Traditional Craft Depicting the Beijing Central Axis: A Giant Lacquer Painting Unveiled and Three Other Paintings Featured at Ceremony Held at Zhengyangmen

On November 22, the "Minor Snow" in the 24 Chinese solar terms, the unveiling ceremony of the giant lacquer painting "The Eternal Central Axis" and the commencement of the oil painting "The Long Scroll of the Beijing Central Axis," along with the donation ceremonies of the oil painting "The Central Axis of Beijing, China" and the traditional Chinese painting "The Magnificent Central Axis," took place at Zhengyangmen in Beijing. The event was jointly organized by the Beijing Central Axis Protection Foundation and the Zhengjia Charity Foundation and co-hosted by the Beijing Central Axis Heritage Protection Center and the Shen Shao'an Lacquer Art Museum.

Key figures in attendance included Zhang Lixin, Party secretary and director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau and director of the Beijing Central Axis World Heritage Application and Protection Office; Chu Jianhao, member of the Party leading group and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau and full-time deputy director of the Beijing Central Axis World Heritage Application and Protection Office; Mei Song, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Beijing Central Axis Protection Foundation; Guo Wenlong, second-level inspector of the Tiananmen Management Committee, the People’s  Government of Beijing Municipality; Tang Qinfei, chairman of the  Dongcheng District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Feng Jianguo, vice chairman of the Dongcheng District Committee of CPPCC; Jin Xibin, director of the Beijing Central Axis Heritage Protection Center; Lin Zhengjia, chairman of the Zhengjia Charity Foundation; and Bai Ming, designer of "The Eternal Central Axis," professor at the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, and director of the Ceramic Art Committee of the China Artists Association, among other leaders and guests.

The lacquer painting "The Eternal Central Axis," 5.6 meters wide and 7.8 meters high, is like an open book that conveys the wish to understand the present through studying the past and the innovativeness and inclusiveness of seeing the past through today’s perspectives. The stars in the center of the painting are drawn from the Caisson Ceiling Star Chart of Longfu Temple kept at the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum. After the flowing lacquer dries, the artwork shines with a golden orange light, with stars as they were observed 600 years ago, perfectly embodying the poetic sentiment of "The moon today is not the same as it was in ancient times, but the same moon once shone upon the ancients."

Liu Yuyi's giant oil painting "The Imposing Central Axis," created to support the Beijing Central Axis’s application for World Heritage status, was hung on the Zhengyangmen gate tower last September. Today, in celebration of the successful application, the giant lacquer painting "The Eternal Central Axis" is also displayed at the same tower, in a rare juxtaposition of an Eastern lacquer painting and a Western oil painting, which beautifully complement each other and symbolize the mutual acceptance and learning between different cultures and civilizations.

After the unveiling ceremony, the creation of the oil painting "The Long Scroll of the Beijing Central Axis" officially started, and two large Central Axis paintings were donated. Liu Yuyi, a renowned artist hailed as the "first modern-times Chinese to witness history through a paintbrush" and "an artist who loves and respects the people," began work on the oil painting "The Long Scroll of the Beijing Central Axis." Ye Xingqian, chairman of the French Contemporary Artists Association, who created the oil painting "The Central Axis of Beijing, China" during the Beijing Central Axis’s application for World Heritage status, personally brought the painting from Paris to Beijing and donated it to the Beijing Central Axis Protection Foundation. Famous artist Chen Fu, who is also the director of the Culture and Tourism Chinese Art Institute under China Cultural Media Group and a member of the Dongcheng District Committee of the CPPCC, donated his 10-meter-high Chinese painting "The Magnificent Central Axis," which he spent two years creating despite illness.

Liu Yuyi’s "The Long Scroll of the Beijing Central Axis" will present the breathtaking landscapes of the Beijing Central Axis in full, depicting historical buildings and figures along the axis from Yongdingmen to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower. Ye Xingqian’s oil painting "The Central Axis of Beijing, China" offers a unique international perspective and color palette in showcasing the historical and cultural richness of the Central Axis suffused with Beijing characteristics. Chen Fu’s Chinese painting "The Magnificent Central Axis" uses traditional Chinese ink painting techniques to depict the grandeur and cultural essence of the Beijing Central Axis in a vertical scroll format.