A synchronized exhibition of paintings created by teenagers opened on Saturday aboard China's Tiangong space station, which is orbiting about 400 kilometers above Earth, as well as in Beijing and the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).
The exhibition, themed "I Love My Motherland," features a stunning display of 75 paintings created by teenagers from all over the country.
A total of 75 outstanding paintings were selected from a pool of over 20,000 submissions from teens across the country. The paintings arrived on the space station aboard the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft last month.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition held at the Macao Science Center, the three astronauts of China's Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission conducted an on-orbit display and introduction, sending their heartfelt wishes from space.
Two artworks created by Macao's teenagers have also been selected for this exhibition. They are titled "Blessings to the Motherland" and "Future Space Station Cosmic Plan."
"We have witnessed together the prosperity of our motherland and the rapid development of the motherland. This painting is also a wish for the future development of our nation," said Wong Wing Hang, a student of Premier School affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School.
"This year marks the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. I wish for both the motherland and Macao to become even better," said Lai Cheuk Yin, a student of Pui Ching Middle School.
This is the first time that the exhibition is being held simultaneously in space and on Earth.
Synchronized exhibition of paintings held in space station, Beijing, Macao
A photographer has over the past decades recorded Macao's drastic changes in coastline and skyline, a vivid embodiment of the city's development under central government's support and integration into the overall national development.
Chan Hin Yiu moved to Macao Special Administrative Region in 1999, the year when the region returned to the motherland. Since then, he has been recording the landscape changes of Macao and he said the photography proves the city's fast growth over the past 25 years.
"Since Macao returned to the motherland, the development and construction of Macao and Zhuhai have changed the skylines. The aerial shots can easily capture the changes, and they can also present the interdependence between Macao and Zhuhai in a unique way," said Chan.
When Macao returned to the motherland, it has a land area of only 21.45 square kilometers. To help the region achieve long-term development and prosperity, the central government has approved for multiple times Macao's land reclamation and the delineation of its land boundaries. Now the region's land area has increased to 33.3 square kilometers.
In 2015 the central government clarified that Macao administers a sea area of 85 square kilometers and in 2021 it officially set Hengqin, an island of 106.46 square meters, as the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone.
Now Macao and the neighboring Guangdong Province are implementing a new administrative mechanism that features extensive consultation, joint contribution, joint administration and shared benefits, helping Macao expand its development area to 224.76 square meters, more than 10 times larger compared with 25 years ago.
Photographer captures Macao's development through changes in skyline
