Exhibition period: July 18th to August 6th, 2008

Exhibition location: Halls A and B

The Monument to the People's Heroes, as the first national level public art project after the founding of the People's Republic of China, was laid by Chairman Mao Zedong on September 30, 1949 and officially completed on May 1, 1958. It took more than 8 years and is the longest running large-scale art project since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is also an artistic masterpiece that embodies the wisdom and hard work of countless people. She not only became an image carrier of modern Chinese history, but also reflected the founding philosophy of an emerging country, which can be regarded as the opening masterpiece of New China.

The famous Chinese literary theorist, art critic, and sculptor Wang Chaowen praised the Monument to the People's Heroes as "a unity of opposites between commemoration and creativity, a unity of opposites between the vividness and conceptualization of sculpture images, a unity of opposites between absorbing foreign experience and adhering to the artistic style of the Chinese nation, and a unity of opposites between patriotism and opposition to conservatism."

For fifty years, the Monument to the People's Heroes has become a spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation's relentless pursuit of national independence and liberation. Therefore, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the commemorative event initiated by the Beijing Academy of Painting will showcase the construction process and great achievements of the Monument to the People's Heroes in the form of an exhibition, thereby explaining the profound cultural connotation of the Monument to the People's Heroes and highlighting its contemporary value.