National museum's new centerpiece

The ink painting Birth of New China by Tang Yongli is now on display at the National Museum of China. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Birth of New China, a large Chinese ink painting, was recently added to the collection of National Museum of China and will be on permanent display at the museum in Beijing.

The piece captures a historic moment from the founding ceremony of the People's Republic on Oct 1, 1949, and portrays in meticulous detail the scene at Tian'anmen rostrum, on which 63 members of the Central People's Government Committee had gathered to mark the birth of New China. The committee acted as the top governing authority from that day through Sept 15, 1954.

Tang Yongli was commissioned by the museum three years ago to create the painting which has ended up as a panoramic piece — 4.8 meters in height and 17 meters in width.

Tang, 64, who teaches painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, rented a courtyard house in a Beijing suburb to complete his work.

Birth of New China is displayed together with dozens of other classical paintings on the Communist revolution in China.

The Founding Ceremony of New China by the late art teacher Dong Xiwen is among the more famous such pieces.

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