As one of the first-generation of native sculptors cultivated in New China, Liu Shiming concluded his artistic creation as the “Chinese Method”, which could be understood from Liu Shiming’s experience. In his career in sculpture that spans more than 60 years, he always maintained a clear distance from the concepts and forms of Western sculpture that dominated his era. Instead, he persistently grounded himself in a local Chinese context, uncovering various folk art within the Chinese tradition and perpetuating ancient Chinese modelling methods. He advocated absorbing nourishment from past clay statues and combining this with modern elements to realize a contemporary transformation. Professor Shao Dazhen once commented on Liu Shiming’s art that he developed the sculptural language from ancient pottery statue techniques, but what he represented was contemporary life of his time. In Liu Shiming’s artworks including large-scale themed sculptures commissioned by the state and small-scale pottery statues depicting ordinary people’s everyday life, the development process since the establishment of New China and people’s livelihood are vividly reproduced.

“Red is a colour I’ve felt very strongly about. Maybe red is a very Indian colour, maybe it’s one of those things that I grew up with and recognise at some other level. Of course, it is the colour of the interior of our bodies. Red is the centre.”

Studying abroad was a notable phenomenon in China's cultural history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. France was an essential destination for art lovers at that time, and that continues today. An exhibition in Beijing is held to show how these students of art have influenced Chinese modern art history.