SIXTY years ago, China sent its best students to the former Soviet Union for everything from military training to literature and art studies.

During 1953 to 1961, 33 young art students and teachers were selected nationwide and sent to the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. When they returned home, they became renowned artists and art educationists.

Yesterday, an exhibition of those students' work from their time in the former Soviet Union opened at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou, featuring more than 500 pieces, plus some 600 supporting documents, including articles by students majoring in art theory.

"The exhibition is not for people to tell which painting is good and which is not, but is to show the past history," says Quan Shanshi, who was sent to the former Soviet Union in 1954 and studied oil painting there for six years.

The 84-year-old, who was professor of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, has 38 pieces in the exhibition.

"Through the history and exhibition, I hope people can tell today what we should take from these pieces," says 81-year-old Xiao Feng, who went to the former Soviet Union with Quan and was later director of the China Academy of Art.

The exhibition features six chronological sections, displaying works alongside photographs of the young students' lives abroad.

Artworks, mostly sketches and oil paintings, show a very Soviet style, and include works featuring Chinese people and landscapes created by the artists when home on vacation.

The exhibition is sponsored by the National Art Museum of China and Zhejiang Art Museum, with all the works collected from the artists, or their families.

"Facts show that those students improved the level of art education and works produced in China," says Fan Di'an, the curator of National Art Museum of China.

Shanghai Daily spoke to Quan and Xiao, who made the trip from Hangzhou to the former Soviet Union all those years ago. Here are their stories.

It was the end of 1952, when Quan and Xiao - who both graduated in oil painting - were set to teach at their mother school, East China campus of Central Academy of Fine Arts (now the China Academy of Art) in Hangzhou.

But a call from local government offered another path: they were told to attend a test picking the best students and teachers to study in the former Soviet Union.

They were shocked. "The former Soviet Union then was like heaven to us," recalls Xiao.

So, the duo first passed politics and culture tests in Hangzhou, then an art test at the stadium of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"The numbers taking the test filled the entire stadium, so I didn't think I would be selected," says Quan.

However, both Quan and Xiao were on the list, and took and passed a second art exam in Beijing.

This was only the beginning. All selected students - though excellent at art - had to study Russian, politics and sport for a year in a tough schedule before going abroad.

Before departing, the central government gave every student two large boxes of tailor-made clothing, including suits, coats, shirts and shoes, and even underwear, stockings, handkerchiefs and shoe brushes.

When they started the study at Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, everybody received the sizeable sum of at least 500 Russian rubles per month - "300 peasants feed one art student," then Premier Zhou Enlai said in a speech.

"We were very inspired. Everybody clearly aimed at learning for the former Soviet Union and serving the country when we got back," says Quan.

But there were also some rules that seem strange today. Everybody had to spend at least 300 rubles on daily foods - to ensure they took in enough nutrition, and relationships with foreigners were prohibited.

So while some Russian women were keen to have relationships with Quan, he did not pursue these opportunities.

Chinese students toiled and sometimes struggled, especially their first year, as their Russian language skills were challenged in art theory courses featuring complicated vocabulary.

They studied at their dormitory till late every night and spent their weekends at work as well.

Their hard-working attitude won Chinese people a good reputation in the former Soviet Union, and by the second year Chinese students were scoring higher marks than Soviet classmates.

One sketch, "A Man's Back," drawn by Quan in the first semester of his second year in the former Soviet Union, achieved the top mark of 5, and is included in the current exhibition.

The students also traveled around the former Soviet Union during their stay, but not further afield in Europe.

Those best students of China sent to the former Soviet Union did not only study art techniques, but also learn about the education system. On returning home, they established the art education system of China, according to the country's conditions.

"Before, Chinese people copied the former Soviet Union blindly," recalls Quan. For instance, art students in China always drew from plaster models in a room with the curtain shut and lights on, no matter the season or weather.

Quan saw that many Soviet artists did this simply because in the north winter days were very short, andthe nights very long.

Once home, he ensured the curtains remained open for art classes.

They also built on what they observed. In the former Soviet Union, all art students were required to go to countryside to produces landscapes and works depicting farming.

However, when Quan and other Chinese art students writing textbooks and syllabus for art colleges, they went one step further, requiring students to work with locals so as to experience their life first-hand.

"Art is from life, and art is for people," Xiao explains.

But Quan feels this has been lost today, with many art students going to countryside, yet living in hotels.

As a result, they produce superficial work, says Quan.

"I hope this exhibition of the past can enlighten people, especially art students of today," concludes Quan.



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