Brushes with Power: Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy

by Richard Curt Kraus

Chinese calligraphy has traditionally been an emblem of the ruling class and its authority. After a century of mass revolution, what is the fate of this elite art? Richard Kraus explores the relationship beween politics and the art of writing in China today to explicate the complex relationship between tradition and modernity in Chinese culture. His study draws upon a wide range of sources, from political documents, memoirs, and interviews with Chinese intellectuals to art exhibitions and television melodramas.

Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders gave calligraphy a revolutionary role, believing that their beloved art reflected the luster of authoritative words and deeds. Calligraphy was joined with new propagandistic mass media to become less a private art and more a public performance. It provided politically engaged citizens with subtle cues to changing power relationships in the People's Republic.

Claiming neither that the Communists obliterated traditional culture nor that revolution failed to relieve the burden of China's past, this study subtly examines the changing uses of tradition in a modernizing society.

Genres: China

220 pages, Hardcover

First published June 24, 1991

Reviews

[versarbre]

An in-depth book on the political connotation of art forms in China, focusing on the revolutionary leaders and masses on calligraphy -routine or artsy writing- and its pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary lives. Also adorably accessible w/ very well-chosen illustrations!

[Rebecca]

A really interesting and in depth take on the role of calligraphy in politics. It covers from the imperial period to the early 1990s. It especially focuses on the way that government leaders and officials used their calligraphy for political purposes, and how calligraphy could not be separated from its political meanings. I found it to be very thorough, covering many different aspects of the use of calligraphy in politics. It seems to be good for both a serious and general student of Chinese history; there is a little background section for those not familiar with the art of Chinese calligraphy or the Chinese language. It's good to add a little depth and context to some of the more general histories of modern China.

[Barbara D.]

Very good.