China Contemporary

by Jaap Guldemond, Linda Vlassenrood, Christine de Baan

A new world is emerging in China, with urbanization and the wholesale globalization of daily life moving at unprecedented speed. The Communist Party line has been replaced by maxims about working together to build a modern, economically resilient country. Cities are being rigorously adapted to fit this new vision, with disastrous consequences for existing structures and neighborhoods. Social and societal balances have been swiftly, radically altered. Can Chinese identity survive in a consumer society and a radically transformed urban environment, both conceived on a Western model? This first interdisciplinary overview of the country's contemporary arts, architecture, urban planning and visual culture--including television, photography, newspapers, games and blogs--offers the work of some 20 Chinese artists considering these issues, and projects by some 10 Chinese architectural firms. China Contemporary finds that a mix of long standing tradition, decades of Communism and hurriedly translated Western capitalism have resulted in an exciting visual and formal idiom.

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2006