Three colorful portraits of Mao Zedong are displayed in the village of Qiuzhuang in Jiangsu Province. Photo: Li Jingjing/GT

As one of China's great leaders, portraits of Chairman Mao Zedong used to hang on the walls of nearly every household. Thirty eight years after his death, what do people think about the late Chairman now?

The residents of Qiuzhuang, a rural woodworking village with around 1,000 people near the city of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, were shocked when they first saw Andy Warhol's 1972 pop-art painting of Mao Zedong exhibited in their village. Many questioned whether the colorful works, especially the blue-faced portrait should be considered something akin to blasphemy.

Xuzhou was a crucial battlefield during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) while many in this remote village lived through the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). This unique history has led many people in the area to have strong feelings for Mao.

Born and raised in this village, 40-year-old artist Li Mu left this village when he entered college and spent most of his time in big cities. Long interested in video and installation art his passion soon took him overseas.

Once, when visiting the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands he came across three pop-art Mao portraits by Warhol and was immediately reminded of his childhood memory of Mao portraits hanging in every home.

It was then that he came up with a bold idea - bring the pop-art Mao portraits along with several other famous contemporary art works to include the works of John Kormeling, Dan Flavin, Daniel Buren and Sol LeWitt to his remote hometown in order to challenge the mindset of the villagers. He called this idea the Qiuzhuang Project.

God or man

"If this was the Cultural Revolution, you'd be shot to death for this!" said Li's father Li Taibin, speaking against his son's decision to bring the portraits to the village. Living through and witnessing the Cultural Revolution firsthand, he still becomes concerned when others disrespect or criticize Mao.

"I was so angry I didn't talk to him for a whole day," said Li Taibin during his interview with the Global Times.

This wasn't the first time the pop-art Mao portraits have caused controversy in China. Last year during the Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibit's Asian tour, the pop-art portraits of Mao were conspicuously absent when the exhibit arrived in China.

This opposition from family, however, didn't stop Li Mu's determination to see the project through.

Confusion wasn't limited to his father, as other villagers also had a hard time understanding the meaning behind the portraits. The red and blue versions of Mao left many wondering whether the American artist had been trying to insult the former leader. Yet, contradictory to Li Taibin's worst expectations, the pop-art paintings seemed to gradually grow on villagers.

Some villagers have even asked for copies of the three portraits to hang in their own homes.

"To them, Mao is a great man, almost a god. Some even think that hanging these at home can exorcise evil spirits," said Li Taibin.

The portraits even sparked discussion among villagers about Mao's life. According to Li Mu, while some old people in Qiuzhuang still look fondly upon the time Mao was their leader, younger or more educated people seem more capable of judging him fairly.

 "Mao was a great leader. Although the Cultural Revolution was a mistake, he founded this country, his failure should not overshadow his successes," said Li Taibin, reflecting the opinion of many in the village.

Introducing art to the countryside

"I chose those three Warhol portraits of Mao because they have a strong connection to our village," the artist told the Global Times, "but what I really want to do is to bring modern art there."

Li has been working with the Van Abbe museum to bring copies of its collection to the village, including paintings and sculptures. Besides introducing these works, Li has made recording the interactions between villagers and these works of art another part of his project. Together he and his team capture villagers' reactions towards the art through photography or video. Eventually they plan to produce a documentary.

Another part of his plan was to build a library in the village. "I needed a medium to act as a bridge between the villagers and myself, to let villagers get to know me and accept what I was trying to do," Li said. Containing books donated by various institutions, this free library is open to all. Li explained that while this library differs from traditional libraries, he hopes it can become a part of village life and open more possibilities to the village.

Pictures drawn by children in the village now hang on the wall of the library. During my visit to the library I was surprised by some pictures drawn by a 10-year-old girl that showed an ability far beyond her age. According to Li's assistant Zhong Ming, this girl's potential was noticed by Li, and he has been helping her improve her skills.

Li has chosen various works to display throughout the village. A video performance by Ulay and Abramovic is shown everyday in a small shop, a recreation of the piece Wood Circle by Richard Long is displayed on the bank of the river, a ladder-like sculpture by Sol LeWitt is not only exhibited on an wall where everyone can see, replicas of the sculpture can be found in some villagers' homes.

Unlike other exhibitions, Li considers the practicability of the art works to be displayed in the Qiuzhuang Project. Together with his father and several relatives, Li made replicas of Sol LeWitt's ladder-like sculpture and distributed it to villagers. In the house of a villager called Fan Jingsi, the big ladder-like sculpture has been hung on the wall and is being used as a shelf to display several vases and other objects.

"I don't understand (the ladder-like sculpture), but it looks good now," said Fan. Although he helped Li build these replicas and decided to display one in his house, he confessed that he still wonders why Li is doing all this and how he intends to make money with such a project.

"I've come back to this village to try to reestablish a relationship with it through art, knowledge and experience," Li said, adding, "Maybe I will be able to find myself and my direction in life. I think, no matter how complicated or big an art project is, it is always a project about a person."