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Main Sculpture of Changchun Sculpture Park
Changchun, Jilin, China
At the highest point of Changchun World Sculpture Park, on Spring Square, stands a monument that redefined Chinese collaborative art. Completed in September 2003, Friendship, Peace, and Spring rises 29.5 meters into the Jilin sky. Five of China's master sculptors—Ye Yushan, Pan He, Cheng Yunxian, Wang Keqing, and Cao Chunsheng—united their distinct styles to create this central masterpiece.
The central tower consists of 164 interlocking blocks of flower-patterned granite. Ye Yushan designed these stones to break the rigid tradition of the square obelisk. The granite curves into three draped maidens holding an olive branch, a peace dove, and fresh flowers.
Below this granite column, the monument expands into five groups of heavy cast bronze figures and five arched white marble relief panels. Each group represents a continent. The sculptors carved specific human actions into the bronze and stone: an Asian musician blows a suona, an African drummer strikes a long drum, a European plays a small harp, an American plays panpipes, and an Oceanian guitarist strums. Beside them, white marble reliefs depict regional animals, including the Asian tiger, African lion, American leopard, European bison, and Oceanian kangaroo, surrounded by native flora. Water radiates outward from the flower-shaped base, adding movement to the static stone.
This monument has witnessed modern history, hosting the flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch relay. It remains a physical record of five masters working in unison, their chisel marks and bronze casts preserving a shared global aspiration in permanent stone.