In 1968 Mao Zedong in his analysis of his
Cultural Revolution (CR) said that it was: ‘essentially a great political
revolution within the socialist system’ which would involve the revolutionary masses
struggling against the bourgeois elements in society.¹ Art and culture would
play a major part in this revolution, not only were the first targets of the CR
the elites of ‘cultural spheres’ but it also played a key role in advancing the
revolution itself.² Mao believed that revolutionary
culture was an: ‘essential, fighting front in the general revolutionary front
during the revolution.'³ As a result numerous artistic genres and other forms
of cultural production were geared towards creating a ‘lived experience’ of
revolutionary progress by making sure the ideals of the CR were reflected in
its production and consumption as a means of preparing people for the new world
created by revolution.⁴ The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Centre wanted the
masses to take a role in this process of creation and consumption, telling the
rest of the Party to: ‘rely on them and respect their initiative... Let the
masses educate themselves in this great revolutionary movement.’⁵ It was hoped
that while taking part in this revolution that the masses would: ‘earnestly and
diligently, bring about a new nation-wide high tide in the creative study and
application of Chairman Mao's works and thought' in order to create a great
socialist China with modern culture.⁶ For Mao and the CCP to ensure this was
the case, a new government branch called the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG) was established under CR
radicals like Jiang Qing, whose job it was to oversee and maintain the
ideological purity of China’s cultural production and consumption in conforming
to Mao Zedong Thought.⁷
By using a number of contemporary
sources and historiographical views from the likes of Clark and Landsberger, this
discussion will analyse how much the CR with its emphasis on the ingenuity of
the masses and the ideological control from CCP radicals influenced the Chinese
arts and cultural production. The discussion will not only take into account
the conventional CR time frame of 1966 to 1976, but also some of its influence
over post-Mao China.⁸
The Cult of Mao was well established
before 1966, with operatic films like The
East Is Red depicting him as a Supreme leader and saviour of the nation.⁹ Such propaganda enabled Mao to dominate China’s
culture with his charisma and makes it unsurprising that millions of people
would travel to see rallies and parades he attended.¹⁰ During the CR Mao was
trying to attack ‘bourgeoisie’ elements inside the CCP.¹¹ Therefore Mao needed
to show that he was the uniting figure of China and not the CCP in order to get
people to follow him and his ideology, which led to attempts to strengthen his
cult.
During the CR Maoist imagery and
ideology was everywhere; there were bus tickets with messages like ‘the masses
of people have unlimited creative powers’, mirror tables inscribed with slogans
like, ‘never forget class struggle’ and at least two billion badges with Mao’s
face on them.¹² Landsberger shows how daily rituals were created in order to
make him a figure of worship, such as replacing families’ domestic ancestral
tablets with ‘tablets of loyalty’ which had Mao’s image adorned with a halo.¹³ This created a culture in which
people were constantly reminded of their great leader Mao because he always
played some sort of role in the people’s daily lives.
Artistic depictions of Mao couldn’t be
done without much thought or ability, due to a required need to depict his
revolutionary spirit and natural authority over people and truth.¹⁴ The most
popular image of Mao was the 1968 ‘model’ painting Chairman Mao goes to Anyuan (Figure 1), which was copied over 900
million times and displayed nationwide.¹⁵ The artist, Liu Chunhua, said that
every detail depicted an aspect of Mao’s greatness and thought in some way, for
example:
‘His head held high in the act of
surveying the scene before him conveys his revolutionary spirit, dauntless
before danger and violence and courageous in struggle and in "daring to
win"; his clenched left fist depicts his revolutionary will, scorning all
sacrifice, his determination to surmount every difficulty to emancipate China
and mankind and it shows his confidence in victory.’¹⁶
Fellow CR artist Shengtian Zheng believes the reason
why CR radicals like Jiang Qing were so keen to distribute the painting
nationwide was due to the fact the painting romantically emphasised Mao’s
central role in the history of the CCP because the painting omitted other
leading figures involved in the 1920s Anyuan worker’s revolutionary movement
such as Liu Shaoqi.¹⁷
The CR would continue to make Mao the focus of
art and culture throughout the next ten years, being especially popular before
1971 when daily rituals and artistic depictions were at their most numerous.¹⁸ Landsberger
says that this strengthened Mao’s great leader status to the point that when he
called for a bombarding of bourgeois members of the CCP, the masses responded
because he had become in their eyes, ‘the CCP and all it stood for.’¹⁹ He also
feels this cultural influence lasted beyond his passing, pointing to a 1995
poll taken by the Chinese Youth Daily in
which 94.2% of the 100,000 responds named Mao as the most admired Chinese
personality ever.²⁰
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The art from this period continues to impress
too, for instance the Anyuan painting
sold for US$660,000 in 1998 and was declared a cultural relic, the first
painting to be declared so since 1949.²² The reason for this was due to the insistence
of CR pioneers like Jiang Qing that the art not only had to have a clear
ideological message the masses could understand but should also be of a high
standard to ensure it would be taken seriously.²³ Mao wanted artists to combine
realistic and romantic elements when making their work in order to be, ‘nearer
the ideal’, which paintings like the Anyuan
certainly achieved.²⁴ State-sponsored art during the CR was actually
propaganda, made in order to persuade the audience to get involved with the revolution
and promising a bright future in return.
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Jiang
Qing was assigned the task of overseeing the transformation of pre-existing
works into ‘model’ works in order to show people what the artistic standards should
be.²⁵ Figure 2 shows Jiang’s leading influence over the arts and that she is
being inspired by the ideology of Mao due to the fact she is holding his Quotations while instructing the artists.
Jiang said that all ‘model’ works should focus
primarily on fulfilling the taste of the masses.²⁷ By making gripping
entertainment the official art of the CR could influence people’s ideas about
the correct revolutionary ideology and behaviour by providing characters and a
storyline with a clear message.²⁸ As a result ‘model’ works were subjected to
years of revisions in order to make them perfect, for example the ‘model’ opera
Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy took
over four years to be declared finished by Jiang.²⁹
These ‘models’ were also meant to be stepping
stones in completely changing artistic and cultural genres in order to make them
focus on contemporary issues in order to serve the present. Making opera into a
modern art form was not only an ambition of Jiang’s but also of various art reformers
before 1949 due to the fact opera was seen as a ‘national genre’ which would
encourage the modernisation of all art and culture.³⁰ Before the CR numerous
changes had already been made to this genre which was steeped in traditional
stories and styles. The CR primarily sought to make these changes become the standard.
Operas were now much shorter in order to make them more fast-paced and
exciting. Western musical instruments largely replaced traditional instruments
due to their ability to create a more emotionally charged and involving
atmosphere. Military-style acrobatics were used to make the opera more of a
spectacle, much to the delight of the audience and traditional roles and props
such as emperors and swords were replaced by contemporary things like the CCP
cadres and guns in order to make stories have a modern focus.³¹ Operas seen to
not adapt similar changes would be deemed to be counter-revolutionary. As a
result hundreds of acting troupes were disbanded by the CCRG, leading to the
models imposing a uniform change on the genre.³²
The stories of ‘model’ theatrical works were
also changed in order to conform to the ideology of CR radicals as a means of conveying
their messages to the audience, for example feminity was seen as bourgeois and
a sign of continuing gender inequality.³³ Therefore the ‘model’ ballet The Red Detachment of Women keeps the original
theme from the 1961 film of the female characters fighting in the revolutionary
class struggle alongside men but it omits references to romance and family.
This is in order to show that women could be political heroes in their own
right and no longer had to lead lives determined by traditional gender roles
such as that of daughters, wives and mothers.³⁴ This could have a significant
effect on female culture, because women could now be thought of as militant and
independent, such as the rather extreme example depicted in the big-character-poster
in Figure 3.
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CR pioneers felt that in order to ensure the
dominance of the new, socialist culture; the old feudal and bourgeois cultural features
had to be destroyed forever.³⁶ Destroying the culture of feudal exploiters had
been an idea since the May Fourth era
and it was certainly pursued thoroughly during the Smash the Old Fours Campaign which was carried out by the Red
Guards but permitted by the CCP Centre.³⁷ In Beijing in the Autumn of 1966
alone 4,922 historical sites were damaged or destroyed along with 33,695 personal
antiques.³⁸ Post-1949 culture and art was also targeted by supporters of the
CR. For example one group of Red Guards called for an end to bourgeois things
such as; ‘classical books’, ‘tight pants’ and ‘magicians.’³⁹ Artists were
criticised for the style and content of their works, such as the President of
one art academy who was accused of being a spy, an accusation which attackers
backed by analysing his gloomy paintings which they said were evidence of his
secretiveness.⁴⁰ Clark says that the politically charged nature of the CR led
to the majority of artists being unwilling to try something innovative for fear
of persecution at least in public, which allowed the CR art to dominate China’s
mainstream culture during the period.⁴¹
To encourage
a new revolutionary culture created by the masses the state encouraged the
spread of the ‘models’ to localities as a means of influencing their
innovation. The number of Chinese cinemas grew from just over 20,000 in 1965 to
over 86,000 in 1976.⁴² This allowed Jiang to show China the feature-film
versions of the ‘model’ theatrical works which is the way most Chinese people
saw the ‘models’.⁴³
Amateur art
and culture was not only encouraged by the vocal support of the CR radicals,
but also the by the state providing the means to do so. In the village of Huxian the amateur
art classes run by the local brigade up to the 1958 famine returned in 1970,
with a greater emphasis on realistic painting styles and idealistic images rather
than the traditional brush-and-ink techniques. With professional help from
urban artists these peasants were able to create works that were celebrated in
national exhibitions and newspapers and eventually led to a local gallery being
made for foreign tourists in 1975.⁴⁴ Peasant artists like Liu Zhide learnt
their profession from such classes and he himself was able to earn national
fame for his masterpiece (Figure 4). The CR did encourage members of the masses
to participate in the arts and in culture, and as a result some were able to realise
their potential and enthusiasm.
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However the primary reason these works received
such attention from the state and its media was not simply a matter of artistic
merit but due to their political utility. Since 1971 the CCP was beginning to
pursue more moderate policies which moved away from the principles of the CR,
therefore its supporters did everything they could to show the CR ideals that culture
and art didn’t rely on the input of elites if there was mass participation.
This trend peaked with the rural village of Xiaojinzhuang being chosen to be a
‘model’ village by Jiang Qing in 1974 due to its political night schools,
poetry classes and greater female equality. For the next two years the village became
a ‘cultural theme park’ for tourists, funded and publicised by the CR radicals.⁴⁶
Despite the dominance of the CR over Chinese
art and culture not everybody accepted it. Due to the lack of new
non-mainstream art and culture during the early years of the CR, there were
people who had to find a different way of achieving mental satisfaction. Some
would search and hold tight to classic books like Dickens, Balzac and Hugo that
survived the earlier cultural witch-hunt.⁴⁷ Underground literature emerged,
where people wrote and distributed forbidden works which provided great
excitement to those yearning to read something that was written for personal
rather than propaganda reasons. This became especially popular to the urban
youths sent down to the countryside after 1968 due to some of them having more
time on their hands and not being under the watchful eyes of state officials or
Red Guards.⁴⁸
During the 1970s the influence the CR radicals
wished to have over people’s cultural lives was not as complete as they’d
envisaged. The idea that art was for the collective was being ignored by people
who kept their creativity private or continued to claim responsibility for
works they’d done.⁴⁹ Clark says that the repeated messages of the ‘model’ works
began to frustrate people, with common cynical sayings being muttered about the
predictability of plots, such as the following about stories of female heroes:
‘a big girl, wearing red clothing stands at the highest place, and points out
the direction we should go.’⁵⁰ Chinese people were beginning to feel that their
art and their culture was very shallow, unfulfilling and lacking in diversity
due to its nature as being simply propaganda, which is why the old joke
‘eight-hundred million people watching eight shows’ has become a common Chinese
phrase to refer to this cultural period determined by ‘model’ works.⁵¹
The CR did much to spread and encourage mass
reception, participation and enthusiasm in the arts, but due to the insistence
on conforming to Mao Zedong Thought,
artistic freedom was greatly restricted. Culture was also dominated by Mao Zedong Thought to the delight of CR
radicals, which only began to let up during the 1970s when control was relaxed
and people found ways of expressing their own individuality without the
knowledge of the state. After Mao died along with his revolutionary ambition of
creating a socialist equality with a collectivised culture, most of the
thinking behind the CR was discouraged by the new pragmatically minded CCP.
Since 1976 China’s participation in the global economic market has increased
leading not only to the influence of material capitalism in China but also the
influence of contemporary western arts and culture.⁵² However the event clearly
had some influence on the next generation of artists who acquired most of their
training then and the art and cultural relics from the time can become a
treasured commodity to be bought and sold, even if the ideals that led to their
creation are forgotten.
Endnotes
1. People’s Daily, (10 April 1968), in X. Gong, ‘The Logic of Repressive Collective
Action: A Case Study of Violence in the Cultural Revolution’, in K.Y. Law
(ed.), The Chinese Cultural Revolution
reconsidered: beyond purge and holocaust, (Basingstoke, 2003), p.119.
2. Important documents on the great proletarian cultural revolution
in China
(Peking, 1970), p.126.
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Peking, 1966), pp.299-300.
4. M. Gao, The battle for China's past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (London,
2008), p.29.
5. Important documents on the great proletarian cultural revolution
in China
(Peking, 1970), p.138.
6. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Peking, 1966), p.xvi
7.
R.
MacFarquhar and M. Schoenhals, Mao's last
revolution (Cambridge, 2006), pp.45-6
8. P. Clark, The Chinese Cultural Revolution: a history (Cambridge, 2008), p.1.
10. S. Wang, ‘Between Destruction and
Construction: The First Year of the Cultural Revolution’, in K.Y. Law (ed.), The Chinese Cultural Revolution
reconsidered: beyond purge and holocaust, (Basingstoke, 2003), p.36.
11. Important documents on the great proletarian cultural revolution
in China
(Peking, 1970), p.127.
12. Gao, Battle, pp.20-9.
13. S.R. Landsberger, ‘The Deification of
Mao: Religious Imagery and Practices during the Cultural Revolution and
Beyond’, in W.L. Chong (ed.), China's great proletarian Cultural
Revolution: master narratives and post-Mao counternarratives, (Oxford,
2002), p.154.
14. Ibid., p.151.
15. Ibid., p.152.
16. Chinese Posters, Liu Chunhua Singing the Praises of Our Great Leader Is
Our Greatest Happiness, , http://chineseposters.net/resources/liu-chunhua-singing-the-praises.php
(26 April 2011)
17. X. Zheng, ‘Passion, Reflection, and
Survival: Political Choices of the Red Guards at Qinghua University, June 1966-
July 1968’, in J. Esherick, P.G. Pickowicz, and A.G. Walder (ed.), The Chinese cultural revolution as
history, (Stanford, 2006), p.103.
18. J.F. Andrews, ‘The Art of the Cultural
Revolution’, in R. King (ed.), Art in turmoil: the Chinese Cultural
Revolution, 1966-76, (Vancouver, 2010), p.30.
19. Landsberger, ‘Deification of Mao’,
p.139
20. Ibid., p.164.
21. Chinese Posters, Lin Chunhua- Chairman
Mao Goes to Anyuan, , http://chineseposters.net/gallery/e12-703.php
(26 April 2011)
22. Chinese Posters, Lin Chunhua, http://chineseposters.net/artists/liuchunhua.php
(26 April 2011)
23.
Jiang
Qing, ‘Reforming the Fine Arts’, in M. Schoenhals, (ed.), China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party (London,
1996), p.198.
24. Important documents on the great proletarian cultural revolution
in China
(Peking, 1970), p.231.
25.
R.
King, Art in turmoil: the Chinese
Cultural Revolution, 1966-76 (Vancouver, 2010), p.7.
26. Crestock, Vibrant Chinese Propaganda
Art - Part 1: Revolution Revolution Revolution, http://www.crestock.com/blog/design/vibrant-chinese-propaganda-art--part-1-revolution-revolution-revolution-171.aspx (25 April 2011)
27. Clark, Cultural Revolution, p.27.
28. Ibid., pp.77-82.
29. Ibid., pp.27-9.
30. Ibid., p.14.
31. Ibid., p.33.
32. Ibid., pp.60-1.
33.
J.
Liu, Gender and Work in Urban China:
Women Workers of the Unlucky Generation (London, 2007), pp.27-30.
34.
B.Di,
‘Feminism in the Revolutionary Model Ballets The White-Haired Girl and The
Red Detachment of Women’, in R. King (ed.), Art in turmoil: the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966-76
(Vancouver, 2010), pp.199-201.
35. Crestock, Vibrant Chinese Propaganda
Art - Part 2: Seven Intense Years, http://www.crestock.com/blog/design/vibrant-chinese-propaganda-art--part-2-seven-intense-years-173.aspx
(25 April 2011)
36. Important documents on the great proletarian cultural revolution
in China
(Peking, 1970), pp.208-9.
37. Mobo Gao, 'Debating the Cultural
Revolution: Do We Only Know What We Believe', Critical Asian Studies, Vol.34, No.3, (2002), p.426.
38. D.D. Ho, ‘To Protect and Preserve:
Resisting the Destroy the Four Olds Campaign, 1966-1967’, in J. Esherick, P.G.
Pickowicz, and A.G. Walder (ed.), The
Chinese cultural revolution as history, (Stanford,
2006), p.65.
39.
Beijing No.26 Middle School Red Guards, ‘One Hundred Items for
Destroying the Old and Establishing the New’, in M. Schoenhals (ed.), China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not
a Dinner Party (London, 1996), pp.212-222.
40. Zheng, ‘Passion, Reflection,
Survival’, p.97.
41. Clark, Cultural Revolution, p.251.
42. Gao, Battle, p.28.
43. Clark, Cultural Revolution, p.159.
44. R. Croizier, ‘Hu Xian Peasant
Painting: From Revolutionary Icon to Market Commodity’, in R. King (ed.), Art in turmoil: the Chinese Cultural
Revolution, 1966-76, (Vancouver, 2010), pp.138-147.
45. Chinese Posters, Huxian Peasant
Painters, http://chineseposters.net/themes/huxian-peasant-painters.php(26 April 2011)
46.
J.
Brown, ‘Staging Xiaojinzhuang: The City in the Countryside’, in J. Esherick,
P.G. Pickowicz, and A.G. Walder (ed.), The
Chinese cultural revolution as history, (Stanford,
2006), p.162-4.
47. Clark, Cultural Revolution, p.228.
48. Ibid., pp.226-30.
49. Ibid., p.236.
50. Ibid., p.49.
51. Ibid., p.2.
52.
G.R.
Barme, In the Red: On Contemporary
Chinese Culture (New York, 1999), p.202, p.268
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