ARTS AND MEDIA Timeline

In China under Mao

beginning control of
FACT SHEET 1946 art school

Art in Culture
with the beginning of Mao’s reign, art was supposed to be
political
traditional art
China’s tradition culture associated with feudal and
imperial society by Mao 1950 allowed
while traditional art was allowed in the beginning, it was
later on destroyed in the cultural revolution
art no longer for personal purposes
foreign and traditional art was forbidden
art was supposed to portray happy, working peasants
furthermore every other painting was a portrait of Mao only communist
artists terrorised into silenced, put into struggle sessions 1951 conform art allowed

Propaganda
100 flowers campaign -
to educate the masses, not for own purposes -> 1956 burst of freedom
portraying communist, soviet and Maoist elements
modern art with propagandist messages
films and plays: propagandist
literary works: censored
anti rightist campaign
news media: centralised 1957 - repression
rigid censorship
destruction of feudalist monuments/artworks

Main Historians and Debates 1965

performance of
Hai Rui (Mao critic)
Historians
Julia F. Andrew’s
Roderick MacFarquhar
Barbara Mittler Cultural Revolution -
Richard King 1966 persecution
Lydia H. Liu

Debates
Censorship vs. Propaganda campaign against four
Impact of the Cultural Revolution 1966 olds - destruction
Resistance and Compliance
Role of “Model Works” (Yangbanxi)
Long-term Cultural Effects

no traditional art or
1970 culture left