The Making and Remaking of Chinaâ#x80 ; #x99 ; s â#x80 ; #x9C ; Red Classicsâ#x80 ; #x9D : Politics, Aesthetics, and Mass Culture

This book brings together research on China’s “red classics” across the entire Maoist period through to their re-emergence in the reform era. It critically investigates the changing nature and significance of China’s “red classics” at each point of their (re/)emergence in three key areas: their socio-political and ideological import, their aesthetic significance and their function as a mass cultural phenomenon. The book is organised in two parts in chronological order covering the Maoist period and post-Cultural Revolution respectively, and includes a representative range of genres including novels, short stories, films, TV series, picture books (__lianhuanhua__), animation and traditional style paintings (__guohua)__. The book illuminates important questions such as: What determined what could and could not become a “red classic”? How was the real revolutionary experience of authors shaped by the regime to create “red classic” works? How were traditional forms incorporated or transformed? How did authors and artist negotiate the treacherous waters of changing political demands? And how did the “red classics adapt to a new political environment and a new readership in new millennium China? While most of the chapters focus primarily on one of the two periods under consideration many also follow the fate of their subject through both periods, creating overall a highly coherent overview of the changing phenomenon of the “red classics” over the seventy-five years since the Yan’an Forum and in the process simultaneously tracing the changing dynamic between the CCP and these classic narratives of the communist revolution. PART I: Creating the Canon : The "Red Classics" in the Maoist Era. The Red Classic That Never Was : Wang Lin's Hinterland / Lianfen Yang (Translated by Ping Qiu and Richard King) Great Changes in Critical Reception : "Red Classic" Authenticity and the "Eight Black Theories" / Richard King How to Tell a Story of Imprisonment : Ideology, Truth, and Melodramatic Body in the Making of Red Crag / Li Li How Is Revolution "Popularized"? Rereading Tracks in the Snowy Forest / Yang Li (Translated by Krista Van Fleit Hang) Shaping the "Red Classics" of Chinese Art in Early Socialist China : Manipulating Tradition to Establish New Guohua / Kuiyi Shen Castration for the People : The Politics of Revision and the Structure of Violence in Hao Ran's Short Stories / Xiaofei Tian PART II: Making over the Canon : The "Red Classics" in the Reform Era. The Politics and Aesthetics of Rediscovering Heroes of the "Red Classics" in Lianhuanhua of the Reform Era / Rosemary Roberts The Cultural Indigenization of a Soviet "Red Classic" Hero : Pavel Korchagin's Journey through Time and Space / Frederik H. Green The Red Sister-in-Law Remakes : Redefining the "Fish-and-Water" Relationship for the Era of Reform and Opening / Qian Gong Families, Intellectuals, and Enemies in the "Red Classic" Remake New Tunnel Warfare / Lara Vanderstaay. "The Making and Remaking of China's "Red Classics" is the first full-length work to bring together research on the "red classics" across the entire Maoist period through to the reform era. It covers a representative range of genres including novels, short stories, films, TV series, picture books, animation, and traditional-style paintings. Collectively, the chapters offer a panoramic view of the production and reception of the original "red classics" and the adaptations and remakes of such works after the Cultural Revolution. The contributors present fascinating stories of how a work came to be regarded as, or failed to become, a "red classic." There has never been a single answer to the question of what counts as a "red classic"; artists had to negotiate the changing political circumstances and adopt the correct artistic technique to bring out the authentic image of the people, while appealing to the taste of the mass audience at the same time. A critical examination of these works reveals their sociopolitical and ideological import, aesthetic significance, and function as a mass cultural phenomenon at particular historical moments. This volume marks a step forward in the growing field of the study of Maoist cultural products." -- Publisher's description "The Making and Remaking of China's "Red Classics" is the first full-length work to bring together research on the "red classics" across the entire Maoist period through to the reform era. It covers a representative range of genres including novels, short stories, films, TV series, picture books, animation, and traditional-style paintings. Collectively, the chapters offer a panoramic view of the production and reception of the original "red classics" and the adaptations and remakes of such works after the Cultural Revolution. The contributors present fascinating stories of how a work came to be regarded as, or failed to become, a "red classic." There has never been a single answer to the question of what counts as a "red classic"; artists had to negotiate the changing political circumstances and adopt the correct artistic technique to bring out the authentic image of the people, while appealing to the taste of the mass audience at the same time. A critical examination of these works reveals their sociopolitical and ideological import, aesthetic significance, and function as a mass cultural phenomenon at particular historical moments. This volume marks a step forward in the growing field of the study of Maoist cultural products."-- Provided by publisher The Making and Remaking of China's "Red Classics" is the first full-length work to bring together research on the "red classics" across the entire Maoist period through to the reform era. It covers a representative range of genres including novels, short stories, films, TV series, picture books, animation, and traditional-style paintings. Collectively the chapters offer a panoramic view of the production and reception of the original "red classics" and the adaptations and remakes of such works after the Cultural Revolution. The contributors present fascinating stories of how a work came to be regarded as or failed to become a "red classic." There has never been a single answer to the question of what counts as a "red classic"; artists had to negotiate the changing political circumstances and adopt the "correct" artistic technique to bring out the "authentic" image of the people while appealing to the taste of the mass audience at the same time. A critical examination of these works reveals their sociopolitical and ideological import, aesthetic significance, and function as mass cultural phenomena at particular historical moments. This volume marks a step forward in the growing field of the study of Maoist cultural products Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction......Page 9 PART I - Creating the Canon: The “Red Classics” in the Maoist Era......Page 22 1. The “Red Classic” That Never Was......Page 24 2. Great Changes in Critical Reception......Page 43 3. How to Tell a Story of Imprisonment......Page 63 4. How Is Revolution “Popularized”?......Page 80 5. Shaping the “Red Classics” of Chinese Art in Early Socialist China......Page 95 Images 5.1-15......Page 114 6. Castration for the People......Page 130 PART II - Making over the Canon: The “Red Classics” in the Reform Era......Page 150 7. The Politics and Aesthetics of Rediscovering Heroes of the “Red Classics” in Lianhuanhua of the Reform Era......Page 152 8. The Cultural Indigenization of a Soviet “Red Classic” Hero......Page 173 9. The Red Sister-in-Law Remakes......Page 193 10. Families, Intellectuals, and Enemies in the “Red Classic” Remake New Tunnel Warfare......Page 214 Contributors......Page 226 Index......Page 229