Rediscovering china’s cultural revolution (nyc)

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REDISCOVERING CHINA’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Art and Politics, Lived Experience, Legacies of Liberation
A Weekend Symposium at Revolution Books and New York University
December 12-14, 2008

SPONSORED BY:
Revolution Books,
Set the Record Straight Project,* (http://www.revcom.us/a/149/gpcr_program-en.html#footnote1)
and Institute for Public Knowledge-New York University



FEW EVENTS IN MODERN HISTORY have been as distorted and demonized as China's Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. Yet few events are more deserving of rediscovery.

This unique symposium, REDISCOVERING CHINA'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION, offers an opportunity to rediscover--or discover for the first time--what this "revolution within a revolution" in socialist China was really all about.

There are people who participated in the Cultural Revolution who offer a vivid and exciting counter-narrative. There are youth who went to the countryside to work and learn from the peasants, artists who set out to create revolutionary art, women who struggled against feudal tradition--who look back at this period as some of the best years of their lives. Here is a chance to hear these stories which bring to life important truths about the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

There is work being done in academia uncovering important chapters in the Cultural Revolution that have either been ignored or discounted: its immense international impact and influence; contributions in the arts, sciences and education during the Cultural Revolution; and theoretical questions of economics, philosophy and politics that remain relevant. Here is a chance to hear from people with different perspectives and experiences who are doing work around these questions.

The weekend includes a Friday night book release event; two major panels on Saturday; a symposium-guided tour of the exhibition of artwork from the Cultural Revolution at the Asia Society on Sunday morning; and an afternoon cultural program with a theatrical reading, film clips, and discussion.


SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12
Revolution Books, 146 W. 26th St., near 7th Avenue
7:00pm: Book Release event for Dongping Han: The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village. Mr. Han will discuss what it was like growing up in a small village in China during the Cultural Revolution. Co-sponsored by Monthly Review Press and Revolution Books.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13 Panel Discussions
New York University, Silver Center, Room 703, 100 Washington Square East
12 noon: "Art and Politics During the Cultural Revolution" with Lincoln Cushing, Bai Di, Aly Rose, Li Onesto
3:00 pm: "The International Impact and Historical Significance of the Cultural Revolution" with Dongping Han, Raymond Lotta, Andrew Ross, Guobin Yang


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SUNDAY DECEMBER 14


11:00 am: Asia Society Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street
Symposium—Guided tour of "Art and China's Revolution" exhibition.

3:00 pm: Revolution Books, 146 W. 26th St., near 7th Avenue

The Culture of the Cultural Revolution: Theatrical reading from a Chinese revolutionary work, film clip from Red Detachment of Women, discussion.

Donations appreciated.

For more information and reservations:
212-691-3345, [email protected] (http://us.mc580.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected])
www.revolutionbooknyc.org (http://www.revolutionbooknyc.org/)





SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS

Lincoln Cushing—Historian and archivist of social and political graphics, co-author Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. (participating by video)

Bai Di—Director of Chinese and Asian Studies, Drew University; co-editor of Some of Us: Chinese Women Growing Up During the Mao Era.

Dongping Han—Professor of History, Warren Wilson College; author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village; farmer and manager of a collective village factory during the Cultural Revolution.

Raymond Lotta—Set the Record Straight Project; Maoist political economist; writer for Revolution newspaper; author of America in Decline; editor Maoist Economics and the Revolutionary Road to Communism.

Li Onesto—Author of Dispatches from the People's War in Nepal; writer for Revolution newspaper, has written on the Chinese revolution, model operas, and art of the Cultural Revolution.

Aly Rose--Teaches Chinese Contemporary Dance and the Transformative Power of Political Art at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU; lectures and performs at the United Nations, China Institute, Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College in New York; choreographed and danced for the Chinese National Song and Dance Operatic Troupe while residing in China for 11 years.

Andrew Ross—Professor of American Studies, Chair of Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University; author of Low Pay, High Profile: The Global Push for Fair Labor; articles on China include "Mao Zedong's Impact on Cultural Politics in the West."


Guobin Yang—Associate Professor in Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College-Columbia University; co-editor of Re-Envisioning the Chinese Revolution: The Politics and Poetics of Collective Memories in Reform China.



* A program of International Humanities Center, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code[back (http://www.revcom.us/a/149/gpcr_program-en.html#text1)]



Download a printable PDF of the announcement for the Symposium (http://www.revcom.us/i/149/GPCR-NYC.pdf)

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additionally, here is an announcement from Revolution newspaper (www.revcom.us) on the Symposium, and why they feel it is important to engage this topic at this time in history:

NYC Symposium on the Truth about the Cultural Revolution in China

Be there, build for it, bring others…


The symposium “Rediscovering China’s Cultural Revolution” at Revolution Books and New York University (December 12-14) is shaping up to be an extraordinary event. As the announcement for the weekend begins: “Few events in modern history have been as distorted and demonized as China’s Cultural Revolution of 1966 - 1976. Yet few events are more deserving of rediscovery.”


Panel discussions on “Art and Politics During the Cultural Revolution” and “The International and Historical Significance of the Cultural Revolution” will combine people who lived through the Cultural Revolution with professors and revolutionary journalists. There will be a guided tour of the exhibit at the Asia Society: “Art and the Chinese Revolution.” Dongping Han, the author of a new book on rural life during the Cultural Revolution, will give a talk. And a cultural event will include film clips and theatrical readings from revolutionary model works.



Here is a unique chance to hear people who lived through the Cultural Revolution; to engage with the work of those deeply studying this historical episode of Chinese history; to experience some of the path-breaking revolutionary culture created during this time—and participate in Q&A and discussion about all this.
How people sum up the socialist experience in China, and in particular the Cultural Revolution, has everything to do with how you understand the necessity, possibilities and desirability of a whole new future round of communist revolution and socialist societies in the world.



But for decades now, when it comes to discussing the Chinese Cultural Revolution, there has been a suffocating atmosphere in academia and in society overall. The official narrative in the U.S. has been that these were “dark times” in China that prove the impossibility and undesirability of socialism. There are many progressive people and radical scholars who once had a better understanding of the Cultural Revolution but have been greatly influenced by this barrage of anti-communist propaganda and closed-door summations. And this has had a big negative effect more broadly on people in society.



But there are people from different viewpoints doing extremely important cultural, academic and theoretical work that objectively goes up against the anti-communist narrative. This symposium is providing a forum and vehicle for such people to amplify the truths they have uncovered. And the coming together of these voices, the sharing of views, and the public dialogue and discussion off this can have a big societal effect. In this way, this symposium is breaking new ground—meeting a real need for important analysis and insights about the Cultural Revolution, coming from different areas of study and from varied perspectives, to be marshaled in a way that will reverberate widely in society.


The weekend will offer people a chance to rediscover—or discover for the first time—the truth about the Cultural Revolution. And what an incredibly exciting way for a new generation of youth to learn about this important chapter in world history. To hear from: a Chinese farmer who lived in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution; a woman from China who grew up listening to revolutionary model works and is now writing a thesis on the portrayal of women in these works of art; a teacher and dancer who studied in China 30 years after the Cultural Revolution and “discovered” revolutionary ballet.



“Rediscovering China’s Cultural Revolution” is happening during a major exhibition of art created during the Cultural Revolution at the Asia Society in New York City. Commentary in the mainstream media has noted the significance of this show with an openness that has been taboo in the predominant anti-communist discourse. The exhibition has already created a stir among different sections of people, including artists, intellectuals, overseas Chinese and people who grew up in the ’60s. And this, too, has put something in the air—giving this symposium the potential to have broad impact.



This symposium is happening at a time when big questions about the world are being posed for millions of people in newly sharp ways. For example, the deepening international financial crisis is throwing up big questions on the viability and desirability of a world organized around capitalist profit. And all this is providing some air for discussion and debate about whether socialism and communism provides answers to economic and social problems.


In a much needed way, this symposium can raise the level of discourse among intellectuals and others about the Cultural Revolution—and around the vision and possibility of socialism and communism. It can pry open the debate—turning what has mainly been a one-sided conversation in society into a two way conversation. It can be an impetus for this to be battled out more fully. It can open new avenues for dialogue and discussion among artists, academia, cultural studies, and in society more broadly.



This is a good and necessary atmosphere. This is positive and fertile ground for revolutionary communists to be interacting with, learning from and influencing all this. This provides important opportunities to bring forward a revolutionary, scientific summation of the socialist experience. And the work of Bob Avakian needs to be out there in the mix of things, influencing this discussion and debate.



Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, has deeply summed up the experience of socialism in the Soviet Union and China. He has pointed to their overwhelmingly positive achievements, especially during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. And he has also learned from their shortcomings and mistakes. Building on this first wave of socialist revolution, Bob Avakian has brought forward a new synthesis—a theoretical understanding, method and approach for advancing communist revolution.


With revolutionary state power and revolutionary leadership, the masses of people in China opened a new chapter in human emancipation. But at the same time, socialism in the future needs to be a more vibrant society. There needs to be more room for dissent and diversity. There has to be more scope for intellectual ferment and for creativity in the arts. It has to be a society of experimentation and innovation where people can go off in different directions. And communist leadership faces the challenge of encouraging and embracing all of this while still leading the whole process broadly in the direction of communism. These are key elements of the new synthesis that will enable humanity to go further and do better—in making revolution and creating a truly emancipating society and world.


Everyone with a desire to see a new world... who wants to lift the lid on the limits of the social imagination today, needs to build for this symposium, be there, bring others and make a weekend of it.