The Central Academy of Fine Arts has a very long history. In the history of the school running for decades, there have been many famous artists and teachers. They have the courage to carry the banner of cultural pioneers, take on the historical mission and the responsibility of the times, and become builders and communicators of the advanced culture. It is precisely because of their continuous succession that our excellent national culture has been inherited. However, due to different personal circumstances, there are many unknown people among them. Liu Shiming is just such an old sculptor.

In terms of seniority, Liu Shiming was a veteran of CAFA, being recruited by Mr. Xu Beihong himself in 1946, and having his works collected by foreign museums during his school years, with an honour that would have been the envy of his peers! However, his subsequent life was different from most. Due to special circumstances and experiences, he was once far away from the mainstream circle of art, and nowadays, when he comes into our view again, we see the results of the lofty and spectacular labour of this persistent artist. He has been immersed in his own creations for decades, uninfluenced by outside trends and not tempted by fame or fortune, quietly keeping to his own patch of paradise. Liu Shiming’s art has prompted us to rethink the important questions of innovation, nationality and modernity in art.

Universities play the role of builders and transmitters of advanced culture in the development of society. The development of education is an important element in the construction of advanced culture, and universities fulfil the social responsibility of cultural heritage and cultural innovation. The key to the development of culture lies in independent innovation, which constantly enhances the taste and effectiveness of the culture, opens up the boundaries and dimensions of the culture, and stimulates the activity and tension of the culture, as Mr. Hu Jintao pointed out: “Chinese culture has always contained the rich connotation of encouraging innovation, emphasizing the pushing out of the new, the reforming of the old in favour of the new”, and also emphasizing that ‘nature keeps moving vigorously, a man of virtue must keep making efforts to improve himself’.” In the process of cultural innovation, the relationship between the inheritance and promotion of traditional national culture and the absorption and integration of outstanding foreign culture must be handled with care. We must establish the status of the traditional culture of the nation and the culture of the times as the mainstay, and we must never leave this “root” and insist on making full use of all outstanding cultural elements in the innovation mechanism to nourish, enrich, protect and develop this “root”, so that it will continue to grow and produce new shoots, new leaves, new flowers and new fruits.

In the innovation and development of the culture, talent is crucial. We have to protect outstanding creative talent. It must be ensured that they are not repressed or envied, and must be given the conditions to develop their full potential and talent.

The global cultural ecology of diversity is, by its very nature, a competitive mechanism full of tests and choices in which the fittest survive and the unhealthy are eliminated. In such a cultural ecology, if any culture wants to survive and develop, it must highlight its own characteristics, highlight its own personality and form its own strengths and advantages. The only way to do this is to innovate constantly, truly achieving the cultural transformation and sublimation through innovation.

We carry out cultural innovation under the new era conditions and new social needs. Although it depends on the inheritance and promotion of excellent traditional culture, this is by no means the ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to create an advanced culture in the era of reform and opening up, create a new socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and create the most contemporary and competitive excellent culture to face the world, the future, and modernization. This is the trend of history, and this is the call of the times, and this is also the hope and appeal of the general public. Just like Liu Shiming, he used the national traditional techniques of ancient pottery sculptures in our country, but opened up a new artistic path, and finally formed an independent artistic language, completing the inheritance and promotion of traditional culture.