Left: He Xiangning, Liao Chengzhi, Hu Peiheng, Chen Banding, Qin Zhongwen, Meeting of the Long March Forces, 1961, collected by the National Museum of China
Right: Li Hongren, Long March Diary (Illustration 1), 1979, collected by the Department of Printmaking, Central Academy of Fine Arts
This forum seeks to examine the Long March experience within the analytical framework of contemporary literary and art criticism. As an iconic event in modern Chinese history, the Long March has evolved into an expansive cultural resource through ongoing artistic creation, exhibition narratives and theoretical research. Visual representations and critical discussions centering on the Long March have taken diverse forms across different eras. The historical memories, ideological ideals and inherent values embodied therein have gradually become an integral part of Chinese literary and artistic narratives. Held to mark the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Long March, the forum serves not only as a retrospective look back at history, but also an inquiry into the present. It explores how the Long March spirit keeps being interpreted, transformed and endowed with new connotations amid evolving times.
Left: Li Ronglin, Site of the Zunyi Conference, 2016, collected by Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts
Right: Feng Mengbo, Long March: Restart Series, 2009
The forum adopts the concept of "journey" as its theme. On one hand, it refers to the progressive experience of the Long March as a historical event, highlighting its complex structure and narrative tension evolving through time. On the other hand, it serves as a methodological perspective, inspiring critics to perceive how literature and art engage with history, reconstruct experiences and generate meanings from a dynamic generative perspective.
Left: Scene of the Fine Arts Exhibition Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, August 1, 1957
Right: Scene of One Artist's Long March — Research Exhibition of Original Comic Strips The Red Ribbon of the Earth by Shen Yaoyi from the Collection of Beijing Painting Academy, 2016
The forum proceeds from three dimensions: artistic creation criticism, exhibition criticism and interdisciplinary literary and art criticism. It places art criticism within the ongoing historical process, and advances the expansion and in-depth exploration of relevant topics via multiple approaches.
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Enter campus via the North Gate of Central Academy of Fine Arts
Follow ground signs to reach the Lecture Hall, Building 5
· Opening Speech·
Yu Yang
Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Vice President of Central Academy of Fine Arts
· Keynote speech ·
Fan Di'an
Chairman of China Artists Association
Director of Literary and Art Criticism Research Center, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Topic: Long March-themed Art Creation: From First-person Perspective to Scene Revisit
Tang Dongping
Vice Chairman of China Literary and Art Critics Association
Professor of Beijing Film Academy
Speech Topic: Integration of Criticism and Creation, Forging Ahead on a New Journey
Shang Hui
Director of Theory and Curatorial Committee, China Artists Association
Visiting Professor, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Speech Topic: The Contemporary Dimension of Epic Restoration
Host: Fu Yijing
Executive Director of Literary and Art Criticism Research Center & Director of General Administration Office, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Brief Introduction：This session focuses on how the Long March serves as historical experience and spiritual heritage integrated into artistic creation. It explores practical approaches of translating it into visual language and narrative structures across different periods. Speakers analyze the cultural vitality of this theme amid medium evolution and temporal changes based on typical thematic works, revolutionary fine art traditions and contemporary art practices.
Host: Li Jie, Associate Researcher, Curatorial & Research Department, Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts
Commentator: Hu Bin, Dean and Professor, School of Art and Humanities, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Keynote Speeches：
Li Yaochen, Deputy Secretary of the Direct Party Branch & Director of Collection Department, Art Museum of CAFA| Visual Evolution of the Long March: A Preliminary Study on the Historical Development and Features of Figurative Creations about Long March Stories
Qin Jianping, Researcher & Director of University History Research Center, CAFA | Propaganda Paintings by a Literary Soldier: On the Oil Painting Propaganda by Feng Fasi during His Red Army Service
Yang Canwei, Researcher, Fine Arts Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Arts | Long March in Ink and Brush: Re-exploring the Contemporary Value of Meeting of the Long March Forces
Tang Yu, Associate Researcher, Deputy Director of Research Affairs & Deputy Secretary-General of Academic Committee, CAFA | Reinterpreting the Long March through Games: Centering on Feng Mengbo’s Long March Series
Jin Hao, Responsible Editor of Fine Arts Magazine | Contemporary Transformation and Stylistic Restructuring of Young Artists’ Long March-themed Creations
Brief Introduction：
This session takes exhibitions as a perspective to study Long March-themed and revolutionary art. It explores how the Long March and its derived theme of "journey" are reconstructed and perceived within cultural spaces. By examining exhibition cases from different historical stages, speakers clarify the transformation of historical experience from visual texts to public cultural consensus.
Host: Shen Sen, Associate Professor, School of Art and Humanities, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Commentator: Liu Libin, Deputy Director and Professor, Literary and Art Criticism Research Center, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Keynote Speeches
Sheng Wei, Researcher, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University | 1942: Wartime Chinese Art in the United States
Zeng Xiaofeng, Associate Researcher, Central Academy of Fine Arts | Scene Creation and Lyric Expression: Visual Narratives and Emotional Politics of Long March Works at the 1957 30th Anniversary Army Founding Art Exhibition
Wang Yanan, Art Director, Art Museum of Beijing Painting Academy | Curatorial Narratives of Thematic Exhibitions — A Case Study of the Original Works Exhibition of The Red Ribbon of the Earth by Shen Yaoyi
Zhang Wenzhi, Associate Professor, School of Painting, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts | Aesthetic Education on the Long March Path — Re-examining the Practice and Exhibition of CAFA's Art Retracing the Long March
Wang Zhiliang, Professor & Deputy Chair of Art Department, School of Art, Hebei University | Journey in the Wilderness: Desert and Mountain Complex in Contemporary Chinese Art
Jiang Feiran, Lecturer, School of Intermedia Art, China Academy of Art | The Long March: A Mobile Visual Presentation
Brief Introduction：This session places the Long March within a broader horizon of literature, art, and intellectual history, exploring its ongoing interpretation and meaning-making in fields such as literature, film, and philosophy. Speakers first analyze the literary and artistic theoretical context of the Long March, then adopt interdisciplinary critical approaches to examine how the Long March flows and reconstructs across different knowledge systems and media structures. Thereby, they reveal its openness as a modern Chinese cultural proposition.
Host: Liu Xiyan, Associate Researcher, Curatorial Research Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum
Commentator: Wang Hao, Professor, Director of the Department of Art Theory and Director of the Social Science Division, School of Humanities, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Keynote Speeches
Chang Peijie, Associate Professor & Vice Dean, School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China | From Debate to Program: Mao Zedong's Talks and the Formation of the Theory of Popularization of Literature and Art
Han Zhenhua, Professor, School of Chinese Language and Literature, Director of the Center for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University | Resistance Across Mountains and Rivers: Long March Literature and Art and the Global Left-Wing Landscape of the 1930s
He Hao, Associate Researcher, Department of Literary Theory, Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences | Several Characteristics of 20th-Century Chinese Revolutionary History and Literary History from the Perspective of the Long March
Qi Tao, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University | Three Concepts for Philosophically Reflecting on the Long March
Zhang Xiaodi, Lecturer, School of Fine Arts, Beijing Film Academy | How Chinese Painting Moved from Stage to Screen — Revisiting the “Landscape” and “Journey” in The Butterfly Lovers
The Journey: Long March-themed Art Creation and Exhibitions in Critical Perspective
Organizers: Literary and Art Criticism Research Center, Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts
Time: 9:30-17:00, Saturday, May 23, 2026
Venue: Academic Lecture Hall, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Editor-in-Chief / He Yisha
Editor / Du Yinzhu
