The project which includes expanding the gallery's main building is expected to be completed by January 2003.

Being a national museum for modern Chinese art, the gallery was initiated in 1958 and came into use in 1962.

The three-story building with a total area of nearly 22,000 square meters has 13 exhibition halls which cover 6,000 square meters.

Currently, more than 20,000 artworks are kept in the gallery, including some ancient Chinese paintings as well as masterpieces and prize-winning works by modern Chinese artists. The gallery also holds some foreign artworks including four masterpieces by Picasso.

More than 40,000 pieces of traditional Chinese arts such as paper-cut, shadowgraph, puppet, embroidery and pottery are also kept in the gallery for research and exhibition.

Since its establishment, the gallery has hosted over 3,000 shows visited by millions of people, and has also held exhibitions in 12 countries and regions including France, the United States and Japan.

(People?s Daily May 10, 2002)