Son of the Earth Sculpture 大地之子

About Son of the Earth Sculpture

The Jiuquan city news site's report, dated 22 November 2016 and credited to Wang Jianqin and Li Na, says the sculpture was the first large outdoor sculpture of the Guazhou international sculpture art corridor and that it landed at Guazhou in November. It says the work was made by Dong Shubing, whom the report names as professor and head of the sculpture department of the Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design, that red sandstone was the main material, that model data was obtained by 3D scanning and the carving done in blocks in 3D, and that the blocks were transported to Guazhou and assembled piece by piece on site. Seen from a distance, the page says, the giant baby is 15 metres long, 4.3 metres high and 9 metres wide, lying face down asleep on the Gobi flat at Hongshanpo in Guazhou county.

A signed essay on the academy's site, dated 24 April 2020 and written by Sun Zhenhua, professor at the China Academy of Art and vice-chairman of the China Sculpture Society, places the work's appearance on the Guazhou Gobi in 2016 and gives its dimensions as 15 metres long, 9 metres wide and 4.3 metres high, lying face down on the Gobi. It names red sandstone as the material and says the stone's match with the Gobi surface is such that the work looks as if it had grown there. On how the work was made it agrees with the 2016 report: model data obtained by 3D scanning, then carving in blocks in 3D. It describes the subject as an infant and says the Gobi figure is one of a series of infant images the sculptor has made. The essay is a critical piece, and its characterisations of the work as a historical turning point for Guazhou culture and as a public artwork are the author's judgement rather than reported fact. The same essay distinguishes two place names written 瓜洲 and 瓜州, saying 瓜洲 has plenty of water and is an old ferry crossing on the bank of the Yangtze while 瓜州 is extremely short of water and is now a protected extremely arid desert area; the essay then uses the Yangtze spelling in several sentences about the Gansu work, so its own usage is inconsistent.

The academy's news page dated 19 December 2024 gives Dong Shubing as the academy's vice-dean and professor and lists 大地之子 among his works on the Gobi at Guazhou together with 无界, 风语者 and 非垂直立方. It gives the sculpture's size as 15 metres long, 4.3 metres high and 9 metres wide and its material as mainly red sandstone, and says it was made with 3D scanning and 3D carving. A work-information block on the same page gives 1500 × 900 × 430 cm, red sandstone, Guazhou county in Gansu, and the year 2016. The page also records that the Jiuquan Guazhou Gobi international sculpture art corridor scenic area was selected as a national 4A-level tourist attraction shortly before the page was published; it gives neither the year nor the batch of that designation. It lists further works by the same sculptor in the corridor with their own sizes and materials, among them 无界 (6000 × 4000 × 2100 cm, steel pipe and clips, 2018) and 风语者 (3000 × 3000 × 900 cm, steel pipe and clips, 2020, which the page describes as standing on a 30-metre square and using 128 steel pipes).

None of the three sources gives opening hours, ticket prices, booking arrangements, or the position of the sculpture relative to the other works in the corridor, and none describes how to reach the site, so the catalogue's caution to confirm the specific ticket or activity stands. The three sources describe one outdoor sculpture; the only larger unit they name is the corridor scenic area, and the 2024 page's 4A designation is recorded against that scenic area rather than against the sculpture on its own. The catalogue's own note says the entry has modern construction or themed presentation and is not an original historic site, which the sources do not contradict.

What to look for

• The sculpture itself: a sleeping infant about 15 m long, 9 m wide and 4.3 m high, with red sandstone as its main material
• The material and the ground: the academy's essay dwells on the match between the red sandstone and the Gobi surface
• The site, which the 2016 report places on the Gobi flat at Hongshanpo in Guazhou county
• Further works by the same sculptor in the same corridor, which the 2024 academy page lists with their own sizes and materials, among them 无界 and 风语者
• The corridor scenic area, which the 2024 academy page records as having been selected a national 4A-level tourist attraction

Location & getting there

Getting to Son of the Earth Sculpture

Confirm the specific ticket, show date or activity booking. Transfers, queues and the finish time matter when arranging your return.

• Search for 大地之子 with 酒泉市 and 瓜州县.