Artists Keep Long March Legacy Alive in Porcelain, Sculpture

As China commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s Long March victory, a new generation of artists is finding innovative ways to keep the revolutionary spirit alive. A feature published August 3 in PLA Daily profiles two artists — one in her twenties, one in his seventies — who are translating the epic journey of 1934-1936 into porcelain and sculpture, ensuring that the stories of those who crossed mountains and rivers are not forgotten.

A Young Artist’s Kiln Fire

Xie Zulong, a recent graduate of Jingdezhen Ceramic University, grew up in Caolin Town, Suichuan County, Jiangxi Province — home to China’s first Red Market, established over 90 years ago when the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army removed tax barriers to support the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base. His father, Xie Jiuling, has spent more than three decades carrying film projection equipment along mountain paths to screen movies in rural villages.

“As a child, I always followed my father over mountains to show films in villages, watching ‘Sparkling Red Star’ and ‘Crossing the Chishui River Four Times’ over and over,” Xie told China Military Online. “At that time I didn’t understand what the Long March was. I only remembered my father saying that the Red Army’s road was hard to walk, but it led to the birth of New China.”

During his studies, Xie joined the university’s Red Ink Society, a student collective dedicated to creating red-themed cultural artworks. Together with classmates from different grades and majors, he spent six months creating the “Medal Splendor” series, using calligraphy and seal carving to depict national heroes including Zhang Fuqing and Li Yannian. The work earned first prize in the Jiangxi Provincial Universities “Red Reading” competition and was permanently collected by the university’s Student Red Culture and Art Works Exhibition Hall.

On July 25, Xie’s porcelain panel painting “Thin Porcelain Carrying the Years” was exhibited at the Third National College Student Art Exhibition, organized by the China Artists Association. The artwork, crafted from fiber porcelain less than 1 millimeter thick, depicts relics observed at the Zhong Family Ancestral Hall in Hengshi Village — the former headquarters of the Red Sixth Army Corps, which departed from Suichuan County on its Western Expedition in August 1934.

“No matter how neat the calligraphy, it cannot move people’s hearts,” Xie reflected. “It’s like walking knowing only the direction but not having your feet firmly on the road.”

The same day his work went on display, “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage” was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea — China’s 61st World Heritage site and the first in the world with handmade porcelain industry as its core theme.

A Master’s 2,000 Days of Sculpting History

In a small workshop beneath the Liupan Mountains in Longde County, Ningxia, 71-year-old Zhang Guoqin — a national-level inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage art form “Taige (Longde County Gaotai)” — spends his days meticulously carving Red Army soldiers from clay and fabric.

His monumental sculpture series, “‘Sculpting’ the Long March Road,” features 14 grand scenes and 356 Red Army soldiers with varied expressions, recreating classic moments including the Bloody Battle at Xiang River, the Crossing of the Jinsha River, the Seizing of the Luding Bridge, and the Crossing of Jiajin Mountain. The work innovatively combines 21 intangible cultural heritage techniques including embroidery, wood carving, brick carving, and iron art shaping.

Zhang’s journey to this monumental work began 26 years ago, when at age 45 he rode a motorcycle from Yinchuan southward along the Red Army’s route. The journey lasted 376 days, covering 22,400 kilometers and visiting over 500 Long March sites. He documented the experience with 120,000 characters of diary entries, over 70 hours of video footage, and more than 9,000 photographs.

“No matter how weighty the words in books, they cannot compare to genuine experience with feet on the ground,” Zhang said. “Without personally walking the Long March route, touching the old sites, and hearing the Long March stories, it’s hard to create works with warmth.”

His firsthand experiences deeply informed the sculptures. During extreme fatigue in the mountains of Sichuan, he observed how the body naturally adjusts — shoulder blades hunch forward, knees slightly bend — details he later carved into the “Crossing Jiajin Mountain” sculpture. He spent two days and nights camping at the Luding Bridge on the Dadu River, discovering that the bridge sways violently when people lie on the chains, with greater amplitude further from shore. This became the basis for the “Seizing the Luding Bridge” sculpture’s extraordinary detail — Red Army soldiers’ fingers gripping the iron chains with such force that their nails seem to embed in the metal.

After retiring in 2020, Zhang devoted himself fully to the sculpture series, spending 2,000 days — approximately five and a half years — on meticulous work. According to a Xinhua News Agency report, he initially prepared for three months, watching online courses on relief sculpture techniques, and dismantled and redid works like “Zunyi Conference” and “Crossing Jiajin Mountain” nearly 10 times.

The first visitors to his studio were children of Red Army soldiers who traveled from Jiangxi. Standing before the “Seizing the Luding Bridge” sculpture, one descendant said: “My father is in this! In all my years, this is the first time I’ve seen what my father looked like on the battlefield.”

Passing the Torch

On July 20, over 100 teachers and students from Yinchuan visited Zhang’s studio for a “Re-walking the Long March Road · Walking Ideological and Political Course” educational activity. Student Wang Zihan described the experience: “I used to think the Long March was far away from us. Today, crouching down to closely examine this group of sculptures, the Red Army soldiers’ fingers gripping the iron chains and their frozen uniforms on the snowy mountains are right before my eyes.”

Xie Zulong has similarly brought his art to younger audiences, participating in summer social practice programs that teach calligraphy classes in rural schools. “The Long March was not one person’s journey,” he said. “Only by bringing light and warmth to others does this road become meaningful.”

Both artists embody a broader cultural movement documented in China News coverage of nationwide commemorations marking the 90th anniversary of the Long March victory, including exhibitions, educational campaigns, and cultural performances. The “Long March Spirit, Inherited by Me” campaign launched in March has been central to these efforts, calling on young people to carry forward the revolutionary legacy.

What’s Next

Zhang Guoqin plans to create new works based on local Ningxia stories such as the Battle of Qingshizui, while continuing to refine his existing sculptures. “Everyone is walking their own Long March,” he said. “It depends on whether there is faith in one’s heart. With firmness of heart, there is nothing to fear, and you will ultimately reach your goal.”

As the 90th anniversary year continues, the work of artists like Xie and Zhang demonstrates how revolutionary history can be reimagined through traditional crafts — ensuring that the journey across mountains and rivers remains vivid for generations to come. The Red Ink Society at Jingdezhen Ceramic University, which has produced over 400 red-themed artworks since its founding in 2020, exemplifies this ongoing transmission of cultural memory through artistic practice.

Xie Zulong captured the generational shift succinctly: “My father’s generation’s Long March was on mountain roads and in film screens. My classmates’ and my Long March is in ink and on porcelain blanks, passing on red culture in a youthful form.”