Pictured above is an iron wrought painting of horses running wild and free in a herd in the mountains which was first drawn by Zhang Jiankang in the 1942, and was made into an iron wrought painting by Xu Beihong (1895-1953). The horses are visibly quite muscular, and served as a symbol of strength. The painting is framed in dark wood with a green border surrounding it.

The painting has been used as symbolic representation of what China needed to do in order to end the Japanese occupation. The painting was meant to awaken the Chinese people, encourage them to transform themselves, and force them to remember the humiliation experienced within events such as “The Rape of Nanking,” in which Japanese forces invaded and occupied the city of Nanking, and habitually brutalized its citizens. One thing that has been cited in particular as being the cause of Nanking’s fall to the Japanese was the instability of the army that had been tasked with its defense and protection. As many Japanese soldiers believed that Chinese soldiers had abandoned their posts, discarded their uniforms, and hid among the town’s citizens, they rationalized the mass executions of all the men that they could find within the city. As such, the painting is likely meant to symbolize the strength, togetherness, and integrity that many thought that Chinese soldiers needed in order to end the Japanese occupation, and protect China from further occupation, exploitation, and humiliation.