In the morning of September 13, 2017, a live event was staged in the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) during the First National Sculpture Art Exhibition show time: NAMOC Director, famed sculptor Mr. Wu Weishan, led youth sculptor Ren Yanming and Li Jun to create sculptures for three model heroes and workers as an expression of salute to advanced figures of the times in China. The purpose of the event has been to mold the spiritual beauty of the model figures with image as the carrier and inspire people to learn from them, to follow their good examples. While it was inheritance of the glorious tradition of the older generation artists on one hand, it was also, on the other hand, life- and people-rooted works of the new era that set monument for the times, works that carry moral significance.

Three persons were chosen as models for the sculpture figure. They were: Wang Yanling (male, 90 years old), a Corps Deputy Leader veteran cadre who once fought in the War of Resistance against Japan, War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea; Zhuang Zeping (female, 74 years old), who was selected as the NAMOC Volunteers of the First Batch of National Excellent Cultural Volunteers; and Duan Xuefei (female, 51 years old), national model worker who has been engaged in hotel sales for 28 years. Community art lovers and middle school students were onsite doing sketches and engaging in communications and dialogues.

Mr. Wu noted that, art creation should be people-oriented, especially it should reflect and eulogize heroic and advanced figures of the times, disseminate and carry forward excellent traditional Chinese culture, the red revolutionary culture and socialist advanced culture, commending positive energy. “I am in three capacities today. One is the NAMOC Curator, one is a sculptor; and more importantly I am an admirer of heroes and model workers. History is not void. It is composed by real “flesh and blood”. Our times should worship outstanding persons,” Mr. Wu quoted as saying. As a sculptor, Mr. Wu thought it a responsibility to mold the motherland, mold heroes and model workers, a responsibility to mold artists of the new era, mold their souls and spirit. Only by this, the art cause could develop and move forward.