Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:20:42.731Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Creativity and politics

from PART III - THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND ITS AFTERMATH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Douwe Fokkema
Affiliation:
University of Utrecht
Roderick MacFarquhar
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
John K. Fairbank
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

Ever since the establishment of the People's Republic, there has been a close relation between artistic creation and political life. The Cultural Revolution confirmed this, but also showed that variations in the relation were possible. In 1966 the relatively favorable political climate of earlier years, which had enabled literature to become a medium for veiled criticism of current politics, came to a sudden end. More fearful of artistic thought than any democratic government would be, the Chinese leaders supporting the Cultural Revolution turned against a number of literary works and operas and tried to replace them with new artistic productions. Almost all established writers were persecuted, and their role was taken over by lesser-known figures, who often preferred (or were forced) to work anonymously.

There are various ways to interpret and describe these events. One approach is to see literary production during the Cultural Revolution as a consequence of political interference in the arts. Severe ideological attacks on particular writers and the complete reorganization (or, rather, disorganization) of the cultural bureaucracy almost suffocated literary life. Another approach is to restrict oneself to a study of changes in the literary system - changes that, though political in origin, affected literature on the levels of the genre-system, the structure of the narrative, poetic form, and stage conventions. The political interference in literary life and the changes in the literary system, though interrelated, will be described separately. In fact, they can be distinguished also chronologically. When the first ideological criticisms were published, it was by no means clear whether literary production would be capable of meeting the newly formulated requirements.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chiang, Ch'ing, “On the revolution in Peking Opera: speech made in July 1964 at a forum of theatrical workers participating in the Festival of Peking Operas on Contemporary Themes,” Chinese Literature, 8 (August 1967).Google Scholar
Chou, Yang, “Yeh t'an–t'an tang ho wen–i ti kuan–hsi” (Speaking again of the relation between the Party and literature and the arts), Hung-ch'i, 11 (1979).Google Scholar
Fokkema, D. W., “Chinese literature under the Cultural Revolution,” Literature East & West, 13 (1969).Google Scholar
Fokkema, D. W., “The Maoist myth and its exemplification in the new Peking Opera,” Asia Quarterly, 2 (1972) ,Google Scholar
Jenner, W. J. F., “1979: a new start for literature in China?China Quarterly, 86 (June 1981).Google Scholar
Liu, Hsin–wu, “Pan–chu–jen” (The class teacher), Jen–min aen–bsueb (People's literature), 11 (1977).Google Scholar
Paul, Clark, “The film industry in the 1970s,” in Bonnie, S. McDougall, ed., Popular Chinese literature and performing arts in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979Google Scholar
Pusey, James R. Wu Han: attacking the present through the past. Cambridge, Mass.: East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, 1969.
Wu, Han, “Shen–hua–chii shih pu–shih hsiian–ch'uan mi–hsin?” (Do plays staging ghosts spread superstition?), Chung–kjio ch'ing–nien (Chinese youth), 15 (1961)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×