Staging History

Icons, Symbols, and Official Imagery

A new visual culture emerged in China after the 1949 revolution which re-defined what could and should be seen. Official imagery, somewhat like commercial advertising, provided models for individual appearance and behavior, and prescribed behavior for clothing, hairstyle, expression, language, and culture.

Heroes and Models - from the great leaders to workers, peasants, and soldiers.
Class Enemies and Bad Elements - old regimes, foreign imperialists, and sometimes former great leaders
Symbols - the red star, the red sun, the hammer and sickle
Revolutionary Sacred Sites - Yan'an, Tiananmen Square, the Martyr's Monument.

Art and Politics

Squaring the Revolution

Tiananmen Square, the geographic locus of power in China, has served as the stage for many critical events in the history of modern China. Within this massive area--the largest public space in the world--the cult of the Chinese Communist revolution, its dead martyrs, its major symbols and historical highlights, are encoded in brick, marble and stone. Its buildings represent every facet of official life and give concrete form to the charisma of the state, its ceremonies and its view of history.

The East is Red

This 1964 musical, referred to as a "grand song-and-dance epic," was a stage extravaganza outlining the history of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Its theme was a preamble to a key message of the Cultural Revolution: Mao Zedong was the undisputed and infallible leader of the Chinese revolution, and the embodiment of modern Chinese history. The story of Chinese history was his story.