"The Art of the Party" series shows you the historic moments of the Party in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding.

Xiao Chuanjiu, one of the most famous sculptors in modern China, created "August 1 Nanchang Uprising" in 1927 - the first military action by the Red Army in China's Civil War.

Xiao's bas-relief sculpture is on the west side of the Monument to the People's Heroes in the center of Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

The sculpture shows a young commander signaling this troops to attack Nationalist troops under the overall command of Chiang Kai-shek.

The clash took place in the city of Nanchang in southeastern China's Jiangxi province.

It was an answer to the bloody anti-Communist purges by Nationalist forces in Shanghai earlier that year.

Communist troops launched their attack under the command of senior party leaders, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De.

The uprising began at 2 a.m. Communist forces occupied Nanchang after four hours of fierce fighting.

They withdrew from the city two days later after a counterattack by the Nationalists, but history had already been made.

The Red Army that emerged from this battle would become the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Each year, on August 1, China celebrates Army Day, a national holiday honoring the Nanchang Uprising... and the birth of the PLA.

The holiday was officially recognized on June 30, 1933.

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