China A Photographic Portrait at the City Art Centre is remarkable both in its scale and the insight it provides into the changing lives of the people of China. www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cityartcentre

Free. A selection of works from the National Galleries of Scotland showing representations of motherhood from the early Renaissance to the present, in partnership with Highland 2007 and the Highland Council. While the quality of works on display is invariably high, the presentation and accompanying material can be heavy-handed and dictatorial, closing down rather than opening up the central concept