A painting entitled "The Long March of Ten Thousand Miles," carried into space by the Shenzhou VI manned spaceflight was auctioned for 55 million yuan, about US$7 million, on Wednesday.

Sources say the auction was held in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, and 10 buyers from Tianjin, Xiamen, Fujian, Shanghai and Hong Kong joined it.

After the eight minutes of bidding, the Buyer 99 from Tianjin became the new owner of the painting at 55 million yuan. He said the piece will be donated to the National Museum of China.

The 32-meter long work of art was jointly created by 18 famous Chinese calligraphers and painters, including Li Duo, Liu Dawei and Miao Chong'an.

In addition, 111 renowned Chinese artists and scholars added their signatures to the piece, apart from the signatures of two astronauts from the Shenzhou VI spaceflight.

Shenzhou VI, China's second manned spaceship, blasted off on October 12, 2005, sending astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng into space.

(CRIENGLISH.com October 20, 2006)