The People and the Premier by Zhou Sicong is his impression of a real event - the 1966 earthquake in Hebei.

 PRC Founders in Group Prortraiture

    Apart from art works that feature individual leaders, many group portraits exist. Among them, Nanchang Uprising and Zunyi Conference are influential in Chinese art circles.

    Nanchang Uprising is a 1958 work by Li Binghong (1913-1986) now in the collection of the Military Museum in Beijing. This painting tells the story of the Nanchang Uprising on August 1, 1927 led by communist leaders Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, Zhu De, and Liu Bocheng. This event marked the birth of the people's armed forces led by the Communist Party of China, writing a new chapter in the history of the people's revolution.

    In the painting, the soldiers are gathered in front of the Jiangxi Grand Hotel, a well-known place on Zhongshan Road in Nanchang, and the armed uprising is about to take place. Everyone wears a white armband and a red scarf, guns firmly clenched. Zhou Enlai stands on the stage, boosting morale, and the crowd is stirred by his remarks. Behind him are four uniformed officers. Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng sits beside an ammunition box, studying the operational map. Behind him is Ye Ting, then front-line commander-in-chief of the Second Front Army and commander of the 11th Army. Behind Zhou Enlai stands Zhu De, who later became the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army. In the margins stands He Long, then commander of the 20th Army. Though he was not a member of the CPC at the time, He Long and his army were the backbone of the uprising.

    Other artists also painted their versions of the Nanchang Uprising, but the stunning image created in the 1970s by Chen Yanning (1945-) has been the most influential. Different from Li Binghong's work, the images show people in full but attribute particular importance to their facial expressions. Chen Yanning assumed a perspective that obscured the background while focusing on people in the foreground. Zhou Enlai and Zhu De, both looking determined, walk side by side inspecting the formation while other leaders follow. The emotive accuracy of their facial expressions has made this masterpiece unique.

    Shen Yaoyi (1943-) took almost half a year to complete the 500 x 200 cm oil painting Zunyi Conference. From 1975 to 1997, Shen traced the path of the Red Army's Long March five times. On route, he gathered materials to gain a better understanding of the famous trek.

    In January 1935, after the Red Army took over Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, an expanded meeting of the CPC politburo was convened. Participants included Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Mao Zedong's military and strategic prowess was acknowledged at this conference and his leadership in the CPC and the Red Army was formally established.

    At the opening of the Zunyi Conference Mao was not yet a central figure, so the artist placed Zhou Enlai at the center of the composition, facing the members with resolution and honesty. Mao Zedong sits to the side listening intently; Zhu De looks stern, Wang Jiaxiang and Zhang Wentian are also absorbed with the proceedings. Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping have turned to face the audience, as if waiting for latecomers to join the conference. The key figures in the painting are highlighted by a clever arrangement of natural postures.

    Liu Wenxi's paintings depict not only Mao Zedong, but also other PRC founders. His huge scroll painting, The Orient, hanging in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, is another masterpiece, in which Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De are presented as if they still walk among us.