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ART IN TURMOIL: The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966-76. Contemporary Chinese Studies. Edited by Richard King; with Ralph Croizier, Shengtian Zheng and Scott Watson. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010. xii, 282 pp. (B&W photos, coloured photos, illus.) US$32.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-7748- 1543-7.
This fine book is a welcome addition to the growing body of new research on the cultural products of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It pays particular attention to the visual arts but also includes studies of the model operas and ballets and a brief glance at fiction. The introduction by Richard King and Jan Walls gives helpful political and social background, and more specific detail can be found in the individual chapters. A generous number of illustrations, many in colour, are also provided.
The distance in time and social transformation between China during the Cultural Revolution and today encourages reconsiderations of the visual arts, not least because of their remarkable survival in original and refigured forms. The introduction, for instance, after drawing attention to the huge gap between artistic representations of the period and the reality of life at the time, raises a provocative question: Do these "ghosts" now threaten post-socialist China? The book does not provide an answer, but many of its chapters highlight the persistence of Cultural Revolution art forms decades after their supposed demise.
In her opening chapter, Julia F. Andrews, like other contributors to this collection, stresses the brutality of...