Word: mao
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...Ironically, it is China, with its authoritarian government and notorious cultural police, that allows its artists the most room for self-expression. Yes, direct criticisms of the Communist Party are taboo, and the culture cops occasionally shutter avant-garde exhibitions. Nevertheless, ironic depictions of Chairman Mao and not-so-subtle critiques of official corruption or urban alienation fill Beijing and Shanghai galleries. Some artists, particularly those who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, playfully twist that era's socialist-realist propaganda art - think heroic laborers, red-cheeked peasants and stalwart soldiers lifting banners with brand names or consumerist messages. Best...
...developing society. Surrounded by the capitalist trappings that China's leaders hope will sate a politically repressed populace - chic clothes, cell phones, fast-food wrappers - these lonely figures wear blank or artificially cheery expressions. "As a child, my classmates and I sang revolutionary songs, and we had to write Mao's expressions over and over," says 43-year-old Zeng Fanzhi, whose portrait of a masked man with a cauterized visage sold for $1.63 million in London last month. "Then, suddenly we were told, 'That's finished, you will love money now.'" Puffing on a Cuban cigar at a five...
...Officially, Zhou never made a mistake. The Gang of Four, the radical clique that oversaw the Cultural Revolution, was overthrown in 1976. Mao Zedong, once deemed infallible, has been revised downward - according to official formulation - to 70% correct and 30% wrong. Only Zhou, the urbane architect of China's rapprochement with the West, remains untarnished among China's revolutionary heroes...
...book dispels the hagiography. He paints the Premier as thoughtful and scrupulous, yet so blinkered by loyalty to Mao that he sanctioned the arrest of his own brother. Most controversially, Gao challenges the official version of Zhou's role during the Cultural Revolution, during which an entire generation of Chinese intellectuals - including the author's mother - was purged and exiled to the countryside. Rather than mitigating the worst excesses of Mao's disastrous anti-rightist campaign - as the prevailing view holds - Zhou was an active, if not always enthusiastic, participant. Gao cites evidence in Zhou's own hand: "From...
...sure, every top communist leader since Mao Zedong has wielded less and less individual power and has been forced to seek consensus on important decisions. Hu is no exception and had to make compromises. He failed, for example, to name Li Keqiang, his favored candidate, as sole successor. Indeed, Li trailed Xi onto the podium Monday, confirming a belief among analysts that, for the moment at least, Xi has a slight edge in the race to lead China. (If previous practice is followed and no unforeseen events intervene, Xi will succeed Hu at the 18th Party Congress in 2012, while...