I was reading about an artist, Shen Jiawei, who originally painted for the Red Guard  and the PLA, and painted a famous painting "Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland". He moved to Australia, and has done a portrait of the Pope Francis.

From the Huntington Archives. More information on the poster. Note the word, Private Collection.

Private Collection
Shen Jiawei, like all young people of his age, had been sent from his home, which was in Zhejiang, to the countryside, where he cultivated the frigid soil of a military farm on the Soviet border with Heilongjiang. His heroic character is a border patrol, who stands in the freezing wind to guard his nation against a Soviet attack.
So who owns it? How did somebody purchase it? Mao had over 250,000 posters made of it.



The portrait of Pope Francis from Wikipedia:


Finally found an answer:
http://en.artron.net/auction/showpic.php?picid=art58430047

The paining went for auction in 2009. It had been returned to the artist, and then restored.

Sold for RMB 7,952,000. At the current exchange rate, about $1.2 Million dollars.

Labels: china's future, Chinese History, US Chinese Image