Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art - Current Issue

Accused of being self-centred or disconnected from the needs of the nation or society, surrealism as a movement was given short shrift by some of the more Left-leaning members of the Chinese art world during the Republican era. Rather than Wei rensheng er yishu (‘Art for life’s sake’), surrealist artists (and modern oil painting in China generally at this time) were associated with the philosophy of Wei yishu er yishu (‘Art for art’s sake’) by politically engaged commentators and roundly criticized. However, this article demonstrates that surrealist themes and images in the work of artists Cai Ruohong (1910–2002) and Bide (likely Huang Shiying, n.d.) were in fact found in the pages of Manhua Shenghuo (Cartoon Life) and the magazine that continued its mandate, Manhua he Shenghuo (Cartoons and Life), and were effective vehicles for the dissemination of pointed Leftist social critique.

This article explores how the Shanghai-based general interest magazine T’ien Hsia (1935–41) engaged with European surrealist movements in the 1930s. The first part of the article explores how the magazine’s literature and artwork responded to surrealist tendencies and ideas and argues that the prevalence of these tendencies and ideas intensified from 1937 in response to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the resultant Japanese colonization of Shanghai. Whilst surrealism offered a vehicle for a variety of responses to warfare – such as escapism, political comment, and black humour – it was also a movement through which the magazine’s transnational editorial team, including Wen Yuanning, a charismatic young writer-diplomat who had graduated from Cambridge, John C. Wu, and the American-born journalist Emily Hahn, could assert their distinct brand of liberal cosmopolitanism. The second part of the article explores how terms like ‘cosmopolitanism’, together with other postcolonial theory-related concepts such as ‘hybridity’ or ‘decoloniality’, help to illustrate the magazine’s turn towards the surreal as symptomatic of both its publication in Shanghai, a semicolonial treaty port that brought together a myriad of national identities and artistic styles, and also of its editors’ aims to provide a sense of cohesiveness and collaboration that transcended national boundaries.

The social transformation of the reform era saw healthy economic development alongside the rise of consumerism and increased levels of corruption and unemployment. The effects of this rapid transformation greatly influenced the growing new generation who were readily exposed to the commodity economy and consumerist ideology. The contemporary private photography (Si Sheying) movement in China is said to have risen under such circumstances, pioneered and further developed by post-1980s and post-1990s individuals who grew up in urban cities with a knack for information technology. Driven by individualism, consumerism and technological modernization, these photographers have created some of the most controversial and sexualized photographs of their era. Yet, little research has been done to suggest a plausible historical provenance contributing to the rise and development of Chinese contemporary private photography, particularly in their depiction of the Chinese female body. This article seeks to draw from Republican-era (1928–36) photographers who have contributed to Shanghai pictorial magazines such as Liangyou, Shanghai Manhua, Shidai Manhua and Ling Long and have explored the different representations of the Chinese female imagery. It will further suggest how historical art movements like surrealism underpinned the ways in which the Chinese female body was discussed and displayed in printed media with considerations of the changing eroticization of the male gaze caught in a different mass consumption era. This article will then reveal the formation of the tripartite symbolism drawn from naturism, surreal humour and Rabindranath Tagore’s humane east that is inherent in the above analysis to suggest a surrealistic yet anarchistic transformation in contemporary private photography in China. Finally, it will draw this article to a close with the favourable conditions of the private–public, inner–outer (Nei-Wai) boundary, allowing the Republican-era Chinese females to be empowered to move between the two spheres and where Chinese contemporary private photographers continually use to break down binary divides that continue to hinder in today’s conditions.

Shanghai is usually conceived of as a modern metropolis. Yet the city retains historical spaces, for instance the Yu Garden, first built in 1559. Literati gardens were created by the scholar-officials of dynastic China, known as wenren, intellectual elites well-versed in poetry, calligraphy and sometimes painting, while taking up positions in the government. Originally private spaces, these sites are recognized as cultural heritage and open to the public today, and could be seen as surreal spaces where past and present, dream and reality blend. Taking Shanghai’s Yu Garden as a case study, this article investigates how an anachronistic perspective of the surrealistic lens could connect the literati gardens to contemporary visitors and reveal values beyond their inherent ones as heritage sites. Via empirical accounts of my visits to the Yu Garden and briefly tracing the history of the site, I explored the surreality of the garden itself so as to provide the context. In the second part, I look at photographic representations of the Yu Garden with different creative intentions by the following photographers: Marc Riboud, Hu Jieming, Yu Wenhao and Dong Wensheng. Through visual analysis, I reveal how these representations chime with the surrealist discourses in different ways and how they bring about new ways to engage with historical sites. Having contextualized these contemporary representations, in the final part, I reflect upon my photographic practice. I make no apology for focusing on my own work, because my representation of the Yu Garden intends to evoke experiences not only of surreality, but even of transcendence, which will reclaim a space for spirituality much needed by Shanghai, the metropolis.

This article examines a personal practice-based research developed during the 2010s that explores the contemporary urban experience of the metropolis of Shanghai, identifying features and attributes of its public space from the inhabitant perspective. The urban space of Shanghai, in connection with the surreal, is labyrinthine, interconnected and heterogeneous. It has an ambiguous hierarchy and order, where anything can be linked to another, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is simulated. Culturally polymorphic and borderline, this space does not belong to any particular historical place or period. It only exists in the present, in continuity, in constant transformation, on scales where the small, accessible and domestic coexist with the territorial, public and impenetrable. The support of these spaces of hybrid nature where the technological, the animal and the vegetal coexist is the city in constant expansion, which assimilates the transformation for the development of activity and where masses of people and vehicles stream from everywhere in every direction. Through photography and digital manipulation techniques, the project captures and enhances the perception of the atmosphere and spatial relationships as elements that condition activity patterns in their inhabitants along with sociocultural guidelines. On the other hand, chromatic and surface/print media treatments explore aesthetic aspects related to elements of traditional and popular artistic representation characteristic of East Asian cultures. Thus, together with highly contrasting styles of black and white and even negatives, bright and sharp colours coexist with strongly contrasted and outlined contours over metallic supports that evoke everything from the traditional to the technological.

Inspired by surrealism as a concept and form of interpretation, the inquiry put forth in this article works to reveal how the dream-like image of contemporary Shanghai channels a deep-rooted propaganda endeavour. Using my observations of contemporary treatments of lilong – with particular focus on the tableaux featured on the outer walls of sealed neighbourhoods, as well as the staged recreation of lane life in a shopping mall – this article proposes a more critical understanding of the urban renewal and approaches deserted lilong neighbourhoods as sites of rejected memories, and subjects of multifaceted visual and material reproductions. Due to the eviction of residents from lilong to make way for a future-facing, homogenous global city with strong Chinese characteristics, what I term as ‘memory struggle’ ensues. As a city growing amid numerous cultural and political forces, shaped by conflict and migration, Shanghai’s urban landscape presents layers of conscious and unconscious, real and unreal; perhaps offering its own form of surrealist artwork. Closer reflection upon various surrealist forms on the surface of today’s Shanghai proposes that, however, the city’s evolutionary mechanism runs contrary to surrealist concepts of unconscious liberation. Rather, the dream is manufactured to (re)create memories and spaces in service of ‘national history’ and ‘modern identity’. Nevertheless, when read through a surrealist lens, the mask of this dream ‘Shanghai’ communicates hidden truths about Chinese dreaming and urban renewal.

This article draws on visual studies and material culture to explore the compelling role of light in negotiating a haipai surreal. Haipai characterizes Shanghai’s innovative and commercial aesthetic, of which light plays an essential role. My analyses follow the light spectrum – from visible colours to the invisible X-rays of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared – that illuminates and regulates the city, shaping the images of the city. Colourful wavelengths on buildings and infrastructure dazzle audiences, creating a novel spectacle that highlights the centrality of technology and elicits Sinofuturistic imaginaries, while invisible light waves generate a separate surreality of ethereal control. I suggest that this haipai use of light constructs an image of a surrealist Sinofuture, drawing on the approaches of André Breton and Salvador Dalí. I argue that visible light alters how the city is perceived and understood, evoking a poetic transformation of the real reminiscent of André Breton’s work. I demonstrate how the ubiquitous and insidious use of invisible light transforms the representation of the city and its citizens as data and computer images, reflecting Dalí’s focus on obsession and the ‘image double’. I further position the extent to which these effects of light make the haipai experience one that is both technological and surreal in relation to Jean Baudrillard’s notion of hyperreality. This article stresses the role of light in casting images of a future that are both fascinating and fixated.

Through a curatorial approach, Jiang Jiehong invites contemporary artists to focus on a 100-year-old building in Shanghai, now the Wu Changshuo Art Museum (WAM), which survived the turbulence of wars, political movements of the past century and the dramatic urban development in post-Mao China. Situated amongst the forest of the modernized skyscrapers in Shanghai’s CBD Lujiazui, this heritage house stays in its traditional style, contributing to a surrealistic urban landscape. With the artistic responses in various forms commissioned for the site-specific exhibition staged at WAM, this article re-examines the evolution of the building, the neighbourhood and the place, and critically reflects the revolutionary urban transformation in the past century and the societal and cultural changes in Shanghai.

The MadeIn Art Museum, an open-air art space remodelled from chicken factory ruins in the 1970s, is located on Chongming Island. A two-hour drive from the urban metropolis of Shanghai takes you to the rural environment of Chongming Island, where the MadeIn Art Museum sits at the intersection of contemporary artistic practices and the ecological narrative of the ‘ecological island’ (eco-island). This article proposes that the existence of the MadeIn Art Museum on Chongming Island demands an emerging cultural identity in the context of artificial spatiality and spectatorship. Through aesthetics that approach the sensitivity and perception of Chongming Island, the narratives of ecological value perform a cultural identity for both contemporary art produced by the MadeIn Art Museum and the ideologically imposed propaganda of the eco-island of Chongming. Ultimately, rather than emphasizing the meaning of the MadeIn Art Museum as an alternative art space, the article considers that Chongming Island itself embodies aesthetics in spatial practices that enable art to convey a sense of cultural representations and contexts of ecological aesthetics.

Ever since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan in 2019, Chinese cities have gone through different stages of quarantine till the end of 2022. Due to a surge of Omicron variant cases in 2022, travel restrictions were introduced in February and Shanghai entered lockdowns from 28 March 2022, allegedly to protect the elderly, the young and the vulnerable. Nevertheless, it was gradually revealed that many elderly people suffered or even died from the strict lockdown measures at home or in the quarantine hospitals. This article studies the trending visualities and black humour about the lockdown experience of Shanghai elderly on social media platforms Weibo and Weixin, examining how social media was used as a tool to provide counter narratives, build surrealist solidarity and construct collective memories. Data used for this article is sourced from China Digital Times. The keyword 上海老人 (‘Shanghai elderly’) was used to identify relevant posts between 1 March and 1 June 2022. A total of 39 posts containing visual or audio-visual components about Shanghai elderly’s lockdown experience was selected as samples. A multimodal analysis of data reveals that Shanghai elderly’s COVID experience was both represented and mediatized on social media platforms. Surrealism artistic creation from internet users exposes the ineptitude of government officials and the absurdity of reality. The use of black humour in surrealistic online content on the one hand shows individuals as helpless victims while on the other hand builds surrealist solidarity among people and exhibits resistance towards the authoritarian control.

The 2023 Shanghai Halloween Parade marked a significant shift from previous years, transforming from a modest festivity into a carnivalesque spectacle that served as a platform for cultural resistance and collective expression. This study examines the parade’s evolution in the context of post-COVID-19 China, exploring its manifestation both on the streets and in digital spaces. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the ‘carnivalesque’, Franco Berardi’s notion of the ‘cognitariat’ and Judith Butler’s analysis of the potentiality of gender parody, the research investigates how the parade reflected local sociopolitical tensions, particularly those stemming from pandemic-related traumas and economic stagnation. The parade saw unprecedented participation from diverse groups, notably young urban professionals (the ‘cognitariat’) and the LGBTQ community, who used the event to voice dissent against exploitative work cultures and identity erasure, respectively. The street celebrations were characterized by low-key costumes and performances that blended black humour with critical commentary on recent social issues. Crucially, the parade’s impact extended beyond physical spaces into the digital realm. Social media platforms amplified the carnivalesque atmosphere, enabling broader participation and preserving the event’s legacy through memes and creative expressions. However, this online dimension also highlighted ongoing censorship, with certain discussions quickly disappearing from view. This research contributes to understanding how festivals of western originals like Halloween are localized and repurposed in Shanghai, serving as vehicles for negotiating identity and resistance in the face of social and political constraints. It also sheds light on the interplay between physical and digital manifestations of cultural resistance in contemporary China.