The Chinese artist behind the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

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Carefully crafted to express the inner world of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, the "Stone of Hope" in Washington DC was sculpted not by an American, but by Chinese artist Lei Yixin.

Standing at 32-feet, the monument was a unique experience for Lei. "It was different from all the other works I had ever made in my life... it changed the course of my life afterwards,” says sculptor Lei who is turning 65 this year.

Depicting any icon comes with its own set of pressures, and for Lei, controversy centered on the selection of a Chinese artist for an African-American hero.

Lei Yixin working on the statue in Washington DC /Photo provided by Lei Yixin

Lei describes the project as coming to him. In the summer of 2006, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Foundation had already closed the deadline for accepting design proposals. Dissatisfied with the designs they reviewed, they scouted around an International Stone Carving Symposium in Minnesota, and spotted Lei. He was working on a sculpture called "Meditation" at the time.

A few months later his clay model convinced the foundation that he was the right sculptor for the project.

Not long after the first round of disputes quieted down, Lei's design was attacked for being "too confrontational."

Lei Yixin with Martin Luther King Jr's family /Photo provided by Lei Yixin.

“In the end, I revised his facial expression and made it milder,” Lei said to CGTN, “but he does not smile, because he is a civil rights fighter. All his life he had been fighting for the right for the people of color to live equally in the country. That’s what he is.”

With the support of Martin Luther King Jr's family and the foundation, Lei was able to continue the project, and yet more debates centered around the employment of Chinese staff for installation and the inscription of a contentious line from King’s speech, something that was later removed.

Lei Yixin and his family received by the Obama couple in the White House /Photo provided by Lei Yixin.

Despite the controversy, Lei contends that the experience made him realize the responsibility of being an artist.