About This Volume

1 Contemporary Art as Domestic Movement, 1976-89

I. The Beginning of Contemporary Art: 1979-84

Introduction

Unofficial Art Groups and Exhibitions

Preface to the First Nature, Society, and Man Exhibition (Ziran, Shehui, Ren) (1979) - WANG Zhiping, 王志平

Preface to the First Stars Art Exhibition (Xingxing Meizhan) (1979) - HUANG Rui, 黃銳

A Letter to the People (1979) - XU Wenli, LIU Qing

About the Stars Art Exhibition (1980) - LI Xianting, 栗憲庭

A Debate on 'Formal Beauty' and Other Issues

Formalist Aesthetics in Painting (1979) - WU Guanzhong, 吳冠中

Emotion, Individuality, Formal Aesthetics (1979) - LIU Shaohui, 劉紹薈

New Directions in Realist Painting

Scar Art

Some Thoughts on Creating the Picture-Story Book Maple (Feng) (1980) - CHEN Yiming, LIU Yulian, LI Bin

Man's Rational Meditation: A Brief Discussion of Cheng Conglin's Thematic Oil Paintings (1970s/1994) - DENG Pingxiang, 鄧平祥

Native Soil Art

A Letter from the Artist of Father Fuqin (1981) - LUO Zhongli, 羅中立

My Seven Paintings (1981) - CHEN Danqing, 陳丹青

Melancholy Youth and 'Contemplative Painting'

Expecting Her to Walk on the Main Road (1981) - WANG Chuan (b. 1953), 王川

'Contemplative Painting' in China and Andrew Wyeth (1985) - RUAN Xudong

II. The Arrival of an Avant-garde Movement: 1985-86

Political and Intellectual Contexts

Enlightenment of a New Era: On In the New Era (Zai Xinshidai) (1985) - ZHANG Qun, 張群, MENG Luding, 孟祿丁

Pioneers of Contemporary Chinese Art — A Critque of the Progressive Young Chinese Artist Exhibition (1985) - ZHAO Jinghuan, 趙經寰

Beijing Theorists' Reactions to the Art of Robert Rauschenberg (1985) - ZHU Ye

Foreword to Fine Arts in China (1985)

Appendix: A Nationwide Forum and Model: Art Magazines and Symposia (2003) - Martina KOEPPEL-YANG, 楊天娜

'85 Art New Wave

General Discussions

The '85 Art Movement (1986) - GAO Minglu, 高名潞

The Significance Is Not the Art (1986) - LI Xianting, 栗憲庭

A Summary of Evaluations of the '85 Art Movement (1986) - GAO Minglu, 高名潞

Appendix: The Landscape of China's Modern Art Movement (1991) - TONG Dian

Writings by Members of Selected Art Groups

We — Participants of the ''85 Art Movement' (1986) - WANG Guangyi, 王廣義

An Explanation of the Northern Art Group (1987) - SHU Qun, 舒群

On New Space and the Pond Society (1987) - Jiu SHI

New Figurative: Manifestation and Transcendence in Figurative Patterns of Life (1987) - MAO Xuhui, 毛旭輝

Red Brigade Precept (1987) - DING Fang, 丁方

Statement on Burning (1986) - HUANG Yong Ping, 黃永砅

Introduction to The Events Exhibition that Took Place at the Exhibition Hall of the Fujian Art Museum (1986) - HUANG Yong Ping, 黃永砅

Toward a Physical State of Contemporary Art Itself (1986) - WANG Du, 王度

III. From Collectivity to Individual Creativity: 1987–89

Introduction

Rethinking the Movement

Returning to Art Itself (1988) - JIA Fangzhou, 賈方舟

Rethinking Art

Purifying Artistic Language

A Few Thoughts (1988) - ZHU Zude, 朱祖德, LIU Zhenggang, 劉正剛

Absurdity and Irrationality

Non-Expressive Paintings (1986) - HUANG Yong Ping, 黃永砅

Art as Process

Looking for Something Different in a Quiet Place (1989) - XU Bing, 徐冰

Regarding 'Analysis' (1989) - CHEN Shaoping, 陳少平

Challenging Modernism — An Interview with Wenda Gu (1986) - FEI Dawei, 費大為

Against the Public

The Point of Departure for Art Project No. 2 (Yishu Jihua Di Er Hao) (1988/2008) - ZHANG Peili, 張培力

The China / Avant-garde Exhibition

The Exhibition

Background Material on the China / Avant-garde Exhibition (1989) - ZHOU Yan, 周彥

Confessions of a China / Avant-garde Curator (1989) - LI Xianting, 栗憲庭

A Brief Account of China / Avant-garde (1989) - HANG Jian, CAO Xiaoou

The 'End' of the New Wave

Facing the End of the New Wave: An Interview with Fine Arts of China (1989) - PENG De, 彭德

The Modernist Dilemma and Our Options (1989) - YI Ying, 易英

2 Globalization and a Domestic Turn, 1990-2000

Introduction

I. Intrinsic Perspectives

Artistic Trends in the Early 1990s (1990-93)

New Generation and Close up Artists (1992) - YIN Jinan, 尹吉男

Apathy and Deconstruction in Post-'89 Art: Analyzing the Trends of 'Cynical Realism' and 'Political Pop' (1992) - LI Xianting, 栗憲庭

Appendix: The Misread Great Criticism (Da Pipan) (2008) - HUANG Zhuan, 黃專

Tendencies in Chinese Pop (1996) - GU Chengfeng, 顧丞峰

A Survey of Contemporary Chinese Performance Art (1999) - GAO Ling, 高嶺

Major Trends in Contemporary Chinese Art of the Mid- to Late 1990s

Identity and Experience

Self

A Personal Account of 65 Kg (1994/2000) - ZHANG Huan, 張洹

Four Notes (1994) - MA Liuming, 馬六明

The Boundary of Freedom: A Personal Statement on Assignment No. 1 (Zuoye Yihao) (1994/2003) - QIU Zhijie, 邱志傑

Report from the Artist's Studio (1996) Interview with Zhang Xiaogang - HUANG Zhuan, 黃專

Preface to It's Me! (Shi Wo!) (1998/2000) - LENG Lin, 冷林

Feminism and Women's Art

Walking out of the Abyss: My Feminist Critique (1994) - XU Hong

Toward a Female Initiative (1996/2003) - TAO Yongbai, 陶詠白

Wrapping and Severing (1997) - LIN Tianmiao, 林天苗

Clothes Chest (Yixiang) (1995) - YIN Xiuzhen, 尹秀珍

Engagement with Social Transformation

Gaudy Art

Living in Kitsch — The Critical 'Irony' of Gaudy Art (1999) - LIAO Wen, 廖雯

Urban Destruction and Construction

'Changchun, China': A Report on a Performance of Making Rubbings from Buildings Slated for Demolition (1994) - HUANG Yan

'94 Action Plan for Debris Salvage Schemes for Implementation and Results (1994) - ZHAN Wang, 展望

New Map of Beijing: Today and Tomorrow's Capital — Rockery Remolding Plan (1995) - ZHAN Wang, 展望

One Hour Game (Youxi Yi Xiaoshi) (1996/1997) - LIANG Juhui, 梁鉅輝

Report on Zhang Dali's Dialogue (2000) - JIANG Tao

A Dialogue on Dialogue (2000) - GOU Hongbing, 苟紅冰, ZHANG Dali, 張大力

Sociality in Contemporary Art

State of Existence (1994) - ZHU Fadong, 朱發東

12 Square Meters (12 Pingfang Mi) (1994) - ZHANG Huan, 張洹

Ice · '96 Central Plains (Bing · 96 Zhongyuan) (1996/2000) - WANG Jin, 王晉

On Painted Sculptures (1995/1997) - LIU Jianhua, 劉建華

Standard Family (Biaozhun Jiating) (1996/1997) - WANG Jinsong, 王勁松

Why Do I Want to Photograph the Streets of Guangzhou? (2002) - CHEN Shaoxiong, 陳劭雄

Experimental Photography and Video Art

Photography

Trends and Stages of Photography's Development in Mainland China Since 1976 (1994) - LI Mei, 李媚, YANG Xiaoyan, 楊小彥

Appendix: Zero to Infinity: The Nascence of Photography in Contemporary Chinese Art of the 1990s (2002) - Karen SMITH

I Only Chose the 'Group Portrait' (1997) - ZHUANG Hui, 莊輝

Fragments (1998/2004) - Rong Rong, 榮榮

A Few Words on the Photos (2002) - HAI Bo, 海波

Video Art

Appendix: The Rise and Development of Video Art and the Maturity of New Media Art (2002) - WU Meichun, 吳美純, QIU Zhijie, 邱志傑

Selected Video Works of the 1990s (1992–97/2008) - ZHANG Peili, 張培力

Six Video Works (1997) - WANG Jianwei, 汪建偉

An Arrangement of a Few Ideas and Some Work (2002) - ZHOU Xiaohu, 周嘯虎

Overseas Chinese Artists

Entropy, Chinese Artists, Western Art Institutions: A New Internationalism (1994) - HOU Hanru, 侯瀚如

Does a Culture in Exile Necessarily Wither? — A Letter to Li Xianting (1991/2003) - FEI Dawei, 費大為

On Words (1999/2000) - XU Bing, 徐冰

face the new millennium: the divine comedy of our times; a thesis on the united nations art project and its time and environment (1995/2003) - GU Wenda, 谷文達

Wild Flights of Fancy (1998) - CAI Guoqiang, 蔡國強

Ai Weiwei Dialogue with Zhuang Hui (1995)

Statement (1989) - Hung LIU, 劉虹

About Resident Alien (2000) - Hung LIU, 劉虹

Debates over Using Animals and the Human Body in Making Art

Post-Sense Sensibility: Distorted Bodies and Delusion (1999) - QIU Zhijie, 邱志傑, WU Meichun, 吳美純

Reflections on Performance Art (2002) - CHEN Lusheng, 陳履生

Ministry of Culture Notice (2001)

Zhu Yu's Skin Graft (Zhi Pi) (2000/2003) - ZHU Yu, 朱昱, WU Hung, 巫鴻

II. Extrinsic Perspectives

Introduction

Establishing an Infrastructure for Contemporary Art

Contemporary Art and the Market

Heading Toward the Market (1992) - LV Peng, 呂澎

Who Is Going to Sponsor the History? (1991) Interview with Huang Zhuan

The First 1990s Biennial Art Fair

Catalogue Preface: Opening up the 1990s (1992) - LV Peng, 呂澎

Notes on the Selection Process (1992) - CHEN Xiaoxin, 陳孝信

Reflections and Questions Raised After the First 1990s Biennial Art Fair (1993) - LV Peng, 呂澎

The 'System' of 1990s Contemporary Chinese Art

From 'System' to 'Circle': An Analysis of the State of Avant-garde Art in the Late 1990s (2003) - WU Hong, 巫鴻

Art Medium and Criticism

Contemporary Chinese Art Media in the 1990s (1999) - PI Daojian, 皮道堅, PI Li, 皮力

Criticism on Chinese Experimental Art in the 1990s (2002) - YI Ying, 易英

My Outlook on Criticism (2003) - YIN Shuangxi, 殷雙喜

My View of Art and Criticism (2003) - HUANG Du, 黃篤

Experimental Art Exhibitions and the 2000 Shanghai Biennale

Experimental Exhibitions

'Experimental Exhibitions' of the 1990s (2002) - WU Hung, 巫鴻

Supermarket (Chaoshi Zhan): Information for Sponsors (1999) - XU Zhen, 徐震, YANG Zhenzhong, 楊振中, Alexander BRANDT, 飛蘋果

The Path to Trace of Existence (Shengcun Henji): A Private Showing of Contemporary Chinese Art (1998) - FENG Boyi, 馮博一

Post-Sense Sensibility (Hou Ganxing): A Memorandum (2000) - QIU Zhijie, 邱志傑

The 2000 Shanghai Biennale

Transcending Left and Right: The Shanghai Biennale Amid Transitions (2000) - ZHANG Qing, 張晴

China's First Legitimate Modern Art Exhibition: The 2000 Shanghai Biennale (2000/2003) - ZHU Qingsheng, 朱青生

The Shanghai Art Museum Should Not Become a Market Stall in China for Western Hegemony — A Paper Delivered at the 2000 Shanghai Biennale (2000) - WANG Nanming, 王南溟

Preface to Fuck Off (Buhezuo Fangshi) (2000) - AI Weiwei, 艾未未, FENG Boyi, 馮博一

Contemporary Chinese Art in the Global Context

Contemporary Chinese Art in the West

The Reception in the West of Experimental Mainland Chinese Art of the 1990s (2002) - Britta ERICKSON, 林似竹

Entropy, Chinese Artists, Western Art Institutions: A New Internationalism (1994) - HOU Hanru, 侯瀚如

Questions about the 'International Identity' of Contemporary Chinese Art

Oliva Is Not the Savior of Chinese Art (1993) - WANG Lin, 王林

The Rent Collection Courtyard Controversy

The Rent Collection Courtyard Copyright Breached Overseas: Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Sues Venice Biennale (2001) - Britta ERICKSON, 林似竹

The Reproduction of Rent Collection Courtyard and Postmodernism (2000) - Dao Zi, 島子

Quoting Does Not Equal Plagiarism (2000) - LIU Xiaochun, 劉驍純

Coda: Entering the New Millennium (2000–2008)

Chronicle 1976–2006