A hand-painted, framed, oil portrait of ChairmanMao Zedong overlooks Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The portrait weighs up to 1.5 metric tons and its dimensions are 6 × 4.5 metres.[1]
In 1925 the government of the Republic of China hung up a portrait of Chinese statesman Sun Yat-sen at Tiananmen gate, after his death in March that year. After the victory over Japan in 1945 the portrait of Sun Yat-sen was replaced with a portrait of the leader of the Republic, Chiang Kai-shek.
During the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 a group of protestors, among them Yu Dongyue, vandalised the portrait of Mao Zedong by throwing eggs at it. Yu was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released on bail 17 years later in 2006.[5][6]
In May 2007, the portrait of Mao caught fire, damaging about 15% of the portrait. A 35-year-old unemployed man from Urumqi, Xinjiang was arrested for the incident. The portrait had to be repaired later.[7]
In April 2010, a protester threw ink in a plastic bottle at the portrait, he did not succeed and the bottle instead hit the wall near the portrait. He was then arrested by Beijing Police.[8]
In 1964, Wang Guodong replaced Zhang as the lead painter. Wang was the first artist to paint the portrait by himself, unlike all the previous versions, which were completed by a team of painters.
During the Cultural Revolution, Wang was harassed and put in a public struggle session. He was then forced to work as a carpenter at a framing factory for two years. He continued his work through the Cultural Revolution until 1976.[12]
Mao's portrait at Tiananmen Gate must be re-painted and re-hung yearly. It is a job that Ge Xiaoguang continues to this day in a studio near Tiananmen Square.[13]
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