The study of clan paintings reveals a shift in perspective from art aesthetics to cultural connotations to cultural identity, yet literature seldom discusses the relationship between art and kinship culture. Taking the murals of ancestral hall architecture in Guangzhou as an example, this paper utilizes text mining to identify factors influencing its decorative art. It reveals the traditional rites' artistic expression through dimensions of characters' demeanor and the transmission of content values, offering a fresh perspective for heritage value research. Findings: (1) themes and implications are mostly oriented towards positive value transmission, transitioning from idealistic layman life to the realism of lower-class existence, emphasizing humanization; (2) the extroverted portrayal of characters contrasts with the dignified, restrained etiquette of traditional rites, with some characters' portrayal and facial expressions exuding approachability; (3) murals conveying positive emotions are mostly related to longevity, auspiciousness, fortune, and heroic deeds, while those conveying negative emotions mainly involve elderly male figures, reflecting a content bias related to characters; (4) historical allusion murals with complex content reduce the emotional resonance and arousal efficiency of the viewer; (5) incomplete mural content increases negative emotions in perceivers, highlighting the impact of mural preservation on emotional resonance. To delve into the formation of clan painting art, it is essential not only to interpret the diversity of its patterns but also to demonstrate the representation of its social attributes in decorative art. The formation of clan painting decorative art exhibits kinship cultural attributes, epitomizing the essence of traditional ceremonial thought.

Recent research has primarily focused on the genealogical relationship between ancestral temple painting and its spatial carriers, highlighting a shift in perspective from artistry to symbolism to kinship. While some scholars have noted the influence of ritual culture on architectural painting, few have explored its kinship relationship with architectural carriers. By incorporating relational sociology theory, this study chronologically reviews events influencing the formation of ancestral temple ritual culture, constructs a developmental model, and conducts case studies on the ethicality of architectural painting art, thus establishing a relational sociology analysis framework. Findings: (1) Ancestral temple architectural painting exhibits the ethicality and educational value inherent in Confucian concepts; (2) Themes such as immortal life, literati and scholars, and common folk simplicity highlight the spiritual and material kinship of ancestral temple painting. The vocabulary used in titles such as "He (rapprochement-和)", "He (reunification-合)", "wealth (财)", "happiness (乐)", "blessing (福)", and "longevity (寿)" reveals a positive transmission of Confucian values; (3) The five main artistic expressions of ancestral temple painting are metaphor through objects (借物喻意), the personification of events (以人喻事), using the past to illuminate the present (借古喻今), expressing aspirations through objects (托物喻志), and pun-based symbolism (谐音寓意); (4) The decorative elements of ancestral temples correspond to the forms of their painting art, with the former extending the space of the tomb sacrificial system and the latter representing artistic inheritance. The development of ancestral temple architecture has formed dual developmental contexts centered on ritual culture and supplemented by academic dissemination, fluctuating with the status of Confucianism. The relational sociology model shows that the political aspects of ancestral temples form a sub-lineage of their ritual culture, closely linked to reforms in the educational system and transformations in building functions, further influencing architectural form and decorative art.

Anxiety among university students has become a critical global public health issue due to its high prevalence and impact. This study builds on prior work on virtual therapeutic landscape design and evaluation by operationalising therapeutic landscape principles in a virtual reality setting, aiming to develop and evaluate a multi-sensory immersive intervention for anxiety relief. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and the analytic hierarchy process, four core components – sensory, interactive, personalised and content experience – were identified, forming a systematic evaluation framework. A within-subject pre–post study involving 46 university students demonstrated that short-term virtual therapeutic landscape exposure significantly reduced state anxiety (p < 0.001, d = 0.916), negative affect (p < 0.001, d = 0.588) and enhanced subjective vitality (p < 0.001, d = 0.966). Physiological data showed decreased phasic skin conductance response and phase-related changes in tonic skin conductance level across baseline–intervention–recovery, both showing significant time effects. By contrast, virtual therapeutic landscape exposure produced comparatively smaller changes in trait anxiety (p < 0.001, d = 0.739) and positive affect (p = 0.005, d = 0.437). Taken together, virtual therapeutic landscape yielded convergent psychological and physiological benefits and provides an empirically grounded extension of therapeutic landscape theory into digital mental health interventions. Implications for practice or policy: Universities could use virtual therapeutic landscape as a low-burden adjunct to support short-term anxiety relief in students. Student support services can position virtual therapeutic landscape as a brief intervention for reducing state anxiety and negative affect rather than as a substitute for longer-term treatment. Designers of virtual reality mental health interventions should prioritise sensory immersion, user-friendliness and system stability to improve restorative outcomes.