Huge bas-relief of Xi'an Incident unveiled in NW. China province

A huge bas-relief depicting the 1936 Xi'an Incident -- in which Chiang Kai-shek, former leader of the Chinese Kuomintang, was captured -- was unveiled to visitors in western China's Shaanxi Province on December 12.

The relief works, 60 meters long and 3.6 meters high, stands at the foot of Lishan Mountain in Xi'an, capital city of the province.

The carving consists of 12 groups of picture planes, containing more than 120 typical figures, such as General Zhang Xueliang and General Yang Hucheng. It cost approximately 2.6 million yuan (some313,000 US dollars).

Generals Zhang and Yang arrested Chiang Kai-shek in the Xi'an Incident on Dec. 12, 1936 to try and force him to end the civil war and organize coordinated resistance with the forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC) against the Japanese intruders.

The incident is regarded as giving a great boost to the war of resistance to Japan.

"The relief mainly portrays the history of Japan's aggression against China in 1931 and an anti-Japanese coalition between the CPC and Kuomintang in 1937," noted Pang Renlong, president of Lishan Painting and Calligraphy Institute, creator of the artwork.

Source: Xinhua