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With great attention, Shu Ji, 83, observes a life-size wax statue of Peking Opera guru Mei Lanfang (1894-1961). The figure is clad in a blue satin changpao, or traditional Chinese long gown for men, and a black satin magua, a riding jacket. It has a Chinese folding fan in its right hand while the left hand is behind its back.
The attire is similar as what Mei wore for his meeting with Charlie Chaplin in 1930, in Los Angeles, one of the six US cities that Mei and his Peking Opera troupe toured.
"I remember his face as being smaller and rounder. And his hands were more like a woman's. I shook his hand once and his skin felt rather fine and smooth," says Shu, the daughter of Lao She (1899-1966), the pseudonym of noted Chinese novelist and dramatist Shu Qingchun who befriended Mei.
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Xu Qingping (second right), son of Xu Beihong, and Lyu Zhangshen (right), director of National Museumof China, pose with wax figures of Qi Baishi (left) and Xu Beihong. Provided to China Daily |
Shu was speaking to the staff of the National Museum of China during a preview of the Beijing museum's new wax gallery on May 24. Her father is also among the 35 culturally important people of 20th century China whose wax models are on display at NMC's south wing.
Dozens of family members were invited to the preview and for a final check of the completed figures. Their feedback will help the staff fine-tune the display before the gallery is officially opened to visitors in early June.
Chen Lyusheng, the museum's deputy director, says NMC needed to finalize security measures and the ticket price before the opening.
The museum launched in 2011 the wax gallery project to pay tribute to modern Chinese intellectuals. The final lineup has celebrities from three areas - guoxue or studies of Chinese cultural traditions, literature and arts - since the New Culture Movement of the 1910s and the 1920s.
No living personality is included, and the most recent chosen to be featured is Ba Jin, the author, who died in 2005.
Chen says that although the world has many wax museums, a great majority of them are commercial and oriented for entertainment.
He says the NMC gallery is unique because it "offers a historical perspective, drawing public attention to the inheritance of cultural traditions and the humanistic spirit of 20th-century China".
"The gallery features important intellectuals from different periods to help people today get a big picture of the trends of thought during China's modernization," he says.
The production of each figure takes about four to six months.
As not many images and documents were available for some figures, it was time consuming but necessary to communicate with their offspring to get details, says Chen.
For instance, when the museum staff visited Shu, she suggested that they copy her thick and short eyebrows and snub nose, which resemble her father's.
At the preview, Pan Gongkai, son of master painter Pan Tianshou (1897-1971) and former head of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, found his father's figure with a pair of leather shoes and said that in real life his father mostly wore cloth shoes made in the traditional style.
Meanwhile, Chen says the display also tells the stories of the personalities featured.
For instance, the display of renowned essayist Zhu Ziqing (1898-1948) includes his wax figure placed in a scene based on his widely-read essay Beiying (retreating figure).
Another display shows two wax figures, Hua Tian-you (1901-86) and Liu Kaiqu (1904-93), creating reliefs on the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tian'anmen Square in 1952-53. Viewers from outside the gallery can see the monument through a wide window.
The statues of Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and Xu Beihong (1895-1953), two masters of modern Chinese art who were close friends, stand side by side at the gate of a siheyuan-style courtyard in old Beijing. It re-creates a scene from September 1928 when Qi bids goodbye to Xu in Beijing.
Xu, by then already a prominent painter, had just accepted a position to head the fine arts college of Bei-ping University. He was a good friend with Qi, a self-taught painter who was rejected by the art circles because of his humble background and low-profile personality.
Xu appreciated Qi's talent, and visited Qi's home three times, inviting him to teach at the college. Their friendship and mutual admiration is a much repeated story.
Chen says that NMC will enrich the display by adding items from its collections that are related to the figures featured, including their manuscripts and belongings.
linqi@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/31/2016 page18)
