics of African art.

Historically the African continent saw the earliest origins of humanity and as such is a cradle of ancient culture.

Throughout time different tribes have created a variety of artworks and themes of their art are often adopted from religion and totems but African art is more than just sculpture.