It could be one of the most hotly contested regular competitions in the world, the chance for artists to display their works during the National Art Exhibition of China.

Held every half a decade since the founding of PRC, the month-long event calls for participation from throughout the nation of 1.3 billion people.

Backed by the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Artists' Association, the 10th such event -- which will display some of China's best recent art -- will open tomorrow at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

After appearing in the national capital, some of the works will go on show in the Republic of Korea, Japan and a few European countries, said Dai Zhiqi, secretary-general to the exhibition's organizing committee and a member of the country's artists' association.

Very rough estimates show more than 100,000 artists from all around China have contributed works for the latest exhibition, Dai said.

But all of their works have been culled to just 597, which have been divided into nine categories of traditional Chinese paintings, oil paintings, watercolours, sculptures, frescoes, prints, designs, cartoons and one that is especially for works from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The works have been hung in the National Art Museum's 21 exhibition halls, which were removed of their permanent displays so the event could be staged, said Yang Bingyan, deputy director of the museum.

Prior to the latest national exhibition, the museum hosted an exhibition of a selected collection of French Impressionism , which included such great figures as Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne.

Yang claimed the event attracted the largest audience attending a fine art exhibition in Beijing in the past few years.

Dai said the exhibition of local works would be as memorable as the French show, although the public would be unfamiliar with most of the contributing artists involved.

"The national art exhibition is no doubt the top art event in the country," he said.

"All those interested in art from around China and the globe, including curators, researchers, teachers and students, agents and gallery owners, and art lovers, will come for the show."

Dominance

Yu Jirong, an artist and freelance curator based in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, is going to be among them -- if he can just get an invitation to the opening of the event.

He arrived in Beijing on Sunday after travelling for 29 hours on a train.

"At the show, one can meet established artists and researchers who selected the works for display, in addition to meeting the gallery owners and curators," he said.

"They are all very important people."

Co-organizer Dai said: "For a Chinese artist,  it is more significant in appearing in the exhibition than holding 10 solo shows."

The event is a great opportunity for less-known artists to emerge on a national stage.

"Almost all the artists who established themselves after 1949 rose to fame at national art exhibitions," Dai said, citing world-renowned artists Chen Danqing, Yang Feiyun and Luo Zhongli.

Insiders say the exhibition is important due to the lack of a fledgling Chinese art market, where a young hopeful could rise with the help of critics, galleries and collectors.

All that said, Dai said he does not believe an increasing number of galleries and exhibitions would sound the death knell for the national event.

"Gallery owners and agents are always most enthusiastic about our exhibition and they have been the biggest buyers of the pieces on show," he said.

"There are so many artists in China and we get so many applications that they know it would be wise to trust, at least in part, what we are doing."

However, few established costume, landscape, logo and graphic design firms have contributed to the design section of the latest event, according to the Beijing-based Art Observation magazine.

Most of the participating designers are teachers and students from art academies.

"Such firms already have well-established clients so it's not necessary for them to take part in an exhibition," said Xu Peijun, the magazine's editor and an art critic.

The vacancy of top-shelf, market-oriented designers means this section of the exhibition is more about vanguard concepts rather than considerate, inspirational works from experienced professionals.

From elitism to pop

Although there is an imbalance between the different forms, the display will have more of a variety in themes and  artistic genres compared with recent exhibitions, said Lu Pintian, a researcher with the Fine Art Institute at the China Academy of Arts in Beijing.

Lu has praised the selection board for encouraging experimental works and tolerating new trends.

A Chinese painting most favoured by the board, entitled "Beauty of the World" (Wu Hua), has been created with acrylic instead of using the traditional ink and colour technique.

And two controversial sculptures, "Homeland, Ode 1 & 2," have also been included.

Sculptures from synthetic material, by Cai Zhisong, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, which won a major prize at the France Autumn Salon in Paris last month but sparked protests as some Chinese claimed they depicted two nude men wearing traditional hair styles, were installed at the entrance of the national art museum.

Although the authorities have shown an open mind, the artists involved have only managed to create "good-looking" art instead of important works that can penetrate the soul and claim a spot in art history, said Beijing-based art historian Chen Chuanxi.

"Those who emerged in the 1980s, like Chen Danqing and Luo Zhongli, observed ordinary human beings with sympathy as they believed it was their mission as artists," remarked Yang Bin, an art critic at the China Academy of Arts.

"However in the 1990s, the major tides in artistic circles have subsided and artists no longer think themselves as the elite of society.

"They have adopted a more casual attitude and depict scenes of life that were used to be thought of as trivial."

The change is best demonstrated by the oil painting section of the exhibition, as the warmth of family life permeates many of the works which centre on buying snacks or having dinner.

(China Daily December 9, 2004)