The city of Shenzhen welcomed its largest ever national-rank art exhibition last Sunday at the Guan Shanyue Art Gallery. The show features 500 works by the country's top artists, including the four most respected masters, Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian and Li Keran. The masterpieces are part of the Beijing Ziguang Pavilion Painting Institute's collection.

Hanging alongside the four masters are remarkable works by Shi Lu, Huang Zhou, Luo Gongliu, Qi Gong and Shen Peng. Among the works, the portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong was sketched by Xu Beihong during the first National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949. "Spring Tide", the latest work of famous contemporary painter Luo Gongliu expresses the artist's optimism despite a decade-long fight against cancer and his admiration for his prosperous motherland.

The 80-year-old Liao Jingwen brought her husband Xu Beihong's representative "Two Horses", and Zou Peizhu also came with her husband Li Keran's "Mist on Mount Huangshan".

Zou Peizhu, the famous sculptor said: "The painting is significant because he created it in Guangdong in a period of artistic change."

A group of middle-aged and young artists such as Yu Zhixue, Liu Zigang and Mi Nanyang displayed their bold interpretations of traditional art.

Yu Zhixue said: "An artist must discover, research and create his own works based on the traditional culture of the motherland. Such works can meet the need of the era."

There were also precious Ming and Qing dynasty paintings and calligraphic works from private collections. The seven-day exhibition will later go to Hong Kong.

(CCTV.com September 10, 2003)