In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture

by Geremie R. Barmé

China, Geremie R. Barmé notes, has become one of the greatest writing and publishing nations on the planet, and both cultural activists and the state are embroiled in debates about the production and distribution of its cultural products. But what happens when global culture and Chinese capitalist-socialism meet in the marketplace? In the Red investigates what goes on behind the rhetoric of the official Chinese government and the dissident community and provides a unique perspective on mainstream Western perceptions of cultural developments, artistic freedom, and popular lifestyles in China today.

Illustrated with fascinating cartoons and photographs and rich with facts, anecdotes, and events, In the Red exposes the complex relationship between "official" culture (produced, supported, or sanctioned by the government) and "nonofficial" or countercultures (especially among urban youths and dissidents). Two key and contrasting events loom large in this the 1989 protests that ended with the June 4 massacre and a nationwide purge, and Deng Xiaoping's 1992 "tour of the south," in which he emphasized the need for radical economic reform. Although a level of political tolerance has evolved since the 1970s, Barmé sheds light on the significance of the intermittent denunciations of artists, ideas, and works.

Genres: China, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Geremie R. Barmé is an historian, cultural critic, filmmaker, translator and web-journal editor who works on Chinese cultural and intellectual history from the early modern period (1600s) to the present. He is Founding Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World in the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, where he also edits the online e-journal China Heritage Quarterly.

Reviews

[Lee]

Something like Jianying Zha's "China Pop" but with no "native sympathy." Although I've just started the book, I'm sure that Geremie R. Barme will find a way to make a scholarly interpretation of "Niu B."