Visual Culture in Contemporary China
Paradigms and Shifts

Explores China's rich visual culture from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the present day.

Xiaobing Tang (Author)

9781107084391, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 January 2015

287 pages, 90 colour illus.
25.4 x 17.9 x 1.7 cm, 0.76 kg

'… in this very readable history of the development of visual culture in contemporary China, Tang has succeeded in bringing together a number of vastly different topics and artistic styles and developments.' Stefan Landsberger, Pacific Affairs

Exploring a wealth of images ranging from woodblock prints to oil paintings, this beautifully illustrated full-color study takes up key elements of the visual culture produced in the People's Republic of China from its founding in 1949 to the present day. In a challenge to prevailing perceptions, Xiaobing Tang argues that contemporary Chinese visual culture is too complex to be understood in terms of a simple binary of government propaganda and dissident art, and that new ways must be sought to explain as well as appreciate its multiple sources and enduring visions. Drawing on rich artistic, literary, and sociopolitical backgrounds, Tang presents a series of insightful readings of paradigmatic works in contemporary Chinese visual arts and cinema. Lucidly written and organized to address provocative questions, this compelling study underscores the global and historical context of Chinese visual culture and offers a timely new perspective on our understanding of China today.

Acknowledgements
A brief timeline of relevant events
Introduction: toward a short history of visual culture in contemporary China
1. How was socialist visual culture created? Part I. Revelations of an Art Form: 2. How was socialist visual culture created? Part II. Revelations of a History Painting: 3. What do we see in New China cinema?
4. What does socialist visual experience mean to contemporary art?
5. How (not) to watch a Chinese blockbuster
6. Where to look for art in contemporary China?
Conclusion: seeing China from afar
Glossary
Filmography
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF], Art & design styles: from c 1960 [ACXJ], Oriental art [ACBP]