The Chinese news Website Sina.com has received nearly 10,000
posts from netizens after it published the news that Huachen
Auction Company will begin the bidding for Mao's portrait on June
3. Many netizens expect the government authority to end the
auction.
Some netizens said that a Chinese museum should collect the
historical portrait instead of it being auctioned.
The painting is expectedly worth 1 million yuan (US$120,000) to
1.2 million yuan. The sale is open to both Chinese and foreign
bidders, said Mei Ligang, a spokesman for the Beijing Huachen
Auction Company.
"The portrait is worth far more than its monetary value in terms
of art and history," said Chen Lusheng, a researcher from the China
National Museum of Fine Arts.
Zhang Zhenshi, a Chinese painter who sketched the original in
the early 1950s, was chosen from more than 30 candidates to portray
Mao Zedong, China's revolutionary leader.
The auction company exhibited the oil painting at a press
conference a few days ago. The 91 centimeter-tall and 68.5
centimeter-wide work of art is currently owned by a
Chinese-American collector.
(Shanghai Daily May 20, 2006)
