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First int'l bronze sculpture expo opens in E China

By Ma Chenguang (China Daily Anhui Bureau)
Updated: 2010-10-12 14:49

TONGLING - As the world's first bronze sculpture expo opened here in East China on Oct 11, a senior official of Anhui Province said the First China (Tongling) International Bronze Sculpture Exhibition will exert a significant impact on the world's bronze art by grouping sculptors around the globe with sound artist creations.

Zheng Mumin, vice-chairman of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said he hoped the hospitable people in Tongling - dubbed "the bronze capital of China" - will join hands with sculpture artists from home and abroad to made the bi-annual exhibition a never-ending event, which can be claimed a first-class one in China and a most advanced one in the world with its distinctive features.

As a prefecture-level city with some 740,000 residents, Tongling is located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River in southern Anhui and is a beautiful mountain city with a 3,500-year history in bronze production using ample copper and tin deposits.

The current exhibition has attracted more than 600 pieces of bronze work from around the world since last June, among which 35 sculptures were selected as top winners and placed in the International Bronze Art Garden within the city's Cuihu Park, Zheng said, adding that the winners involve 18 Chinese sculptors and 17 sculptors from 16 other countries.

A large number of visitors from home and abroad, including Tongling's Party chief Yao Yuzhou and Tongling Mayor Li Ming, attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, that is jointly sponsored by the National Urban Sculpture Construction Guidance Committee and Tongling City Government and also corresponds with China's 11th Session of Bronze Culture Exposition in Tongling which opens on Oct 12.

Speaking in front of a large crowd, Zheng stressed that the current gala carries artistic, international and innovative features, and will be of far-reaching significance to the world's bronze art stage.

Bernard Horsey, a sculptor from the United States who speaks on behalf of 17 winners from foreign countries, affirmed that by standing on the bank of the Yangtze with its rich reserves of copper and zinc, the city of Tongling will surely see more bronze sculptures from more sculptors in the future.

With their art creations, the sculptors will make Tongling more beautiful as art is timeless, he said.

While emphasizing that sculpture makes a city more beautiful, Mayor Li Ming noted the successful launch of the First China (Tongling) International Bronze Sculpture Exhibition will further promote the development of bronze sculpture in China and strengthen the country's sculpture art exchanges with other nations, besides enhancing Tongling’s city image and reputation in the world with a diversified copper industry.

The mayor also added that as the cradle of China's splendid bronze civilization, Tongling has always made its copper industry a pillar one and become China's "modern copper base", which has a certain influence at home and abroad with its copper handicrafts, copper commodities and bronze sculptures.

Anhui provincial and Tongling city leaders presented winning certificates to the 35 winning sculptors, who later conducted interactive bronze sculpture activities with visitors following the opening ceremony at Cuihu Park.

There will also be a bronze culture forum, series of art performances and a trade fair during the 11th Session of Bronze Culture Exposition in Tongling opening on Oct 12.