On 23 October 2018, the SCO Headquarters in Beijing hosted an exhibit of paintings by noted Chinese artist Yan Yaya.
SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov discussed the artist's creative career and described her outstanding talent. "At the crossroads of two millennia, Ms Yan Yaya, a beginning artist, decided to follow her dream and climb the peaks of the Pamir mountain range. While at an altitude of over 4,000 metres in Tashkurgan in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, she met with the Tajiks, those extremely pure and open people living in harmony with mountainous nature. After looking them in the eye, Ms Yan Yaya discovered a mysterious transcendental world filled with bright sunlight and great love. The colourful eyes, emerald, aquamarine, turquoise and amber eyes, captivated her and became a part of her creative life," Mr Alimov noted. "The current exhibit is called Tajik Bride, and is one of Ms Yan Yaya's magnificent works," he added. Mr Alimov wished the artist inspiration and new creative achievements to the sounds of applause.
Ms Yan Yaya said she was taken with the beauty of Tajik women, and she tried to convey this in her expressive works. She and the SCO Secretary General unveiled the painting Tajik Bride in all its expressiveness.
Guests were surprised when Ms Yan Yaya presented another painting, Girlfriends, depicting eight young girls from the SCO member-states to the SCO Secretariat.
Special Representative of the Chinese Government for SCO Affairs, Ambassador Sun Lijie, praised Ms Yan Yaya's creative gift, outstanding talent and artistic professionalism and noted that her painting Tajik Bride conveyed the Tajik nation's sincerity, traditions and customs. The painting Girlfriends highlights the mutual friendship of the young girls and their common belief in a happy future, he said. The promotion of the Shanghai Spirit, stronger friendship among nations and a striving for joint development are the common goals of the SCO countries' peoples, he noted.
On behalf of those present, the SCO Secretary General warmly thanked the painter for this valuable gift.
In all, over 150 guests, including Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nepal, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Turkmenistan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria, permanent representatives of SCO member-states to the SCO Secretariat, as well as high-ranking representatives of various diplomatic missions, cultural workers and artists, attended the event.
Ms Yan Yaya is a noted Chinese painter. Since 1989, her creative work has been linked with the Pamirs whose uniqueness and beauty made a deep impression on her. The region's deep blue sky and magnificent mountain landscapes inspired Ms Yan Yaya to express her dialogue with Pamir in paintings. She was inspired by young Tajik women living on the high-altitude mountain slopes, their beauty and open gaze. A series of her paintings called Yan Yaya-Sunny Angel has been displayed in the United States, Germany, Canada, Singapore, India, Turkey and Japan. In the space of 20 years, Ms Yan Yaya completed over 300 portraits and genre paintings showing representatives of the Tajik nation living in Tashkurgan in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.