A historic exhibition that commemorates President Xi Jingping’s speech at the Forum on Literature and Art in October 2014 has opened. Xi called on artists to reflect on the spirit of the age and to follow the “Chinese Dream,” while embracing individuality and originality.

Exhibition responds to President Xi's speech

In the spirit of the speech, the art exhibition features works by painters of various age groups. A group of young artists is exhibiting works based on their volunteer work at the grassroots level.

It consists of visits to 14 provinces across the country where they completed more than 300 pieces of work depicting or inspired by the trip. Eighty-seven of these works are on display at the exhibition.

Painter Dong Xiyuan from Fujian province is showcasing his works on the Red Army’s Long March. To get more ideas for the project, the artist re-visited the historic route several times, covering more than 30,000 kilometers in total.

Painter Peng Huajing’s work puts China’s brave firefighters in the foreground. To help paint an accurate picture of the firefighters, the artists lived and went on actual calls with the firefighters.

Some very vivid paintings have resulted from these upclose experiences. The exhibition is co-sponsored by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chinese Artists’ Association and the Chinese Literature and Art Foundation.