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Book Cover
E-book
Author Corlin, Mai, author

Title The Bishan Commune and the practice of socially engaged art in rural China / Mai Corlin
Published Singapore : Palgrave MacMillan, 2020

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 225 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Introduction: Radical rural intellectuals -- Fields of socially engaged art -- Imagining the commune -- The great leap into utopia -- Trojan horses or the artist as realtor -- Whose village? -- Conclusion: The end of utopia? -- Epilogue: Guanxi aesthetics or the state as artistic director
Summary This book is concerned with socially engaged art projects in the Chinese countryside, with the artists and intellectuals who are involved, the villagers they meet and the local authorities with whom they negotiate. In recent years an increasing number of urban artists have turned towards the countryside in an attempt to revive rural areas perceived to be in a crisis. The vantage point of this book is the Bishan Commune. In 2010, Ou Ning drafted a notebook entitled Bishan Commune: How to Start Your Own Utopia. The notebook presents a utopian ideal of life based on anarchist Peter Kropotkin's idea of mutual aid. In 2011 the Commune was established in Bishan Village in Anhui Province. The main questions of this book thus revolve around how an anarchist, utopian community unfolds to the backdrop of the political, social and historical landscape of rural China, or more directly: How do you start your own utopia in the Chinese countryside?
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes In Chinese and English
Print version record
Subject Utopias -- China -- Bishan Xiang (Anhui Sheng)
Rural development -- China -- Bishan Xiang (Anhui Sheng)
Rural development
Utopias
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9789811557958
9811557950