Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Zhou Peng) news: On January 14, 2026, at the Awat County Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center, Nabijan Abdurehman, head of the Awat County Dolan Farmer Painting Professional Cooperative and a representative inheritor of Dolan farmer painting, an intangible cultural heritage, was sitting upright in front of an easel, sketching a farmer painting.

Photo taken on January 14, 2026 shows Nabijan Abdurehman creates a farmer painting at the Awat County Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center in Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Nabijan's first connection to art came in childhood, watching his mother draw birds and animals with leftover stove charcoal. That rustic beauty inspired his later dedication to Dolan farmer painting. In 2015, he began learning from several master painters in the county. Starting with basic lines and color mixing, he followed them into the fields, learning to capture the sight of waving wheat, ripe fruit, and singing villagers in bold, vibrant paints.

While honoring tradition, Nabijan also looks forward. He helped set up a painters' cooperative, where he and 13 other local artists now depict their hometown's new rural developments and revitalization, bringing modern themes into the traditional art form. Their paintings now sell for 500 to 1,000 yuan each, with the group's annual earnings from art surpassing 100,000 yuan (about 14,270 U.S. dollars), turning skilled farming hands into instruments of artistic livelihood.

Awat County is called the "Home of Chinese Dolan Farmer Painting." Its practitioners are all local farmers with no formal art training. They favor strong, bright colors, applied according to personal taste and the needs of the image. This intuitive, distinctive style gives Dolan painting its powerful visual appeal. In 2025, the county opened the Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center. Focusing on "preservation, inheritance, and innovation," it serves as a hub for displaying, teaching, and experiencing the art, playing a key role in sustaining and promoting Dolan cultural heritage.

Photo taken on January 14, 2026 shows Nabijan Abdurehman instructs peasant painters to create farmer painting at the Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center (Farmer Painting) in Awat County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on January 14, 2026 shows Nabijan Abdurehman prepares pigments before painting at the Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center (Farmer Painting) in Awat County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on January 14, 2026 shows Nabijan Abdurehman communicates with local residents in Bositan Community of Awat Town, Awat County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on January 14, 2026 shows painters create farmer painting at the Dolan Culture (Farmer Painting) Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center (Farmer Painting) in Awat County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

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