II-B) A problematic collective memory : will the recognition of this art come from abroad?

As said in the introduction, it seems difficult to speak about Chinese revolutionary art as a part of Chinese cultural heritage as to be a cultural heritage, it has to be assumed by Chinese people as something binding them altogether. But today Mao’s period is kind of eclipsed from Chinese history, largely by the ancient history.
Can we speak about a “denial” from Chinese people about that period of history? Anyway, if confirmed, this rejection is even more true considering art, especially as the Cultural Revolution is associated to art and is the most rejected period.
What is sure is that this period bears a real ambiguity as the ideology inherited from Mao’s government of China is still alive even if it has undergone major modernizations, as corroborate the remaining presence of Mao’s portrait on Tiananmen Square.

It may take time to see the revolutionary heritage integrated in the global Chinese cultural heritage, consciously or not, and it is not even sure it will happen a day as this period could be definitely rejected by Chinese period?
Nevertheless, a recent exhibition about Chinese revolutionary art took place in New York, marking the beginning of the recognition of the art production from this period. Hence we can think that this integration in Chinese cultural heritage can be facilitated by the western vision on this heritage.

Here is a quote from the official introduction of the exhibition: “Until now, little effort has been made to take account of this period, during which art and politics were so closely intertwined. Artworks and materials produced during the Cultural Revolution are rarely exhibited in China and few original artworks from the period survive. This exhibition marks a first attempt, which we hope will be the start of many, to examine these artistic developments within an historical framework that prompts a discussion of their impact on Chinese culture today.”
After reading this extract we wondered about the relation between art and politics, which appears to be so problematic during the Mao’s period. Is this connection a modern phenomenon? Is it specific to China at this period?
Our opinion is that the link between art and politics is not a modern phenomenon. Indeed, paintings, theatre plays or music songs have long been the result of orders from wealthy families and powerful kings (see examples). The latest have even been the greatest art patron. So art figures and spirit were de facto not “free” and strongly correlated to political power.
A parallel can be drawn as during Mao’s era, artists were encouraged to create art that reflected the revolutionary spirit of the time.

Painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1701, this famous portrait of Louis XIV hangs today in the Louvre, in Paris.

The Arnolfini marriage by Van Eycke, 1434
To conclude on this part, we can say that Chinese people seem afraid of this heritage and don’t assume it, which is a shame, as art and propaganda have often been close, what does not prevent art to be real art.

II-B) Today's Heritage of Revolutionary Art on Contemporary Art

Concerning fine arts it seems that some contemporary work has been influenced by the revolutionary art. The style is kept but the meaning is distorted. This is often creating a comic effect.

(Some contemporary Chinese artists have been asked to express was does Dior stand for them. Here some Chinese officials in front of the catwalk.)

The XXth century have been a turning point in China history. Millenaries of imperial rule came to the end. The higly hierachized ancient society was replaced by the most strict egalitarian society even experienced in the word – with Russia.

But today, Chinese witness the failure of an ideology which do not even confess it has failed. Communism is still the official speech while the rules of the market & wild consumerism swept away all the ideologies.

How can’t the Chineses be cynical about this ? I think Chinese contemporary art today is a satyr of a Parti which sold its ideology on the market economy.

One of the trend of Chinese contemporary art have been nicknammed Cynical Realism. This name is very explicit. The artist use some recognizable features of revolutionary art. But they mix it with some bothering elements of the today’s China’s paradoxical situation. The result is very cynical.

Drawing, for instance, a bottle of Coca Cola, symbol of the american economic liberalism, in the hands of a Chinese worker is highly ironical.

Chinese contemporary art is desentchanting.

But the largest part of contemporary Chinese artists are focusing on the present : developing China. Thus most of the contemporary work is showing Chinese cities’ quick growth. Urbanism is the most common theme today.

(Chen Shaoxiang : scale model of the street in the street.)

( Wang Niandong : one could easily observe the obsession of Modernity in this painting.)

It seems that there is a sort of gap. Chinese artists do not claim the heritage of the revolutionary art. They are mostly focusing on the present & the future of China.

As for architecture, contemporary building projects are mainly non Chinese. It is mainly europeans - such as the french Paul Andreu who made the Grand National Theatre of Beijing or the Dutch Rem Koolhaas, building the headquaters of the national TV – or americans who are the architects of the new China. Chinese architects are excluded from the reshape of Chinese magalopolis. Indeed, China lacked a complete generation of architects. During the cultural revolution Mao closed the universities of architectures. Any Chinese could have been train to do this job. Whatever can be the explanation of this situation, the result is the same. Contemporary architecture in China is mainly westernized. There are any references to the cultural background of China in general & no remains of the revolutionary period in particular.

(Rem Koolhaas, future headquaters of National TV, Beijing)

(paul Andreu, National Grand Theatre, Beijing)

However, a fringe of contemporary Chinese architects are currently more & more recognised for their work.

But in the following exemple of contemporary buildings there are no references to the revolutionary architecture once promoted by the Parti. Those creations are a mix between modernism & traditional China. It is as if the revolutionary period have been forgotten.

Suzhou : the Venise of China, known for its beautiful traditional Chinese gardens.

Highly modern building. However the architect paid attention to the environmental surrondings : the water, the trees. It is a reference to the gardening tradition of Suzhou.

Near Shanghai, a library.

Here the shape of the building remins the shape of a dragon, a famous animal in the ancient Chinese mythology.

Museum of History, Suzhou

Here the white walls circled with black remind us of the ancient Chinese gardens’ wall, traditionally painted with white in order to contrast with the rocks and the bamboo trees.

Today, architecture in China is whether westernized, whether refering to traditional China.Thus there is no remains of revolutionary architecure in the today’s Chinese architecture.

Propaganda songs and music have a long and storied history in the PRC, featuring prominently in the popular culture of the 1950s to the 1970s. Many of these songs were collected and performed as modern rock adaptations for several albums that were released during the 1990s, including "Red Rock" and "Red Sun: Mao Zedong Praise Songs New Revolutionary Medley". The latter sold 6-10 million copies in China. Most of the older songs praise Mao, the CCP, the 1949 revolution, the Chinese Red Army and the People’s Liberation Army, the unity of the ethnic groups of China, and the various ethnic groups' devotion to Mao and the CCP.

Even in westren countries Mao inspired songs. “Revolution” written & sang by the Beatles is a famous example of this.

"You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out.

You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow."

(John Lennon/Paul McCartney, 1968)

Conclusion

The difficulties to understand the notion of Cultural Heritage and the process of entering this heritage make the answer to the question of the place of Chinese Revolutionary Art in Chinese Cultural Heritage uneasy. Nevertheless, we have seen that the Mao’s period has produced art in many forms, even if there is still a debate about if it is really art or only propaganda, so there is a “corpus of material signs” as defined in the definition of the UNESCO. Besides, this art is today very present in people’s mind as proved by the influence of this period in contemporary art and mass-commercial art. We think that being influential to contemporary art can be a start to become National Heritage all the Chinese people don’t accept this heritage yet. Indeed, maybe this period is to close to the present or is to harmful, but Chinese people seem to not totally assume its heritage, which represents a great paradox as the ideology inherited is still alive, even though it has actually been deeply modified.

To conclude we can say that the universality of Mao’s heritage, whether you believe in its ideas or not, expressed in Revolutionary Art, and the fact that this heritage has been handed in to our generation and will be to the future, make it a part of Chinese Cultural Heritage.

Introduction

Cultural Heritage is not a simple concept as it is based on the idea of culture which neither is simple to define and understand properly. Indeed, the concept of culture of a nation embraces its general knowledge about its history, its belief, its art, its idea of moral, its law and regulations, its customs, etc…It is so broad it is very difficult to see the limits of the concept. The UNESCO defines the Cultural Heritage as the “entire corpus of material signs […] handed on by the past to each culture and, therefore, to the whole humankind […]”. Here lies the idea of universality. The heritage is the legacy of a specific country but concerns anyone as it represents an enrichment of cultural identities to all the humankind.

In that sense, the period of Chinese history from 1949, and the birth of the PRC, to the death of Mao in 1976, which we will call either the “Mao’s era/period” or the “communist period”, has left behind a huge legacy to today’s China and to the humankind. We will focus on this legacy in terms of art as Cultural heritage often expresses itself through art.

We know it may be too early to envisage Chinese revolutionary art as part of Chinese cultural heritage but we feel like this period has to be studied in the perspective of cultural heritage as is the Ming dynasty or any other time in Chinese history. Indeed, during this class about Chinese cultural heritage, we learnt a lot about traditional China but we did not get onto Communist China, which is for many what we picture when talking about China in general.

This objective in mind, we will first try to define Chinese revolutionary art and give some examples (I) and then try to figure out what is the place of Chinese revolutionary art in today’s China cultural heritage (II).

I-What is Chinese Revolutionary Art ?

B- Exemple of Chinese Revolutionary Art

The Cinema

When the PRC was established in 1949 all the foreign movies et previous Chinese movies were banned. However, the Prtu understood quickly the power of persuasion of cinema. They used this art as propaganda for their ideology.

Films were reporting the life of the Chinese peasants and workers in the new PRC. Animation was used as an educational tool for the children. They used traditional chinese arts –such as puppetry or Chinese paintings- in those animations.

“The East is Red” is an emblematic film of the period. It is a 1965 movie directed by Wang Ping.Very educative, it explains the history of the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong, from its creation in July 1921 to 1949.

opening scene of the film : women dancing on stage & propanganda song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTY5aZuO_bc&feature=related

Consequently, the production of films increased drastically after 1949. Between the establishement of the PRC and the Cultural Revolution 603 movies and 8342 documentaries and newsreels were released.

At the beginning, Chinese filmakers were sent to URSS in order to learn their communist propaganda films’ making. But little by little, Chinese movie makers became more independent & used to this art.

An emblematic film of this period is “The Red detachment of Women” (1961) directed by Xie Jin. It is filming the most famous ballet of the revolutionary period.“The Red Detachment of Women” was of the 8 models of the propanganda Chinese works of art.

This is the story of a young peasant girl of Hainan island. She escapes her oppressors & then grow up the comunist ladder little by little.

In this extract, the young peasant is kissing the flag, dressed in red, encouraged by the army :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcRmZ9aX5S4

However, during the Cultural revolution film production was almost entierly shut down. Only few films were permitted to be produced. This is the case of a new version of the ballet “The Red Detachment of a woman” released in 1971.

I- What is Chinese Revolutionary Art ?

B) Exemple of Chinese revolutionary Arts

The Music

During the Mao era a lot of revolutionary songs have been composed. They gave rhythm to the Parti’s demonstrations, the military parades or, more simply, the daily life of the China’s people. Indeed, music has always been an easy tool to bring people together. It creats the same feeling in the listeners’ hearts. For instance, a Nation feels united listening for the national anthem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhe8hatiABM&feature=relatedture=related

The content of those songs, that is to say the lyrics, promote clearly the Parti & the ideology of the Socialism. For instance, the title of this revolutionary song is very clear :

“Socialisme is good” :

http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/chinese-music/Post_Liberation/S06.Socialism_Good.au

As for the form of the songs it is far from being revolutionary. Sometimes, traditional Chinese elements are used, such as folk instruments or even the traditional rhythm of the sounds & voices.

According to me, this is the case of “I love Beijing” :

http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/chinese-music/Culture_Revolution/CR14.I_Love_Beijing_TianAnMen.au

But the form of some revolutionary songs do not use Chinese traditional music. Some musical elements are often borrowed from the westren culture. Indeed, classic instruments such as violins or the trumpet can be used in the military music. Opera-like voices can also be used.

This is the case in this song, more likely a military parade :

“The song of guerilla” :

: http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/chinese-music/Post_Liberation/S21.Song_Of_Guerrilla.au

To sum up, the content of those song is revolutionary but not the form which remains very traditional.

II- What is the position of Chinese Revolutionary Art in the Chinese Cultural Heritage today ?

A) Definition of “Cultural Heritage”

The UNESCO defines the Cultural Heritage “as the entire corpus of material signs-either artistic or symbolic handed on by the past of each culture and, therefore, to the whole of humankind. As a constituent part of the affirmation and enrichment of cultural identities, the cultural heritage gives each particular place its recognizable features and is the storehouse of human experience”.

To reformulate this definition at the level of a Nation, cultural heritage is the memory of a common past. The nation have to be self-aware of this shared patrimony in order to define itself as regards to this common ground.

Cultural heritage defines the identity of a nation.

Are Chinese revolutionary arts part of the Chinese Cultural Heritage today ?

For the particular case of China, one could say that its traditionnal arts such as ink paintings, opera or ceramics are part, among many other things, to its cultural heritage. A chinese claims those arts as his personal culture.

One wonders in this study if the chinese arts expressed during the revolutionary period can be considered as part of the Chinese cultural heritage. This is a difficult question. Indeed those arts objectively belong to the Chinese history of art. But do Chineses consider those arts as part of their personal cultural identity?

Today, the relationship between Chineses & the revolutionary period is very ambiguous. The new generation behave sometimes as if nothing have ever happened. The memory of this period is fuzzy because some parts of it are always taboo or more simply, censored by the government.

To determine if Chinese revolutionary arts are today part of the Chinese cultural heritage we want to observed its influences on the chinese contemporary arts. If the today’s art have the imprint of revolutionary arts, then, one could say that chinese revolutionary arts are -at least uncounsciencly- part of the cultural heritage. If there are few remains of revolutionary arts today one could assess that it does not belong to the cultural heritage of the Chineses

I- What is Chinese Revolutionary Art ?

We chose to focus on the historic period from 1949 to 1976 also called the “Mao era” – it begins with the fundation of the People’s Republic of China and ends at the death of Mao.

We are aware that revolutionnary art is previous to 1949. Yet, it is with the PRC that those arts will be at their peak. Nevertheless, it could occure, in this project, that some works of art anterior to that specific period be used as simple exemples.

A) What is Chinese revolutionary art ?

A Definition

Mao quoting Lenin: “art should be a cog in the wheel of revolution”.

Chinese Revolutionary art is used as a tool, by the Chinese Communist Parti, to promote their socialist ideology. Thus, one can say that Chinese revolutionary art is an art of propaganda.

What is “revolutionary” in this art is the content ( message promoting the red revolution), not the form.

Indeed, the form used in those arts is often very simple. In a way, this islogical.The revolutionary artists want to spread their messages to a maximum of people, often poorly educated. Their works cannot be abstract or “d’avant-garde”, which is elitist. They have to use an art that people are familiar with and clearly understandable.

This conception of art have sometimes been criticized. Indeed, a more established way to evaluate art do not recognize this revolutionnary art.

Intellectuals of the western world consider that the form of a work of art should be innovating, surprising or even better, revolutionary. The content however is not necessarily striking. It can be. For instance when the artist is involved in a cause. But the value of a work of art is not determined by its message. Beauty is in the form not the message.

Beside, those intellectual consider aesthetic as independent from politics. Art should not be used by politicians.

But this is not the Mao’s conception of art. In his influential Yanan talk on “Literature and Art” he assumes that Art & Politics are always influencing each other. Indeed, the criteriums to evaluate Art are always the product of a social class. Each social class has its own artictic imaginary which influence the way they perceive and enjoy art.

Consequently, from the beginning art & politics would be interdependent. A “pure” aesthetism unconcerned by all the wordly influences is only theoretical.

One also should note that the chinese revolutionary art is a little red revolution in itself. Indeed, those productions were mainly created by the people themselves and not only by the artists. This is a democratization of the art, previously in China the priviledge of the educated elite. The creation process of revolutionary art erase the differences between the social classes. That is revolutionary.

Relationship between chinese revolutionary art & Chinese traditional art

In 1966, Mao launches the Cultural Revolution. He used the youth to came back to the head of the Parti. The cultural aspect of this movment, mainly strategic & politic, was marginal.

But the consequences on the Chinese cultural patrimony was far from being insignificant. Indeed, Mao wanted the ancient work of art to be destructed. He wanted to deeply renew the arts & to eradicat the remains of the past. Mao’s Yanan talk on “Literature and Art” summerizes his positions on arts.

Old intellectuals, once respected, were denigrated. Instead, the creative power of young communist artists was celebrated. Ink painting were forbidden. Several themes, like orchids, were excluded from the revolutionary works of art. All the creation too obviously influenced by traditional Chinese arts became illegal. For instance, a group of artist painting small landscape joined in an underground organization called “No Name” during the cultural revolution.

One could observe that the revolutionary paintings are done with oil and not with ink. The style is completely different from the traditional style of painting. The color are more bright for instance. In general the ancient painting are more suggesting the feelings whereas the revolutionary painting are expressing clearly the joy of the workers or the glory of the Party.

However, one should concede that some revolutionary arts have been influenced by traditional Chinese arts. This is the case of the ballets or the revolutionary songs. Traditional instruments & flok Chinese dances are mixed with new features. For instance revolutionary songs blend traditional music & classic western music (instruments & opera voices).

To sum up the nature of the relationship between Revolutionary arts and traditional arts we want to sort out some major similarities and differences.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000233 EndHTML:0000014854 StartFragment:0000004745 EndFragment:0000014818 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/charlottefechoz/Desktop/Chinese%20revolutionary%20art%20and%20the%20cultural%20heritage-1.doc

- Similarities

Obviously, thousands of year of art practice, and hence art heritage, cannot be totally abandoned, consciously or not. That is why, even if Mao wanted to eradicate every style of art inherited from the past, some remain. To draw the comparison and sort out common points between the past and revolutionary art, we will focus on the examples of the Chinese communist architecture and the communist ballets, songs and operas, where similarities are the most visible.

National art gallery in Beijing constructed in the early 1950’s is one of the finest examples of Chinese communist architecture. The use of the Chinese classical architectural style is obvious: main body in the style of traditional pavilion, multi-eaved roofs, and yellow glazed tiles in traditional Chinese style…

The same inspiration from Chinese classical style can be found in the architecture of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities was build by the master of contemporary Chinese architecture Zhang Bo. House body is white, with peacock blue glazed tile roof eaves decoration.

Concerning songs, traditional instruments and Chinese folk dances are mixed with new features. For instance revolutionary songs blend traditional music & classic western music (instruments & opera voices).

Concerning operas and ballets, traditional costumes or instruments, for examples, are still used.

To put it in a nutshell, the form of the art is conserved, whereas the burden is different as the main idea is to expand the communist ideology.

- Differences

The differences in the form are mostly visible in the art form of paintings/posters. Indeed, ink is replaced by oil, landscapes and natural themes (plum trees, bamboos and animals) are replaced by human figures, and the general style of painting passes from light colours (often black and white), detailed drawings and delicate brush touches to the social realist style entailing bright colours and crude representation.

Zhao Mengjian (1199? - 1264), Three Friends of Winter

Shitao (1641?– 1707)

And for all forms of art, the major difference is that art is entirely devoted to the praise of the regime and the promotion of the Maoist ideology.