Curating Revolution (Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China)
Cambridge University Press, 11/23/2017
EAN 9781108417952, ISBN10: 1108417957
Hardcover, 322 pages, 23.5 x 15.5 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
How did China's Communist revolution transform the nation's political culture? In this rich and vivid history of the Mao period (1949–1976), Denise Y. Ho examines the relationship between its exhibitions and its political movements. Case studies from Shanghai show how revolution was curated: museum workers collected cultural and revolutionary relics; neighborhoods, schools, and work units mounted and narrated local displays; and exhibits provided ritual space for ideological lessons and political campaigns. Using archival sources, ephemera, interviews, and other materials, Ho traces the process by which exhibitions were developed, presented, and received. Examples under analysis range from the First Party Congress Site and the Shanghai Museum to the 'class education' and Red Guard exhibits that accompanied the Socialist Education Movement and the Cultural Revolution. Operating in two modes - that of a state in power and that of a state in revolution - Mao era exhibitionary culture remains part of China's revolutionary legacy.
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Making a revolutionary monument
the first party congress site
2. Exhibiting new China
'Fangua lane past and present'
3. Curating belief
superstition versus science for young pioneers
4. Cultivating consciousness
the class education exhibition
5. The cultural revolution's object lessons
the exhibition of red guard achievements
6. Antiquity in revolution
the Shanghai museum
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chinese character list
Index.