President Hu Jintao Friday called on artists to create more excellent works to better serve the people.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (3rd L) talks with performers of the stage play Guo Mingyi before he watches the performance in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 2, 2011. Fifty-two-year-old Guo Mingyi donated half of his salary over the past 16 years to support 180 poor students in school. He was honored to be one of the top ten figures for "Touching China", a public poll that selects the country's ten most inspiring individuals or groups. [Xinhua]

Hu made the remarks when meeting the cast and crew of modern drama "Guo Mingyi" in Beijing before he and some other senior officials watched it.

The drama, created by Liaoning People's Art Theater, tells Guo's virtue of devotion to his work and selfless help for others.

Hu spoke highly of the efforts of the artists in creating the drama, urging all people in the country to learn from Guo, who he said is "a model of virtue".

Guo, 52, donated half of his salary over the past 16 years to support 180 poor students in school. He has also donated blood for the past 20 years, with the amount extracted coming to about 10 times the amount in his body.

Guo has worked in an iron mine in Anshan City in northeast China's Liaoning Province since 1982. He has worked more than 15,000 hours of overtime over the past 15 years.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, also watched the performance.