Military Fine Arts: Exhibition celebrates 70th birthday of People's Republic of China

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When it comes to art creations, many would think of works by artists at art institutes or museums. But in the Chinese capital, soldiers from the People's Liberation Army are showing off their works of art at the Eight One Art Museum. It's one of the events to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

A batch of 259 artworks featuring Chinese paintings, oil paintings, sculptures, posters and comic strips, the exhibition leads visitors through PLA's history and shows the army's development over the decades.

Photos show the everyday life of the soldiers; paintings show the army's latest hardware, including China's first self-built aircraft carrier, and images record the operations of the Chinese peace keeping forces are all on display. Many of the artists are from the PLA or military institutes of China.

ZHOU MO ARTIST FROM NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY OF PLA "I bring my female-soldier series to the exhibition. I was born in a military family, my grandparents were Red Army soldiers and I am quite interested in the heroic stories of the revolutionary soldiers. So I want to express my feeling towards them through my works."

Wu Haozhi is an artist from the PLA. He brings an animated work telling the stories of Chinese mariner Zheng He's voyages in the Ming Dynasty over 600 years ago and the history of the Sino-Japanese War at sea in 1894. Wu also shows the development of the Chinese navy in modern times.

WU HAOZHI ARTIST FROM PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY "I think the charm of art can be better presented through videos and images. At the beginning, I wanted to make a video about the first Sino-Japanese War. Later I added Zheng He's voyage and the Chinese navy in the New Era into my work and made this trilogy."

An organizer notes the importance of the participation of young artists.

LI XIANG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR CHINA ARTIST ASSOCIATION "We received over 1000 entries and 60 works among the selected pieces were chosen as the outstanding works of this year. Half of the winners are young artists and many of them graduated from fine arts universities. They were inspired by the life experience after they joined the PLA."

The exhibition is the 14th edition in a series of such shows held every year.