Poets' statues unveiled at Ukrainian embassy in Beijing

Gates to the Soul, a group of two bronzes portraying eighth-century Chinese poet Du Fu and 19th-century Ukrainian literary icon Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko, also known as Kobzar Taras, were recently installed and will be on long-term display at the Embassy of Ukraine in Beijing.

Created by Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China and a sculptor in his own right, the statues depict two opening books and on each is a full-length portrait of the two poets.

Both Du and Shevchenko experienced many hardships in their lifetime. In their works they spoke for the plight of people.

The pair of statues has an identical version which was placed at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2017.