A work by by Jin Shangyi.

The privileged few studied this art form from Europe, says Zhan Jianjun, honorary president of the China Academy of Oil Painting.

Both Zhan and Jin are among the second generation of Chinese oil painters who learned the art from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1950s.

Zhan's well-known piece is Five Heroes on Langya Mountain drawn in 1959. Zhan says during the 1950s and the 1960s, Chinese oil painters focused on historical painting that was popular in the West from the 14th century to the 19th century.

After the 1980s, oil painting in China developed quickly. There are lots of young and passionate Chinese oil painters with various styles, says Jin, honorary president of the Chinese Artists Association.

"I have to say Chinese oil painters still have a lot to learn if they want to catch up with their counterparts in the West," says 79-year-old Jin.

Diplomats from more than 10 embassies in Beijing attended the opening ceremony of the three-day oil painting show this week.

"The show is a kind of art exchange between Chinese and the diplomats. By knowing more about Chinese contemporary artists, they might invite Chinese artists to their country in the future. We decided to do this as a way to help Chinese oil painters venture outside China," says Qian Hongshan, director of the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions.