River as muse

"Many places along the Yangtze seemed familiar to many of us, but we were still overwhelmed by such massive world-class projects as the Three Georges Dam," says Liu of the power station.

Shi Jiangcheng, another participating painter, says trying to blend the beauty of the Three Georges - a highlight of Ten Thousand Li of Yangtze River - with the natural landscape was a different process as the ancient masters didn't have to include the modern infrastructure in their works.

"We depicted the dam with carefree brushwork, instead of giving attention to all the details, so that it doesn't look like an industrial label but appears more natural in its surroundings," says Shi.

The painting deviates from the traditional tendency of presenting the Yangtze's landscape as extensive but the river solitary, according to Zhang Fuxing, another painter on the team. He says the painting shows a "rejoicing and vigorous" river as an indicator of the energy of the country it runs through.

Zhou Jianping, the founder of Heilan, says many painters involved in the creation are in their 70s and 60s.

"It (depicting the Yangtze) was a shared dream," he says, adding that his company wanted to share its admiration of Chinese culture by funding the painting project.