Beijing —- The Chinese sculptor crafting a controversial statue of Martin Luther King Jr. says he feels he is being subjected to the sort of prejudice and cultural bias his subject stood against.

Lei Yixin is under fire from members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, who have called the work too confrontational and said it "recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries." The panel, which must approve the monument's final design, has asked that it be reworked.

Lei, in a telephone interview last weekend, said he had no intention of making the 28-foot-tall statue —- the centerpiece of a privately funded $100 million memorial in Washington, slated for completion next year —- a symbol of conflict.

"I wasn't trying to express that King was confrontational but that he was thoughtful," Lei said from his home in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. "I just want to focus on King's ideals."

Lei's design shows King emerging from a block of granite called the "Mountain of Despair." King's pose —- based on a photograph taken by Flip Schulke, King's official photographer —- depicts the late civil rights leader with his arms crossed and his lips drawn in concentration.

Well before the latest criticism, there had been other complaints about the choice of Lei to lead the project. Ed Dwight, a Colorado-based artist originally retained to help create the statue, has called Lei's proposed statue "a shrinking, shriveled inadequate personage."

And Atlanta-based artist Gilbert Young said last year that Lei's selection was "an insult to me and to all black people." A letter on a Web site he set up —- www.kingisours.com —- argues that hiring Lei was "a travesty of justice" because Lei had sculpted statues of Mao Zedong, the late Chinese leader who, though credited with many advances, engaged in violent excesses.

Lei called Young's attacks biased and contrary to King's message that people should not be judged on their race or nationality.

"Martin Luther King is a hero for the whole world," Lei said. "People are still striving for equality and freedom, so his ideals remain strong everywhere."

He added that while Mao "had made some mistakes, he isn't as bad as some people think."

Despite the criticism, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project Foundation has not asked Lei to alter his design, said Lei and Ed Jackson, the foundation's executive architect. Jackson said Monday that two members of the commission expressed concerns and he and other executives of the foundation are "trying to ... make up in our own minds whether or not the suggestions can be accomplished without compromising the integrity of what Lei has already produced."

The foundation, which evaluated 900 entries from 52 countries, chose Lei's design because it "captured the essence" of King's struggle to achieve his ideals, he said.

Lei said that since being chosen to sculpt King, he has researched King's writings.

"What has moved me most is that King combined nonviolence and persistence to achieve his goals," Lei said. "He was steadfast in his ideals."

Addressing criticisms that an American should sculpt the statue, Lei said it is common for top artists to work outside their home nations.

"Some of the world's top architects are in China, and they are contributing to society," he said. "We shouldn't look at the color of someone's skin."