The exhibition features 259 pieces including paintings, sculptures, posters and comic strips, taking visitors through PLA's history and development.
Photos show the everyday life of the soldiers. Paintings show the army's latest hardware, including China's first self-built aircraft carrier, and images recording the operations of Chinese peacekeeping forces are all on display. Many of the artists are from the PLA or military institutes of China. Zhou Mo, an artist from the National Defense University of the PLA, said, "I bring my female-soldier series to the exhibition. I was born in a military family, my grandparents were Red Army soldiers and I am quite interested in the heroic stories of the revolutionary soldiers. So I want to express my feeling towards them through my works." Wu Haozhi is an artist from the PLA. He brings an animated work, telling the stories of Chinese mariner Zheng He's voyages in the Ming Dynasty over 600 years ago and the history of the Sino-Japanese War at sea in 1894.
Wu also shows the development of the Chinese navy in modern times: "I think the charm of art can be better presented through videos and images. At the beginning, I wanted to make a video about the first Sino-Japanese War. Later I added Zheng He's voyage and the Chinese navy in the New Era into my work and made this trilogy," Wu said.
Li Xiang, deputy director of the China Artist Association, notes the importance of the participation of young artists. "We received over 1,000 entries and 60 works among the selected pieces were chosen as the outstanding works of this year. Half of the winners are young artists and many of them graduated from fine arts universities. They were inspired by the life experience after they joined the PLA."
The exhibition is the 14th in a series of such shows held every year.
