The art gallery featuring Water Margin culture opens at Wuxi Movie Base. [Photo from WeChat account wxbhly]

An art gallery featuring Water Margin culture recently opened with an exhibition at Wuxi Movie Base, a scenic spot in Binhu district, Wuxi.

Water Margin, written by Shi Nai'an, is considered as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It tells of a story about a group of 108 heros during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

The exhibition presents an array of Water Margin-themed works, with more than 800 exhibits from collector Yu Jun, including various versions of the novel in different languages from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to modern times as well as New Year pictures, illustrations, comic strips, woodcuts, stamps, poker, cards and even pencil cases.

Yu, who comes from Shi's home village, loved reading the novel when he was a child. He has collected thousands of objects related to Water Margin culture over the past 30 years.

When talking about the reason why the exhibition is held in Wuxi, Yu said: "Visitors can immerse themselves in the cultural atmosphere through the artworks and ancient buildings in Wuxi Movie Base where the TV series Water Margin was shot."

A junior high school student from Sichuan province showed great interest in the exhibits. "My understanding of Water Margin used to be that it was just some random book, but this exhibition has taught that it's so much more than that through outstanding works of art. I feel that this trip was very worthwhile and meaningful."

Yu Jun introduces his collections to visitors. [Photo from WeChat account wxbhly]