Chongqing - The art and documents exhibition themed on "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway" is open free to the public at the Chongqing Art Museum, running until June 12.

Residents visit the art exhibition on the "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway" at Chongqing Art Museum. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

The Chengdu-Chongqing Railway opened in 1952 and was the first railway to be built after founding the People's Republic of China. Its construction provided valuable experience for the following railroad construction in China and kicked off the resumption of economic development. It was lauded as the first miracle in construction history in China.

Seventy years later, a group of art workers launched an exhibition in Chongqing Art Museum by combining artworks on the "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway" with documentary materials to show the achievements of art created in the past 70 years. More than 100 pieces of artwork and documents are on display, covering various forms such as comic strips, photography, oil paintings, sculptures, and others.

Industrial construction records the ideals and passion of the citizens who participate in socialist construction and provides a narrative thread for the history of modern Chinese art. Although Chengdu-Chongqing Railway has been opening for nearly 70 years, the artists are more focused on changing lives and looking for creative materials from it.

The Chinese painting "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway"  by Wang Yue. (Photo/Chongqing Art Museum)

People in Southwest China had always dreamed of building a railway to conquer the complex terrain. Before the operation of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, the river road and the steep paths in the mountains were the only way connected to other areas. Walking into the first exhibition hall, the audience can understand the significance of the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway. The prints take the viewer back to the arduous journey of building the railway.

The printmaking "Bashan Feihong" by Hu Dingyu. (Photo/Chongqing Art Museum)

The printmakers outline the joyful faces and expectations of the people for the railway, red flags fluttering. 

The printmaking "Forty Years' Wish Fulfilled" by Li Shaoyan. (Photo/Chongqing Art Museum)

Since the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway opened, the distance between Chengdu and Chongqing was shortened, as well as the economic and cultural life of the people in the southwest began to exchange. The second exhibition hall retraces the changes in people's daily lives after the opening of the railway. The oil painting shows the daily life of citizens on the train in the 1990s.

The oiling painting "Carrying the Train" by Gao Xiaohua is on display. (Photo/Chongqing Art Museum)

From traditional railway to world-leading high-speed railway, the development of the Chinese high-speed railway business is stunning. Such "Chinese speed" also adds new content to the artists' creations. In the third exhibition hall, the artists review the development of the railway with a realistic approach combined with a distinctive personal creative style. They used Chinese painting, printmaking, and oil painting to depict in detail, aiming to reflect China's modernization.

The Chinese painting "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway Landscape Series One" by Gao Guanfeng. (Photo/Chongqing Art Museum)

(Zhou Muye, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)