In his studio in Wuhan, Hubei province, Rong Zhengmao works on souvenirs to be sent to medical workers from across the country who helped the city fight COVID-19. [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
In an art studio in Wuhan, Hubei province, a delivery worker busily packaged 1,500 original Chinese ink drawings and calligraphic works all produced by Rong Zhengmao, a national senior artist and craftsman, who hadn't left his studio for two weeks.
But these works represented only a fraction of Rong's larger project to say thanks to the medical workers who helped Wuhan defeat COVID-19. They constituted the most recent batch of art in a project he said will take three years to complete.
Since Spring Festival last year, he has produced more than 8,500 drawings and sent them around the country in gratitude to those who came to the rescue after the coronavirus outbreak.
Rong draws cows and mice with the Chinese characters shishubuyi (meaning not easy) and niuzhuanqiankun (meaning to bring about big changes).
"I want to express my thanks to the medical workers who helped Wuhan fight COVID-19 at this time last year," Rong said. "Many of them came from faraway places, including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. Wuhan could not have recovered so soon without their sacrifice and hard work."
The artworks include exquisite postcards, calligraphic scrolls, notebooks and stamps. The government provided the names of the medical workers.
Some of Rong's work was donated to the National Museum, local museums and archive centers to add to their collections. Around 7,000 pieces were sent by mail last year at a cost of about 300,000 yuan.
To show support for Rong, representatives of a large delivery company, BEST, contacted him to say they were willing to deliver the mementos free of charge.
"We hope to use this chance to express our thanks and respect, along with Mr Rong, to all medical workers," said Wu Guojie, manager of BEST's Hubei branch.
