A bird's-eye view of the Bashan Mountains [Photo provided to China Daily]

Bazhong, a city with a history of nearly 2,000 years located in the northeastern Sichuan Basin, has recently launched a project calling for quality artworks.

First shaped during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD25-220), the city has been depicted in a lot of cultural and literature works, such as poet Li Bai's Ba Nyu Ci (A Lyric From a Bazhong Woman) and poet Li Shangyin's Bajiang Liu (Willows in the Ba River) in the Tang Dynasty.

In an effort to raise its modern image, the city has decided to team up with the industrial media outlet China Art Newspaper to kick off a project in Beijing on Aug 11. The project has also allied with other 17 cities in four provinces, namely Sichuan, Hubei, Gansu, and Shaanxi.

The project will be held every two years to solicit artistic and literal works to explore the unique nature of cultures and historical relics in the regions.

Submissions will be completed by Sept 10 and the winners will be announced in late September.