Upon entering the newly opened exhibition hall in Soong Ching-Ling's former residence in Beijing, your eyes are first caught by a 1.8-meter-high, white marble sculpture of the highly esteemed lady. It's the latest work by 77-year-old sculptor Zhang Dedi, who has created her third statue of Mme. Soong Ching-Ling (1893~1981).

Placed at the entrance of the hall, the statue vividly outlines Mme. Soong who, with a glittering smile on her face, sits in an old-style wooden chair, enjoying a peaceful moment – a rather different kind of depiction than what most people would imagine of Mme. Soong, who is known as an important modern female pioneer for China's democracy.

"I wanted it to be a nice, approachable image of Soong Ching-Ling, and this is the real Mme. Soong in my head," the statue's creator Zhang Dedi says of her work.

The three Mme. Soong sculptures constitute a long, prolific story for the artist.

Zhang's first Soong Ching-Ling statue, the one she collaborated on with her husband Zhang Runkai and three other artists in 1985, is a permanent centerpiece inside Soong Ching-Ling's Mausoleum in Shanghai. Before starting on the sculpture, they spent almost four months learning as much as possible about Mme. Soong, researching in her residence in Shanghai, a must when carving a particularly revered character.

Zhang feels emotionally connected to the highly-respected lady who was a trailblazer in the women's liberation movement of the 20th century. The sculptor said her mother, who spearheaded local women's liberation activities through Soong's influence and continued efforts in the 1920s, had cultivated Soong's idea of women's independence in her since childhood, therefore, the artist already had a deep understanding of Mme. Soong's life.

The finished article, measuring 2.6 meters in height and 5 tons in weight, won her three domestic art prizes.

In 2004, Zhang Dedi created another Soong Ching-Ling statue, a half-length one featuring Mme. Soong together with two children, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the China Welfare Institute, a successor to the China Defense League, an anti-Japanese invasion organization established by Mme. Soong in Hong Kong in 1938. This statue showcases one of the life scenes in Mme Soong's later years when she would often have children around her. It's seen as an epitome of Soong's lifelong devotion to child welfare.

Despite her wealth of experience in sculpting Mme. Soong, Zhang still approached the third project with such great professionalism that she spent almost eight months finishing the statue. Once again it gained plaudits and gratitude from people engaged in the cause of promoting Soong's legacy.

Zhang is obviously pleased by the public reaction to her work. "It came much easier than the first time I did it. I do feel rewarded when they tell me they admire it."

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