Curating Revolution
Politics on Display in Mao's China

Curating Revolution examines how Mao-era exhibitions shaped popular understandings of, and participation in, the political campaigns of China's Communist revolution.

Denise Y. Ho (Author)

9781108417952, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 November 2017

322 pages, 47 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.64 kg

'The richness of detail and analytical rigour make this book an excellent contribution to our knowledge about Mao's China and thereby our understanding of contemporary China … Scholars and students interested in modern Chinese history, propaganda and social movements would find this book particularly helpful.' Chi Zhang, Europe-Asia Studies

How did China's Communist revolution transform the nation's political culture? In this rich and vivid history of the Mao period (1949–1976), Denise Y. Ho examines the relationship between its exhibitions and its political movements. Case studies from Shanghai show how revolution was curated: museum workers collected cultural and revolutionary relics; neighborhoods, schools, and work units mounted and narrated local displays; and exhibits provided ritual space for ideological lessons and political campaigns. Using archival sources, ephemera, interviews, and other materials, Ho traces the process by which exhibitions were developed, presented, and received. Examples under analysis range from the First Party Congress Site and the Shanghai Museum to the 'class education' and Red Guard exhibits that accompanied the Socialist Education Movement and the Cultural Revolution. Operating in two modes - that of a state in power and that of a state in revolution - Mao era exhibitionary culture remains part of China's revolutionary legacy.

Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Making a revolutionary monument: the first party congress site
2. Exhibiting new China: 'Fangua lane past and present'
3. Curating belief: superstition versus science for young pioneers
4. Cultivating consciousness: the class education exhibition
5. The cultural revolution's object lessons: the exhibition of red guard achievements
6. Antiquity in revolution: the Shanghai museum
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chinese character list
Index.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Asian history [HBJF], Museology & heritage studies [GM], History of art & design styles: from c 1900 - [ACX]