Portraits overlooking Tiananmen

A hand-painted, framed, oil portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong overlooks Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The portrait weighs up to 1.5 metric tons and its dimensions are 6 × 4.5 metres.

Background (1420–1949)
Tiananmen was built in 1420 by the Ming dynasty as the entrance to the Imperial City, within which the Forbidden City was located. By the 20th century the monumental gate north of the square became a National symbol of China.

In 1925 the Nationalist government of the Chinese Republic 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.

Continuing to commemorate the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1949 after the Pingjin campaign, which saw the peaceful seizure of Bejing (and Tianjin) by the People's Liberation Army, portraits of Zhu De and Mao Zedong of Communist China were hung up at Tiananmen.

In modern China (1949–)
After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 a singular portrait of chairman Mao had been hung up on Tiananmen gate. That portrait is replaced annually before National Day (every October 1st). Only on two occasions has it been replaced by a different image, on March 9th 1953, it was temporarily replaced by a portrait of Joseph Stalin to commemorate his death four days earlier. And in late 1976 after Mao's death, around the time of the state funeral of Mao the portrait was briefly replaced by a black-and-white image of Xinhua News Agency.

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.

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.

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.

1949–1964
Zhou Lingzhao (1919–2023) was commissioned to paint the portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square for the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. His portrait of Mao was replaced in May 1950 by a portrait made by Xi Mang (1916–2007). From 1950 to 1957, the portrait of Mao was modeled after Zhang Zhenshi's (1914–1992) depiction of Mao.

1964–1976
In 1964 Wang Guodong (1931–2019) replaced Zhang as the lead painter. Wang was the first artist to paint the portrait by himself; all the previous versions 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, when he retired after Mao died.

Since 1976
In 1976, the year of Mao's death, Wang Guodong retired and Ge Xiaoguang (born 1953), a student of Wang, took his place in 1977 as lead painter of Mao's portrait at Tiananmen Gate, which 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.

Lead painters of Mao's portrait

 * 1) Zhou Lingzhao 1949–1950
 * 2) Xi Mang 1950
 * 3) Zhang Zhenshi 1950–1964
 * 4) Wang Guodong 1964–1976
 * 5) Ge Xiaoguang since 1977