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The Bishan Commune and the Practice of Socially Engaged Art in Rural China

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Mai Corlin

    1. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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  • Examines the new rural regeneration movement in China using the Bishan Commune as a case study

  • Explores the ways that art and culture can revive regional economies

  • Historicizes contemporary struggles in China with a comparative study of social movements of the last several centuries

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Introduction: Radical Rural Intellectuals

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 1-33

  3. Fields of Socially Engaged Art

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 35-64

  4. Imagining the Commune

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 65-103

  5. The Great Leap into Utopia

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 105-134

  6. Trojan Horses or the Artist as Realtor

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 135-168

  7. Whose Village?

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 169-188

  8. Conclusion: The End of Utopia?

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 189-196

  9. Epilogue: Guanxi Aesthetics or the State as Artistic Director

    • Mai Corlin
    Pages 197-205

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 207-225
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Keywords

About this book

This book is concerned with socially engaged art projects in the Chinese countryside, with the artists and intellectuals who are involved, the villagers they meet and the local authorities with whom they negotiate. In recent years an increasing number of urban artists have turned towards the countryside in an attempt to revive rural areas perceived to be in a crisis. The vantage point of this book is the Bishan Commune. In 2010, Ou Ning drafted a notebook entitled Bishan Commune: How to Start Your Own Utopia. The notebook presents a utopian ideal of life based on anarchist Peter Kropotkin’s idea of mutual aid. In 2011 the Commune was established in Bishan Village in Anhui Province. The main questions of this book thus revolve around how an anarchist, utopian community unfolds to the backdrop of the political, social and historical landscape of rural China, or more directly: How do you start your own utopia in the Chinese countryside?



















Reviews

“Corlin’s book bridges Wang’s research gap through a careful analysis of where this below is located and who, exactly, occupies it. In this sense, the two books together demonstrate a well-rounded scholarly coherence for us to think about how socially engaged art in China builds utopia by listening to ‘voices from below.’” (Yanhua Zhou, Religion and the Arts, Vol. 26 (4), September, 2022)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Mai Corlin

About the author

Mai Corlin is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Fine Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 









Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Bishan Commune and the Practice of Socially Engaged Art in Rural China

  • Authors: Mai Corlin

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5795-8

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-15-5794-1Published: 16 August 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-15-5797-2Published: 17 August 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-15-5795-8Published: 14 August 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 225

  • Number of Illustrations: 27 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Asian Politics, Arts, Social Policy

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