Statue of role model soldier unveiled at Beijing's commercial street

Sixty years have passed since Chairman Mao Zedong called on the nation to learn the good virtues of Lei Feng, a young soldier. Today people still refer to someone with a selfless spirit as "living Lei Feng".

To mark the annual "Lei Feng Day", which fell on March 5, a statue of the hero soldier, who died in a car accident at 22, was recently installed at the bustling Wangfujing shopping street, in downtown Beijing. The statue, created in 2012 by noted sculptor Wu Weishan, depicts a smiling and walking Lei Feng enjoying the embrace of spring freeze.

The work is featured in the primary school textbook to go with a poem hailing the soldier's deeds. The unveiling of the statue was also the start of a collaboration on public art between Dongcheng district, which administers Wangfujing, and the National Art Museum of China, which Wu directs, to put more sculptures on the street for public benefits.