Stepmother Culture -- A Close Look at Contemporary Chinese Culture and Art

Author: Yin Jina
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The preface includes articles written since 1993. Most of them were published in the magazine Dushu (Reading) under the column "Knocking Alone." After publishing the book Knocking Alone, while writing columns for Dushu and hosting the "Eastern Art Circle" for Dongfang (East), I became a "person involved in contemporary Chinese art," receiving so many invitations that I could hardly handle them. I suddenly grew tired of this "career" of accepting invitations to write articles, where free expression fell into the trap of opposing it. The existing profession nearly turned me into a waste person, while my soul kept searching for something with real vitality, even a hollow heartbeat. In China after 1993, the "entering the market" of intellectuals replaced the "studying abroad" of readers. The so-called "Confucian merchants" suddenly multiplied. The ancient Confucianism had become a fashionable "modern" Confucianism. Confucianism became the object and means of business, naturally aided by the popularization of ancient classics. The I Ching (Book of Changes) became a fortune-telling book for practical situations; Laozi and Chan Buddhism became tools for secular forces to deconstruct the sublime; Buddhism and Taoism became the for gatherings of the people for health or other purposes; and the thoughts of the Legalists and military strategists became the tactics and scams of modern commercial warfare. The sea of literature turned into the sea of commerce, and the waves remained vast. It was also when the sea of literature turned into the sea of commerce that overseas students returned en masse. For them, the boundless sea of learning was their homeland. This homeland was the "Eastern" of the homeland, the "periphery" outside the center of imperialist economic and cultural hegemony. In reality, what arrived in China before overseas students was undoubtedly "postmodernism." "Postmodernism" was originally a lean chicken in Western intellectual circles (not as fat as KFC's home-style chicken in the U.S.), and it was lean because it was "wild." Despite being lean and wild, its feathers were dazzling, far more eye-catching than mainstream poultry. But once it arrived in China, it no longer remained lean and wild but became a greasy roasted chicken, appearing on the tables of many celebrities, quickly becoming the main dish. Though lean, the chicken was alive; but the roasted chicken, through its death and readiness, fully appeased the hungry stomachs of the learned celebrities. This is a classic allegory of how Western postmodernism became "post" (postmodern) in China. As long as it is an allegory, it has the space for textual interpretation and deconstruction. The "postmodernist" lean chicken "roams" China, requiring translation and speculation. With its belt translated, the wild chicken or lean chicken becomes a roasted chicken, fatter than KFC. However, postmodernism can also write another allegory: dressing the lean chicken in a richer robe, beautifying the living creature, turning it into a swan, and keeping it in the sky, soaring freely, dazzling people's eyes, and gaining the "consensus" of being looked up at. Eating postmodernism as a roasted chicken is based on pragmatism, while admiring it as a swan is based on aesthetics, a spiritual pursuit. Both seeing and eating (or eating after seeing) become a synthesis. Looking at the sky while eating from the bowl, the scenery here is the best! Eating can cultivate the body, while looking can inspire the spirit. It is both like a teacher to the emperor and a teacher to Confucius. As a greasy roasted chicken, postmodernism has become the main dish of Chinese intellectual circles; as a swan, it has become a beautiful sight for the academic world! I have no prejudice against postmodernism and have benefited from it, but I sometimes regret its excess fat and ornate feathers in China. After eating and seeing, the gaze of the roasted chicken or the swan has not replaced the inherent "modern" gaze of Chinese celebrities. The ethnic minorities in China are still "people who sing and dance," and this has not changed in the hearts of the celebrities in any way. The character for "entertainment" () and the character for "deceit" () still have the radical for "woman": For some Westerners, Africa is the "world of animals," and for some Chinese celebrities, it is no different: "The East" is still the "world of people," but it refers only to China, and even exceeds the "Asia" in Mao Zedong's "Asia, Africa, Latin America" concept: In many cities in China, "You are really a farmer" is still a more insulting curse than "You are really a rogue." Feminists still use the word "prostitution" but never the corresponding "buying sex" to replace the old word "whoring." Lu Xun still does not belong to himself; he remains the soul of the soulless and the weapon of the weaponless. Our sorrow has always been his. Environmentalists tell us (rather than village teachers) that the Yellow River has already started to dry up. The roasted chicken or swan of culture comes from afar. The myth of the mother is still being sung. I call my miscellany "Post-stepmotherism" to emphasize the subjective characteristics of the criticized object and to subvert the authority concept upheld by those who regard "consensus" as "individuality." I want to look at contemporary culture and art with the gaze of an ordinary wild bird, not a wild chicken, much less a roasted chicken or swan. May this "bird person" be able to escape the fate of being a lean chicken and not become the "smoked bird" or "good bird" of the celebrities—that would be lucky. This is the preface. The author is a professor of art history at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and is known as a "sensitive and calm art critic." This book is a sequel to Knocking Alone, collecting 37 art essays published in recent years in magazines like Dushu. The author, with a unique intellectual approach, touches upon the trends, phenomena, and states of the art world and intellectual circles in the past two years, expressing a calm observation and intuitive perception of contemporary art, particularly focusing on "avant-garde art." The book is divided into four parts: "Avant-garde Concepts," "Beauty/Artists," "Cultural Perspectives," and "After the Elite," with over 100 color illustrations.