Geremie Barme - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Geremie Barme
Publishers details for: Mao: The Unkown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, London: Jonathan C... more Publishers details for: Mao: The Unkown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, London: Jonathan Cape, 2005. 25.00 (hardcover). Includes footnotes.
China Perspectives, 2012
, organised by Jie Li and Enhua Zhang and jointly sponsored by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation In... more , organised by Jie Li and Enhua Zhang and jointly sponsored by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinology, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. For a report on that conference by the organisers, see: www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=022_conference. inc&issue=022 (consulted on 10 May 2012). I am grateful to Sebastian Veg for his editorial guidance and to the two anonymous reviewers of an earlier draft of this work. I would also like to acknowledge Chris Buckley's contribution to my understanding of Chongqing, the model, and its camp-followers.
The China Story Yearbook 2014: Shared Destiny, 2015
Index on Censorship, 1997
Hong Kong has not only shaped much of China's popular culture, it has also been a key port fo... more Hong Kong has not only shaped much of China's popular culture, it has also been a key port for the packaging and re-export of Chinese dissident culture for over a decade. With its return to China in 1997, all that will come to an end. So, too, will its unique role in contemporary Chinese history as the mediator, mirror and filter for mainland and Taiwan exchanges
Mirrors of History: On a Sino-Japanese Moment and Some Antecedents by Geremie R. Barmé May 4 2005... more Mirrors of History: On a Sino-Japanese Moment and Some Antecedents by Geremie R. Barmé May 4 2005 marked the 76th anniversary of the iconic Chinese patriotic protest movement. It was the day in 1919 when students led popular protests against Japan's imperial ambitions in China. It was also a seminal moment in the historical construction of modern China, prefiguring and also influencing the rise of the Communist Party itself in 1921,and marking a stage in the cultural and social transformation that remains at the heart of modern Chinese identities.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2012
The starting point of this paper is the 1986 artwork of the then Xiamen-based artist Wu Shanzhuan... more The starting point of this paper is the 1986 artwork of the then Xiamen-based artist Wu Shanzhuan, called ‘Red Humor’, which reworked references to big-character posters (dazi bao 大字报) and other Mao-era forms of political discourse, recalling the Cultural Revolution. It explains how Wu’s installation offered a provocative microcosm of the overwhelming mood engendered by a logocentric movement to ‘paint the nation red’ with word-images during the years 1966-1967. This discussion of the hyper-real use of the dazi bao during China’s Cultural Revolution era (c.1964-1978) allows us to probe into ‘the legacies of the word made image’ in modern China. The paper argues that, since the 1980s, Wu Shanzhuan has had many emulators and ‘avant-garde successors’, since we have seen multiple examples of parodic deconstructions of the cultural authority of the Chinese character (zi) in recent decades.
Third Text, 1993
... Page 2. 68 2 See G. Barmé, 'Wang Shuo and Liumang ('Hooligan') Culture', ... more ... Page 2. 68 2 See G. Barmé, 'Wang Shuo and Liumang ('Hooligan') Culture', The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No 28, July 1992, pp 28-31, 34, 51. ... Their work, particularly the bizarre portraits done by Liu Wei, illustrates the world of the liumang. ...
The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 1980
Chinese publishers declare that following ten years of cultural revolution China was suffering fr... more Chinese publishers declare that following ten years of cultural revolution China was suffering from a severe 'book drought' (shuhuang) at the end of 1976. Now, four years later, the State Publishing Bureau has realized that providing reading material for the world's largest literate population is not merely a matter of politics, but also requires vast numbers of trained editors, huge printing presses, a steady supply of paper and an efficient distribution network. Although the main cities are now well on the way to satisfying the diverse tastes of their readers, country areas are rarely supplied with firstrelease books and in many cases have to be satisfied with old stocks. It is still fashionable to see the Cultural Revolution period (1966-76) as having been a cultural void. Officially, apart from a few months in 1975 when Deng and the "three Hus" were in power, the Cultural Revolution was uproductive and even highly damaging. Nevertheless, the 'drought conditions' now so readily bemoaned by even the most enthusiastic supporters of the then publishing policies were not as absolute or as devastating as suggested. Apart from the millions of copies of Mao's Selected Works printed in the late 60s, the political movements that occupied the country's interest from 1973-6 did demand the printing of numerous classicial works covering literature, philosophy and history. Apart from a spate of short story collections during the anti-Deng campaign of 1976, however, books of a more contemporary interest were few. A popular joke of the time saw the situation in the following way, "Why are there only thirty novels printed every year? Because Yao Wenyuan can't read any faster." The fear of the Gang of Four's new 'literarary prisons'" was so great that nearly all publishing houses sought high-level approval before printing a book.
The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 1979
Political purpose and literature are closely linked in many countries, but in none more obviously... more Political purpose and literature are closely linked in many countries, but in none more obviously than China. Literature of dissent or disagreement has been known and outlawed in China for centuries. As the criticisms of the Gang of Four's literary policies increased in 1977 to 1978 a ready-made vocabulary of invective dating from well before the fall of the Qing dynasty was invoked.' The traditional view that literature had a didactic and therefore socio-political function2 was reinforced by the introduction of the Leninist principle that literature is "a cog and screw in the machinery of the revolution."3 The importance of such thinking in China prior to 1949 was that it aided the development of an anti-war and anti-imperialist literature which in turn had a significant function. In 1949 the founding of the People's Republic of China resulted in a dramatic change in the organization and role of the Communist Party, yet there was no significant alteration in the heavily politically motivated literary policy necessitated by the war. Much post-1949 Chinese literature is marked by an obvious propagandistic function. However, within this large corpus of mediocre political writing can be found a handful of short stories, fables and poems that attempt to step beyond the transient demands of Party policy and deal more directly with the social and political realities of the new society. Xiao Yemu's Between Husband and Wife (Women fufu zhi jian), Wang Meng's The Newcomer (Zuzhibu xinlaide nianqingren), Liu Binyan's The Bridge (Qiaoliang) and Ai Qing's The Gardener (Huayuanren zhi meng) are but a few such pieces.4 The encouragement of amateur writers and the introduction of Soviet literary theories during the first years of the People's Republic did, however, provide a far wider scope for literary endeavour than allowed in the areas under Guomindang (Nationalist) control before 1949. Unfortunately, 1957 saw a sudden end to literary experimentation and innovation. Mao's literary
Publishers details for: Mao: The Unkown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, London: Jonathan C... more Publishers details for: Mao: The Unkown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, London: Jonathan Cape, 2005. 25.00 (hardcover). Includes footnotes.
China Perspectives, 2012
, organised by Jie Li and Enhua Zhang and jointly sponsored by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation In... more , organised by Jie Li and Enhua Zhang and jointly sponsored by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinology, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. For a report on that conference by the organisers, see: www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=022_conference. inc&issue=022 (consulted on 10 May 2012). I am grateful to Sebastian Veg for his editorial guidance and to the two anonymous reviewers of an earlier draft of this work. I would also like to acknowledge Chris Buckley's contribution to my understanding of Chongqing, the model, and its camp-followers.
The China Story Yearbook 2014: Shared Destiny, 2015
Index on Censorship, 1997
Hong Kong has not only shaped much of China's popular culture, it has also been a key port fo... more Hong Kong has not only shaped much of China's popular culture, it has also been a key port for the packaging and re-export of Chinese dissident culture for over a decade. With its return to China in 1997, all that will come to an end. So, too, will its unique role in contemporary Chinese history as the mediator, mirror and filter for mainland and Taiwan exchanges
Mirrors of History: On a Sino-Japanese Moment and Some Antecedents by Geremie R. Barmé May 4 2005... more Mirrors of History: On a Sino-Japanese Moment and Some Antecedents by Geremie R. Barmé May 4 2005 marked the 76th anniversary of the iconic Chinese patriotic protest movement. It was the day in 1919 when students led popular protests against Japan's imperial ambitions in China. It was also a seminal moment in the historical construction of modern China, prefiguring and also influencing the rise of the Communist Party itself in 1921,and marking a stage in the cultural and social transformation that remains at the heart of modern Chinese identities.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2012
The starting point of this paper is the 1986 artwork of the then Xiamen-based artist Wu Shanzhuan... more The starting point of this paper is the 1986 artwork of the then Xiamen-based artist Wu Shanzhuan, called ‘Red Humor’, which reworked references to big-character posters (dazi bao 大字报) and other Mao-era forms of political discourse, recalling the Cultural Revolution. It explains how Wu’s installation offered a provocative microcosm of the overwhelming mood engendered by a logocentric movement to ‘paint the nation red’ with word-images during the years 1966-1967. This discussion of the hyper-real use of the dazi bao during China’s Cultural Revolution era (c.1964-1978) allows us to probe into ‘the legacies of the word made image’ in modern China. The paper argues that, since the 1980s, Wu Shanzhuan has had many emulators and ‘avant-garde successors’, since we have seen multiple examples of parodic deconstructions of the cultural authority of the Chinese character (zi) in recent decades.
Third Text, 1993
... Page 2. 68 2 See G. Barmé, 'Wang Shuo and Liumang ('Hooligan') Culture', ... more ... Page 2. 68 2 See G. Barmé, 'Wang Shuo and Liumang ('Hooligan') Culture', The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No 28, July 1992, pp 28-31, 34, 51. ... Their work, particularly the bizarre portraits done by Liu Wei, illustrates the world of the liumang. ...
The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 1980
Chinese publishers declare that following ten years of cultural revolution China was suffering fr... more Chinese publishers declare that following ten years of cultural revolution China was suffering from a severe 'book drought' (shuhuang) at the end of 1976. Now, four years later, the State Publishing Bureau has realized that providing reading material for the world's largest literate population is not merely a matter of politics, but also requires vast numbers of trained editors, huge printing presses, a steady supply of paper and an efficient distribution network. Although the main cities are now well on the way to satisfying the diverse tastes of their readers, country areas are rarely supplied with firstrelease books and in many cases have to be satisfied with old stocks. It is still fashionable to see the Cultural Revolution period (1966-76) as having been a cultural void. Officially, apart from a few months in 1975 when Deng and the "three Hus" were in power, the Cultural Revolution was uproductive and even highly damaging. Nevertheless, the 'drought conditions' now so readily bemoaned by even the most enthusiastic supporters of the then publishing policies were not as absolute or as devastating as suggested. Apart from the millions of copies of Mao's Selected Works printed in the late 60s, the political movements that occupied the country's interest from 1973-6 did demand the printing of numerous classicial works covering literature, philosophy and history. Apart from a spate of short story collections during the anti-Deng campaign of 1976, however, books of a more contemporary interest were few. A popular joke of the time saw the situation in the following way, "Why are there only thirty novels printed every year? Because Yao Wenyuan can't read any faster." The fear of the Gang of Four's new 'literarary prisons'" was so great that nearly all publishing houses sought high-level approval before printing a book.
The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 1979
Political purpose and literature are closely linked in many countries, but in none more obviously... more Political purpose and literature are closely linked in many countries, but in none more obviously than China. Literature of dissent or disagreement has been known and outlawed in China for centuries. As the criticisms of the Gang of Four's literary policies increased in 1977 to 1978 a ready-made vocabulary of invective dating from well before the fall of the Qing dynasty was invoked.' The traditional view that literature had a didactic and therefore socio-political function2 was reinforced by the introduction of the Leninist principle that literature is "a cog and screw in the machinery of the revolution."3 The importance of such thinking in China prior to 1949 was that it aided the development of an anti-war and anti-imperialist literature which in turn had a significant function. In 1949 the founding of the People's Republic of China resulted in a dramatic change in the organization and role of the Communist Party, yet there was no significant alteration in the heavily politically motivated literary policy necessitated by the war. Much post-1949 Chinese literature is marked by an obvious propagandistic function. However, within this large corpus of mediocre political writing can be found a handful of short stories, fables and poems that attempt to step beyond the transient demands of Party policy and deal more directly with the social and political realities of the new society. Xiao Yemu's Between Husband and Wife (Women fufu zhi jian), Wang Meng's The Newcomer (Zuzhibu xinlaide nianqingren), Liu Binyan's The Bridge (Qiaoliang) and Ai Qing's The Gardener (Huayuanren zhi meng) are but a few such pieces.4 The encouragement of amateur writers and the introduction of Soviet literary theories during the first years of the People's Republic did, however, provide a far wider scope for literary endeavour than allowed in the areas under Guomindang (Nationalist) control before 1949. Unfortunately, 1957 saw a sudden end to literary experimentation and innovation. Mao's literary