We are in the third week of our series on the development of Chinese contemporary art. We continue with another installment by Zhang “Valerie” Fang. In this editorial, she recalls a saying that illustrates some of the tensions of Chinese re-emergence into contemporary society… It references innovations which originated in China, but that the Chinese did not fully benefit from.
“Westerners used gun powder in guns while the Chinese used it to make fireworks. Westerners used the compass for navigation while the Chinese used it to determine the location of new houses or tombs. Westerners used printing and paper to publish new books on science while the Chinese used them for printing exams.”
Here (linked) is the third of Valerie’s ten, “China’s Long March: Ten essays on Chinese contemporary art,” with the English and Spanish translation side by side.
