ARTISTS UNDER REFORM: AN ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONAL CHINESE GUOHUA PAINTERS’ RELATIONS TO THE PARTY-STATE IN THE POST-MAO ERA by Yao-Hsing Kao A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Political Science University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario 2010 © copyright by Yao-Hsing Kao 2010 Abstract ARTISTS UNDER REFORM: AN ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONAL CHINESE GUOHUA PAINTERS’ RELATIONS TO THE PARTY-STATE IN THE POST-MAO ERA Yao-Hsing Kao, Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 2010 This thesis is purposefully limited to examining the status of China’s professional guohua (Chinese national painting) painters and their relation to the Party-State. It tackles the above subject by studying the contents of important official documents issued by the party-state, by retelling the interactions between professional guohua painters and the party-state in several crucial social-political contexts, and by analysing the experiences, opinions, observations and critiques of four professional guohua painters. The time span of this study extends from 1949 to the late 1990s, while acknowledging the year of 1978, when China officially launched its reform program, as a critical dividing juncture for comparative reasons. This thesis finds that a new favorable partnership was forged between the party-state and the professional guohua painters in the reform era. This was due to the impact of China’s political culture, changes in the ideology and policies of the ruling elite, the commercialization of art, and an emerging need to preserve guohua that is more instrumental to promote China’s cultural heritage and national soft power. It argues that the sustainability of such a partnership has been reinforced through a conscious differentiation between categories of art -- elite and non-elite, official and non-official, high and popular, public and non-public -- by Chinese cultural authorities as well as the artists themselves. ii This thesis further asserts that the significantly improved economic conditions and the social status that professional guohua painters enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s did not reflect on their cultural and political autonomy. Most of them consciously chose to be part of the institutional establishments under the party-state and showed limited aspiration in the quest for cultural and political autonomy. The “organized dependence” of professional guohua painters prior to the reform era was replaced by “conformity” of these artists towards the party-state. Finally it suggests that, although China’s changing political environment will eventually give way to economics and the scale of ideological movements and cultural control will continue to decline, many professional guohua painters are likely to stay within the ideological and aesthetic boundaries set by the party-state and to be part of official arts agencies and institutions. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost I am heartily thankful for my supervisor, Professor Victor Falkenheim, who supported me throughout my time at the University of Toronto with his patience, encouragement and guidance whilst allowing me the room to work in my own way. I simply could not wish for a better and friendlier supervisor. My gratefulness also goes to my thesis committee members, interviewees and all of those who shared with me their stories, experiences, observations, critiques and language skills. Their pleasant involvements and friendships are essential for the successful completion of my dissertation. Last but not least, my deepest gratitude goes to my wife Ann Chao for her unflagging love… and to God, who makes all things possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction Rationale and Focus of the Study ………………………...………………..……. 4 • Why In-Depth Case Studies?…………………………………………………. 4 • Why Study Professional Guohua Painters? ........................................................... 6 • Guohua Painting: A Sacred Cultural Tradition ….…..…………………………... 7 • Guohua Painting : A Powerful Political Tool …………..………………….… 8 • Guohua Painting : A Hot Commodity .………………….…………….……….…. 9 Professional Guohua Painters under Cultural Reform ……………….……11 Chapter Two: Theoretical and Methodological Issues Political Culture and Political Socialization ……………………….............16 Artists under Reform: International and Domestic Perspectives .…....…. 20 Methodological Considerations ……………………………..……………………24 • Primary Historical Materials vs. Semi-Structured Intensive Interviews …...…25 • Who and What Exactly Are Being Studied? ………………………………….30 Chapter Three: Guohua: Reflection of Continuities and Changes in China’s Culture and Politics Guohua Painting from Imperial to Communist China ………………...….…34 • A Sacred Tradition with Cultural and Political Significance …………....…….35 • Tang Dynasty ……………………………………………………….………….…….37 • Sung Dynasty ………………………………………………………………….……..38 • Yuan Dynasty …………………………………………………………….….………41 • Ming Dynasty ……………………………………………………………………….. 45 • Qing Dynasty ……………………………………………………….……………...... 49 • The Republic Era (1911-1949) ...………………………………………………57 • The Pre-1979 PRC Era ……………………………………………………………... 60 Concluding Remarks and Important Findings …..………………………..…64 v Chapter Four: Aesthetic Discourse and Power Politics in China under Mao Painters in Mao’s Era: From Exclusion to Organized Dependence …….……68 Aesthetic Discourse and Power Struggles .……………………………….....72 *Mao Zedong vs. Liu Shaoqi ……………………………………………….…..72 - The Stormy Impact of Three Historical Documents in 1966 ………...…..77 - Mao’s Application of Arts to Re-create History …………………………85 *Jiang Qing (Protégé of Mao Zedong) vs. Zhou Enlai …………………………88 *Deng Xiaoping vs. Jiang Qing ………………………………………………...93 *Deng Xiaoping vs. Hua Guofeng ….…………………………………………..99 Concluding Remarks and Important Findings ………………...…………...103 Chapter Five: Impact of Ideological, Institutional and Economic Transformations Cultural Sectors under Reform: A Comparison of International and Domestic Perspectives.…………………………………………………………….…107 China’s Professional Guohua Painters under Reform …….……….……....109 • Expansion of Guohua Painting Institutes in the Reform Era …………………109 • Reassertion of Chinese Artists Association over Guohua Painters …………...112 • Expansion of the Party System in Fine Arts Academies ……………………...114 • Other Institutionalized Incentives ……………………………………….....…115 From Organized Dependency to Conformity ………………………….116 Cultural Heritage and Ideological Discourse: In search of “Invisible Forces” at Work ……..……………….…………...……………………………..120 • Artistic Developments and Controversies in Post-Cultural Revolution Era…..120 • Persistent Ideological Discourse in the 1980s and 1990s …..………..…………124 Economic Development and Professional Guohua Painters …..………...128 • Initial Commercialization of Guohua Paintings …………………………….128 • Continuous Expansion of Cultural Market in the 1990s …………………....132 Chapter Six: Lives and Careers of Professional Guohua Painters in the PRC The Case of Mao Wei ……………………………………………….…………136 The Case of Zhu Junshan ……………………………………………... 150 vi The Case of M. P. ………………………….………………………..………….165 The Case of Fan Zeng ………………………………...…………..……………180 Chapter Seven: Conclusion Focus and Objective of the Study.……………………………………………188 Key Findings of the Study ...…………………………………………... 190 • Summary of Professional Guohua Painters’ Backgrounds and Careers ….…..190 • Changing Relationship – From Structured Dependency to Conformity ...……190 - Ideological Favoritism ..………………………………………………….191 - Institutional Arrangements and Regulatory Adjustments ...……………..194 Theoretical Implications of the Key Findings ………………………………196 Trends since the Turn of the Century ………..…………………………..…...200 Illustrations …………….………………………………………………..206-214 Bibliography ...……………………………………………………….….215-219 vii Abbreviation BFAA Beijing Female Artists Association 北京女美術家協會 BLPRA Beijing Landscape Painting Research Association 北京山水畫研究會 CAA Chinese Artists Association 中國美協 CAA China Academy of Art 中國美術學院 CAAC Central Academy of Arts and Crafts 中央工藝美術學院 (Academy of Arts & Design, Qinghua Univ. since 1999) CAFA Central Academy of Fine Arts 中央美院 CCP Chinese Communist Party 中國共產黨 CFLAC China Federation of Literary and Art 中國文聯 Circles CPRI Chinese Painting Research Institute 中國畫研究院 MDUCG Municipalities Directly Under Central 中央直轄市 Government NFAG National Fine Art Gallery 中國美術館 NMCH National Museum of Chinese History 中國歷史博物館 PLA People’s Liberation Army 人民解放軍 PRC People’s Republic of China 中華人民共和國 ROC Republic Of China 中華民國 RMB Ren Min Bi (People’s Dollar) 人民幣 UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific 聯合國教科文組織 and Cultural Organization USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 蘇維埃聯邦社會主 義共和國 ZAFA Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts 浙江美院 (China Academy of Art since 1993) viii List of Charts and Figures 4-1. Articles on Literature and Art Policies Published Between April and June 1976 (p.95 - 96) 4-2. Articles on Literature and Art Policies Published Between April and June 1977 (p.97 - 98) 5-1. Major Guohua Institutes Established Between 1979 and 1988 (p.111) 5-2. 1. Merton’s Typology of Models of Individual Adaptations (p.135) 5-2. 2. Modes of Painter’s Individual Adaptation in China in the Reform Era (p.135) 7-1. Summary of Artists’ Backgrounds (p.204) 7-2. Factors Influencing Professional Guohua Painters’ Relationships to Party-state (p.205) ix CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION Since the extraordinarily successful economic reforms launched in 1978 China has in 30 years transformed from what some called a “poor backward Third World country” to the