This is the introductory chapter of the book Liangyou: Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai G... more This is the introductory chapter of the book Liangyou: Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai Global Metropolis, 1926-1945 , which deals with popular Chinese print media - Liangyou . It presents an overview of how the other chapters in the book are organized. The book highlights four thematic clusters: designing modernity, embodying the modern, negotiating genders, and modernizing tradition. The first thematic cluster investigates the "golden age" (1927-37) of Chinese and Japanese modernist magazines. The second thematic cluster argues convincingly that "embodying the modern" involved much more than an appreciation of the pretty faces of "modern girls" and examines the history of patent medicines in Republican-era Shanghai - the epicenter of print media and visual culture in China. The third thematic cluster takes up gender roles in flux. The final thematic cluster deals with the problem of the place and function of "traditional" guohua paintings in representations of "modernity". Keywords: gender roles; guohua paintings; Liangyou ; patent medicines; Republican-era Shanghai; visual culture
The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, span... more The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, spanning a period during which the Nationalist government vigorously promoted its agenda of building a new, modern China. After two decades of political chaos that followed overthrow of the last dynasty, the magazine seemed to celebrate the new potential for national progress. It was a showcase of the cultural world of Shanghai, and explored through visual images the many ways in which China had become a modern society. By using striking graphic design, compelling cover images, up-to-date layout, new typography and lettering, and sophisticated printing technology, ”Shidai” both successfully represented, and was itself part of, China's modernizing visual culture. The magazine introduced the most visually powerful aspects of contemporary culture to its domestic audience, but at the same time tried to show a modern nation to the outside world. ”Shidai” led a new trend of using stunning images to present current world and national events, news of celebrities and film stars, movie reviews, sports news, art exhibitions, women's fashion, and comic strips and cartoons.This paper suggests that ”Shidai”, edited throughout its existence by well-known artists and writers, conveyed the cultural ideals of Shanghai's literary circles. Its contributors shared the nation's mission of building a new modern China. What was printed on the pages of ”Shidai”, however, was not government propaganda, but demonstrated the convergence, for a time, of the hopes of Shanghai's cultural world with the political agenda of the new national government.
Traditional Chinese art was tied closely to the ruling elites of imperial China and therefore pre... more Traditional Chinese art was tied closely to the ruling elites of imperial China and therefore presented a particular challenge to the new communist regime seeking to establish a new proletarian culture in the 1950s. This chapter throws light on the way established traditional painters and artists were managed and their art reshaped through the application of principles set down in the Yan’an Talks and a deliberate “modernization” of traditional Chinese painting. It argues that in the case of guohua the tension between old forms and new content was not just resolved but led to invigoration and innovation in the field and produced some of the greatest public artworks of the Maoist period
... Paintings collected in the Wanmu caotang) (Shanghai: Changxing shuju, 1918), reprinted in Gu ... more ... Paintings collected in the Wanmu caotang) (Shanghai: Changxing shuju, 1918), reprinted in Gu Sen, ed., Bainian zhongguo meishu jingdian (Chinese art classics of the past century) (Shenzhen: Haitian chubanshe, 1998), 1: 3; Chen Duxiu, “Meishu geming–da Lü Cheng (The ...
The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, span... more The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, spanning a period during which the Nationalist government vigorously promoted its agenda of building a new, modern China. After two decades of political chaos that followed overthrow of the last dynasty, the magazine seemed to celebrate the new potential for national progress. It was a showcase of the cultural world of Shanghai, and explored through visual images the many ways in which China had become a modern society. By using striking graphic design, compelling cover images, up-to-date layout, new typography and lettering, and sophisticated printing technology, ”Shidai” both successfully represented, and was itself part of, China's modernizing visual culture. The magazine introduced the most visually powerful aspects of contemporary culture to its domestic audience, but at the same time tried to show a modern nation to the outside world. ”Shidai” led a new trend of using stunning images to present current world and national events, news of celebrities and film stars, movie reviews, sports news, art exhibitions, women's fashion, and comic strips and cartoons.This paper suggests that ”Shidai”, edited throughout its existence by well-known artists and writers, conveyed the cultural ideals of Shanghai's literary circles. Its contributors shared the nation's mission of building a new modern China. What was printed on the pages of ”Shidai”, however, was not government propaganda, but demonstrated the convergence, for a time, of the hopes of Shanghai's cultural world with the political agenda of the new national government.
... A century in crisis: Modernity and tradition in the art of twentieth-century China. Post a Co... more ... A century in crisis: Modernity and tradition in the art of twentieth-century China. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: ... VOLUME/EDITION: PAGES (INTRO/BODY): 329 p. SUBJECT(S): Art, Chinese; Exhibitions; Themes, motives; 20th century. DISCIPLINE: No discipline assigned. ...
This is the introductory chapter of the book Liangyou: Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai G... more This is the introductory chapter of the book Liangyou: Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai Global Metropolis, 1926-1945 , which deals with popular Chinese print media - Liangyou . It presents an overview of how the other chapters in the book are organized. The book highlights four thematic clusters: designing modernity, embodying the modern, negotiating genders, and modernizing tradition. The first thematic cluster investigates the "golden age" (1927-37) of Chinese and Japanese modernist magazines. The second thematic cluster argues convincingly that "embodying the modern" involved much more than an appreciation of the pretty faces of "modern girls" and examines the history of patent medicines in Republican-era Shanghai - the epicenter of print media and visual culture in China. The third thematic cluster takes up gender roles in flux. The final thematic cluster deals with the problem of the place and function of "traditional" guohua paintings in representations of "modernity". Keywords: gender roles; guohua paintings; Liangyou ; patent medicines; Republican-era Shanghai; visual culture
The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, span... more The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, spanning a period during which the Nationalist government vigorously promoted its agenda of building a new, modern China. After two decades of political chaos that followed overthrow of the last dynasty, the magazine seemed to celebrate the new potential for national progress. It was a showcase of the cultural world of Shanghai, and explored through visual images the many ways in which China had become a modern society. By using striking graphic design, compelling cover images, up-to-date layout, new typography and lettering, and sophisticated printing technology, ”Shidai” both successfully represented, and was itself part of, China's modernizing visual culture. The magazine introduced the most visually powerful aspects of contemporary culture to its domestic audience, but at the same time tried to show a modern nation to the outside world. ”Shidai” led a new trend of using stunning images to present current world and national events, news of celebrities and film stars, movie reviews, sports news, art exhibitions, women's fashion, and comic strips and cartoons.This paper suggests that ”Shidai”, edited throughout its existence by well-known artists and writers, conveyed the cultural ideals of Shanghai's literary circles. Its contributors shared the nation's mission of building a new modern China. What was printed on the pages of ”Shidai”, however, was not government propaganda, but demonstrated the convergence, for a time, of the hopes of Shanghai's cultural world with the political agenda of the new national government.
Traditional Chinese art was tied closely to the ruling elites of imperial China and therefore pre... more Traditional Chinese art was tied closely to the ruling elites of imperial China and therefore presented a particular challenge to the new communist regime seeking to establish a new proletarian culture in the 1950s. This chapter throws light on the way established traditional painters and artists were managed and their art reshaped through the application of principles set down in the Yan’an Talks and a deliberate “modernization” of traditional Chinese painting. It argues that in the case of guohua the tension between old forms and new content was not just resolved but led to invigoration and innovation in the field and produced some of the greatest public artworks of the Maoist period
... Paintings collected in the Wanmu caotang) (Shanghai: Changxing shuju, 1918), reprinted in Gu ... more ... Paintings collected in the Wanmu caotang) (Shanghai: Changxing shuju, 1918), reprinted in Gu Sen, ed., Bainian zhongguo meishu jingdian (Chinese art classics of the past century) (Shenzhen: Haitian chubanshe, 1998), 1: 3; Chen Duxiu, “Meishu geming–da Lü Cheng (The ...
The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, span... more The large format monthly ”Shidai” (”Modern Miscellany”) was published between 1929 and 1937, spanning a period during which the Nationalist government vigorously promoted its agenda of building a new, modern China. After two decades of political chaos that followed overthrow of the last dynasty, the magazine seemed to celebrate the new potential for national progress. It was a showcase of the cultural world of Shanghai, and explored through visual images the many ways in which China had become a modern society. By using striking graphic design, compelling cover images, up-to-date layout, new typography and lettering, and sophisticated printing technology, ”Shidai” both successfully represented, and was itself part of, China's modernizing visual culture. The magazine introduced the most visually powerful aspects of contemporary culture to its domestic audience, but at the same time tried to show a modern nation to the outside world. ”Shidai” led a new trend of using stunning images to present current world and national events, news of celebrities and film stars, movie reviews, sports news, art exhibitions, women's fashion, and comic strips and cartoons.This paper suggests that ”Shidai”, edited throughout its existence by well-known artists and writers, conveyed the cultural ideals of Shanghai's literary circles. Its contributors shared the nation's mission of building a new modern China. What was printed on the pages of ”Shidai”, however, was not government propaganda, but demonstrated the convergence, for a time, of the hopes of Shanghai's cultural world with the political agenda of the new national government.
... A century in crisis: Modernity and tradition in the art of twentieth-century China. Post a Co... more ... A century in crisis: Modernity and tradition in the art of twentieth-century China. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: ... VOLUME/EDITION: PAGES (INTRO/BODY): 329 p. SUBJECT(S): Art, Chinese; Exhibitions; Themes, motives; 20th century. DISCIPLINE: No discipline assigned. ...
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