Conference on World Peace

Inscription: Beihong painted this in the sixth month of the Jichou year (1949).
Seal: “Xu Beihong” (Square seal with relief characters)

On 2 October 1949, the Chinese Conference on Safeguarding World Peace was founded in Beijing. Xu Beihong, Guo Moruo, Lu Dingyi, Shen Yanbing, Zhou Yang, Xiao San, Xia Yan, Sha Kefu, Feng Xuefeng, Zheng Zhenduo, Tian Han, Hong Shen, He Zhongping, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, Gu Yuan, Ma Sicong, Lü Ji, Dai Ailian, Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Yuan Xuefen, Zhao Shuli, Bai Yang, Ai Qing, Liu Ningyi, Zhu Xuefan, Zeng Ke, Yang Hansheng, Yuan Muzhi, Xu Zhizhen, Liao Chengzhi, Qian Sanqiang, Cai Chang, Li Dequn, Xu Guangping, Ma Yinchu, Zhang Xiruo, Peng Zemin, Tan Pingshan, Shao Lizi, Chen Mingshu, Chen Boda, Tao Menghe, Fan Wenlan, Deng Chumin, Xu Deheng, Li Da, Chen Wangdao, Ai Siqi, Jian Bozan, and Hou Wailu were among the 134 delegates chosen to represent China.
Patriots and intellectual elites from various fields, including Xu Beihong, perceived the new atmosphere for New China in different ways, but they were all enveloped by the passions of this new era. These emotions are fully expressed in Xu Beihong’s At the Conference on World Peace. When they were separated from the Prague gathering, the Chinese delegation received the news of the liberation of Nanjing on April 23. They were so excited they could not sleep. In this energized, elated mood, Xu Beihong, who very seldom depicted real events, used realist methods to record a historical event and express the boundless joy of a generation of intellectuals.