2008 is the tenth anniversary of the commencement of diplomatic relations between South Africa and the People’s Republic of China. As part of its activities to celebrate the occasion, the South African government has invited actress, director and blogger Xu Jinglei to visit. Xu is planning to produce a book and documentary about the trip.
The correspondent, Maya Alexandri wonders what the Chinese delegation made of the Apartheid Museum, in relation to the current lack of a similar public response to the Cultural Revolution in China. Although she suggests an implicit admiration for the museum amongst the Chinese visitors, sadly, she doesn’t elaborate – perhaps that line of questioning would have been deemed inappropriate on an official visit?
According to the BBC, the French car marker, Citroen, has apologised for an advertisement featuring Mao which ran in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. What I find interesting about this is the response of, presumably, young(er) commentators. Given that their parents and grandparents are likely to have suffered to some extent during the Cultural Revolution, their support for Mao seems surprising. Perhaps the unwillingness, or sheer inability (due to trauma and fear of repercussions) of the older generation to discuss the human aspects of the Cultural Revolution, has created a chasm between the experiences of those who lived through it, and the popular imagining of China under Mao? Would a ‘remembrance’ museum of the Cultural Revolution make a difference?
Here’s a fascinating little online exhibition from the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney that charts the development of Chinese revolutionary dress, and in particular the Mao suit (zhifu). It’s part of a larger virtual exhibition entitled Evolution and Revolution: Chinese dress 1700s-1990s. Check out the page on the sartorial ideology of the Cultural Revolution as well. When I was much younger I desperately wanted to be a costume historian when I grew up. Perhaps there’s still a chance!
To commemorate the Great Helmsman’s 114th birthday, Wu Suizhou, whom CCTV describes as a ‘folk artist’, has produced a set of papercuts. The photographs on the CCTV website aren’t very clear (Xinhua is better), but it looks like he has chosen classic propagandist modes of representations of Mao and other communist icons as his models. Indeed, there’s nothing very new here. In the bottom right-hand corner in black is a papercut showing Mao, Lenin, Marx and Engels in profile. This is a copy of similar papercuts available during the Cultural Revolution. (The British Museum and Musee du Quai Branly have examples in their collections.)
Leading on from yesterday’s post, and also featuring a link which has sat overlooked on my desktop for far too long, is this blog post about the draw of Mao (and ‘Commie’) kitsch in both China and the West. Also features a link to a small exhibition of Mao memorabilia held during 1998-1999, which I hadn’t previously come across.
I don’t feel there’s much point trying to analyse these posts too much. They sum up my feelings about the appropriation of Communist iconography in popular cultural contexts perfectly. Though, I have to admit, I bought a (reproduction) Mao badge in the British Museum shop last week. Let’s call it ‘research’. 😉
I found thisages ago, and it’s been sitting on my desktop waiting for me to do something with it. I think the author cogently expresses the ethical grey-area into which communist propaganda (as kitsch, or otherwise) falls. Not to mention the fear of one’s intention by displaying this material being misinterpreted. I enjoyed reading the comments best. Particularly those suggesting that the poster of Mao be modified in a Duchamp kind of style. Oh, the irony. 😉
I’ve been neglecting this blog recently. Mainly because my final year has crept up on me, and the ensuing panic has caused me to devote a little more time to actually writing-up my damn thesis! But I have been watching The Red Detachment of Women on DVD (in two sittings – the casts’ endless ‘determined fists’ get a little wearing after a while!).
Well, I can see why this and the other revolutionary operas were so appealing to audiences. I know very little about ballet, but the performance of the cast is clearly dazzling (unsurprising given the harsh regime meted out by studios – read Anchee Min’s Red Azaleafor more details), the score is rousing and colours vivid (and of course, red predominates). Added to that is the fact that there would have been very little ‘entertainment’ available during the Cultural Revolution, making the opportunity to see a film – regardless of its propagandist content – a real treat.
The story is a fairly formulaic, gender-role reversed take on good vs. evil; girl escapes from dastardly landlord, hero saves girl, girl joins the Red Army (okay, that’s not in the vein of most classic stories!), girl leads her detachment into battle, hero is injured but survives only to be captured by evil landlord, girl single-handedly does for evil landlord and saves the hero, the masses are liberated by the victorious Red Army, etc, etc,. Added to that is the propagandist sub-plot, i.e. join the Red Army, it’ll be fantastic. You’ll have a great time (much like the adverts for the forces currently shown on TV!), plenty to eat and the locals will think you’re great! Plus, if you’re a woman, you’ll get to wear a natty knee-length shorts with leg warmers combo (a sartorial choice which had no – as far as I am aware – basis in reality). A half-arsed attempt at ‘sexing’ up the film to appeal to the masses, perhaps? Seems a rather bizarre decision for the costume designers to take, given that they were working in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, with its emphasis on androgyny and desexualisation of women. Still, having said that, cultural supremo, Jiang Qing, was a rather peculiar woman herself.
Of course, Mao’s famous proclamation that ‘women hold up half of the sky’ is the basis for this tale, and – perhaps – for the reversal of roles between the male and female heroes. In many ways it is a celebration of women; overcoming the barriers, restrictions and mistreatment imposed upon by men (some men – not their enlightened male comrades in the Red Army, of course).
Another interesting aspect of the film I’ve noted, refers back to Bright Sheng’s comments in the radio interview I’ve blogged about before. The strange mixing of traditional and Western elements in the production of these revolutionary ballets, which seems at odds with the ethos behind the diktats imposed on practitioners working in other creative fields. The influence of Western ballet is unmistakable here, as is the only slight adaptation (the inclusion of occasional ‘bursts’ from traditional Chinese instruments) of Western classical music for the score.
Anyway, back to the film itself… I’m not certain how available this, and the other revolutionary operas are in Britain. This copy came from China. Thankfully, this is where YouTube, as a research tool, excels
The heroine escapes and hides in the forest from the landlord’s henchmen:
After suffering a brutal beating at the hands of the landlord’s henchmen, the heroine stumbles upon a detachment of the army…
An ensemble piece which follows the detachment’s assault on the landlord’s compound:
Enjoy!
Oh, and finally, I should apologise for the rather strange appearance of Cogs and Wheels at the moment. I’m working on a re-design. 🙂
I’ve decided it is about time I tackled this blinking thesis. So, in an attempt to promote an appropriate frame of mind, this afternoon I have been listening to The East is Red. Loud, ambitious and unstintingly bombastic, not to mention really quite barmy, it’s done the trick. I managed to brain storm section 2 of my thesis. Hurrah for choirs and cymbals and China for bringing forth a Mao Zedong (the latter said with a tinge of irony, of course)! You can download the whole shebang – all two hours worth – from emusic.
…this time available from Good Orient. Isn’t the featured messenger bag, the one that got Cameron Diaz in so much trouble recently? Just goes to show the wealth of connotations this sort of material engenders.
'Asia In Western Fiction', by Winks and Rush
'The Chan's Great Continent: China in Western Minds' by Jonathan Spence
'Revolution is Not a Garden Party' (exhibition catalogue) by Maja and Reuben Fowkes.
'Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall' by Anna Funder,
Cogs and Wheels: The material culture of revolutionary China 