In mid-December 2024, the No. 2 Special Exhibition Hall on the second floor of Shenzhen Nanshan Museum was abuzz with preparation work. Lifting equipment carefully moved sculpture components, staff fine-tuned artwork angles, and lighting technicians adjusted brightness and shadows repeatedly — all for the final setup of "Li Xiangqun", a solo exhibition by China’s leading contemporary figurative sculptor. Hosted by the Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, and organized by Nanshan Museum, this artistic event features "six thematic sections plus a comprehensive display of the creative process". Opening officially on December 17 and running through February 16, 2025, it promises Shenzhen residents an immersive artistic journey bridging tradition and modernity, history and reality.\

At the installation site, art and engineering merged seamlessly. Forty-one sculptures spanning different phases of Li Xiangqun’s career — including classic masterpieces and new works premiering in Shenzhen — were arranged in six themed sections: "Marching into the Future", "Tradition & Contemporary", "History & Reality", "East & West", "Artistic Life", and "Studio". The artist himself supervised the process, ensuring every detail — from the spacing between works to exhibition route design — conveys the multi-layered dynamism of sculptural art. Standout pieces include the large outdoor sculpture Run: through precise measurement and positioning, its image of a sprinting young person resonates visually with the museum building, embodying Shenzhen’s youthful energy and pioneering spirit. Indoors, Great Sage shines under calibrated lighting — depicting Monkey King as a Peking Opera warrior holding his staff backwards, its robe lines harmonize with the exhibition space, capturing the core spirit of "freedom and rebellion".

A key innovation of the exhibition is the reconstructed "Studio" section. Beyond displaying clay drafts, tools, and molds used in sculpture creation, it presents the full creative journey from initial sketches to finished works via phased exhibits. The curatorial team adopted semi-open display cases and realistic simulations, allowing visitors to witness details like clay shaping and texture carving up close — significantly narrowing the gap between art and the public. Qi Xin, Director of Nanshan Museum, noted that this design breaks away from traditional "finished product-only" exhibitions, inviting audiences behind the scenes of artistic creation to grasp the profound charm of sculpture: "tangible forms carrying intangible ideas".

The entire installation adheres to Li Xiangqun’s artistic philosophy — using sculpture as a medium to link cultural heritage and the spirit of the era. Historical portraits such as Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xun Statue create a space for dialogue with the past through precise formal language and emotional depth. Contemporary works like Heavenly Dao, blending abstraction and figuration, prompt reflections on social issues. The curatorial team also emphasized the interaction between artworks and space: leveraging the hall’s height and lighting variations, sculptures of diverse styles stand as independent highlights while echoing each other, forging an artistic ecosystem where "East meets West and tradition coexists with modernity".