China's Avant-Garde, 19782018

This book examines how Chinas new generation of avant-garde writers and artists are pushing the boundaries of vernacular culture, creatively appropriating artistic and literary languages from global cultures to reflect on reform-era Chinas transformation and the Maoist heritage. It explores the vortex of cultural change from the launch of Deng Xiaopings reforms in 1978 to Xi Jinping establishing his leadership for life in 2018. The book argues that Chinas new avant-garde adopt transcultural forms of expression while challenging the official discourse of Xi Jinpings regime, which promotes cultural nationalism and demands that cultural production in China embodies the essence of the "Chinese nation". The topics range from body art, womens poetry and boys love literature to Tibetan fiction and ceramic art. The book shows how the avant-garde use the new digital media to bypass government censorship, transcending Chinas virtual frontiers while breaking new ground for an emerging public sphere. Overall, the book provides a rich picture of the nature of Chinas avant-garde art and literature and the challenges it poses for the Chinese government. The introduction and chapter 10 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.