Yu Lan-ying shows off her contemporary ink paintings, themed on the underwater world at her solo exhibition in Guangzhou.(China Daily/Zou Zhongpiny)

>Ardent diver and painter Yu Lan-ying has made it her life mission to spread the message of marine conservation through her paintings. 

Yu Lan-ying feels at home underwater. She`s at ease with the corals and the fish, as they are with her.

"I may have been a fish in my previous life," says Yu, whose infatuation with diving is into its 27th year and counting.

"My mind is at peace when I`m diving. And the unpredictable and changing deep sea makes me realize the transience of life."

Yu says the water constantly changes the color of its dress from blue to green, responding to the changing sunlight. And fish love playing hide and seek.

"When you`re under the sea, you may come across a creature in a strange shape that you have never seen, but it may whiz past you and disappear behind the corals within a second," says the 68-year-old, who practices yoga and swims every day to stay fit.

Fortunately, as a skillful painter, Yu is able to capture these fleeting moments with her brushes and share the beauty of the mysterious underwater world with people who do not have the opportunity to dive.

More importantly, she hopes to arouse the general public`s awareness of protecting the ocean with beautiful art.

Yu`s 27 contemporary ink paintings, themed on the submarine world and which she completed in the past four years, have been on a tour across Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai since Sept 22 and will end in January.

Yu has been drawing the underwater world since her first dive in 1985, but the idea of making a series for an exhibition didn`t come to her until recently.

"I have witnessed the changes in the ocean because of pollution caused by humans. When I revisit a diving spot, I often find less colorful corals from my last dive because many have been destroyed by polluted water and become sadly gray," says Yu, who is upset that such changes are taking place in almost every country she has dived in, including the US, China, Thailand and Malaysia.

"The situation has become more severe in the past five years and I feel the urgency of showing people what I have seen under the sea," Yu adds.

"People can directly feel the pollution above water by, say, seeing the foggy sky, but it`s difficult for them to see what`s going on beneath the sea if they don`t dive."

But Yu doesn`t present dreadful sights such as dead fish in greasy dirt in her paintings. She fascinates the audience with the beauty of the underwater world so that they will fall in love with the ocean and naturally want to protect it.

"It`s more effective to arouse people`s desire of treasuring the ocean with its beauty than faulting them," says Yu.

"I hope that by looking at my paintings, people will realize that if they don`t protect nature`s beauty, it will be lost forever."
>Yu used to paint mountains, rivers, flowers and birds, all of which are commonly seen in traditional Chinese ink paintings, but she has decided to focus on the underwater world in her future works.

The changing deep sea feeds Yu with abundant inspiration and she is encouraged that her art contributes to promoting marine conservation.

"It`s important for an artist to fulfill his or her social responsibility," Yu says.

The most attractive element in Yu`s exhibits is her bold use of color. Blue, green, red, orange, yellow, purple and many other colors flow freely, as if the rainbow in the sky has fallen into the sea.

On of the visitors to Yu`s exhibition in Guangzhou, Zhou Xiaoxian, says the moment she entered the hall, she was drawn to Yu`s paintings. Many other visitors were also seen taking photos of Yu`s breathtaking art works.

"These paintings have a strong visual impact and deeply move me. I have never gone diving and my interaction with the sea is limited to playing on a beach," Zhou says.

"Now I feel more connected to the ocean and will pay more attention to the issue of marine conservation in the future."

Having stayed in the US to study and work for 28 years, Yu returned to China together with her husband and settled down in Guangzhou, her husband`s hometown, in 1993.

The public-spirited couple have been actively engaged in promoting English education, environmental protection and cultural exchanges between China and the US.

Yu`s husband Yu Baoxian was among the pioneer batch of volunteer supervisors of automobile exhausts for Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau in 2008. During their patrols across the city, Yu acts as the cameraman while her husband drives. Whenever they spot a vehicle letting out black smoke, Yu will quickly snap a shot of the license plate and report it to the bureau.

"I`m a Chinese-American but my root is in China. That`s why I returned to the motherland 19 years ago," says Yu.

"I have witnessed the development of the city and the country. I care for China, and I hope to see it gets better and better."

Yu also hopes that her paintings about the underwater world can help supplement the deficiency of public education on water conservation in China.

She says residents in some places in China haven`t realized the value of water resources. Yu`s husband reveals that in Yunnan province, he saw local villagers washing clothes in rivers.

"We can`t blame those who don`t know that they should protect the ocean. I hope my paintings can bring the message of marine conservation to these people in China and other countries," says Yu.

"Paintings can go beyond language and spread the message around the globe."