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Art mirrors life
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Windy Shao
DONGMEN is one of the most popular areas in the city for tourists, perhaps because it is considered home of the city's roots.
Pan Xiliang is of no exception. When he first arrived in the city a few years ago, he spent many long hours wandering the streets of the busy shopping precinct. He was fascinated by the area, brimming as it was with noise and excitement, and wondered about its past: what did it look like 100 years ago?
Years later, Pan made his own answer. A huge relief sculpture he designed, Old Dongmen Fair, was unveiled in the area in January.
It portrays eight typical markets of old Dongmen like the fish market, the duckling market and the cloth market, as well as 126 lively figures indulged in different activities, typical to the area's life in those bygone days.
A member of the Chinese Artists' Association and the winner of several international and domestic painting awards, Pan, who has a gift for figure painting, was invited last year to participate in a public bid to design a sculpture reflecting Dongmen's past.
After intense research, Pan spent almost a week sketching the outline. When his design appeared before the judges, many simply said: “That is what we want."
To liven up the design, Pan found three old Dongmen residents, all over 90, to take a look and offer their opinions. “That is just like what the place was when we were kids," they told him.
He also paid attention to every possible detail to make his work more accurate and lifelike. He changed the shape of the Hakka hats and even the buckets after consulting the old residents. He had trouble getting a roof just right because he had to do intense research to discover exactly how they appeared a century ago.
While Pan and his colleagues were busying working on the sculpture on the site, Pan noticed that an old man, about 90, came to the site almost every day and examined it carefully each time. “It brings me back to the old days," said the man.
Caption: A part of the relief sculpture.
Pan stands before his design.
Yu Hong
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