Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-291) and index.
Contents:
I: Art, Politics, and Economics -- Maoist Aesthetics -- Production and Circulation of Literature under the Revolutionary Cultural Economy -- II: A Culture of Models and Copies -- Art and the Culture of Models and Copies -- Barefoot Doctors and Femininity -- Opera and Transplantation between Cultures -- Ballet across Genres and Forms -- Mao as Doxa -- Intellectuals as Ghosts -- Chinese Glossary.
Summary:
"Cultural production under Mao, and how artists and thinkers found autonomy in a culture of conformity. In the 1950s, a French journalist joked that the Chinese were 'blue ants under the red flag,' dressing identically and even marching in an identical fashion. When the Cultural Revolution officially began, this uniformity seemed to extend to the mind. From the outside, this was a monotonous world, full of repetitions and imitation, but a closer look reveals a range of cultural experiences, which also provided individuals with an obscure sense of freedom. In The Art of Cloning, Pang Laikwan examines this period in Chinese history when ordinary citizens read widely, travelled extensively through the country, and engaged in a range of cultural and artistic activities. The freedom they experienced, argues Pang, differs from the freedom, under Western capitalism, to express individuality through a range of consumer products. However, it was far from boring, and filled with its own kind of diversity"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.