Yaogun Through the Years

 

Part I: Prehistory:

Before there was yaogun; before there was China

history.cultural-china.com

japanfocus.com

chineseposters.net

chineseposters.net

cnsphoto

visitsichuan.org

NEXT: Part II: History

The People’s Republic in the 50s and 60s

1912

1919

1921

1934

1942

1949

Qing Dynasty collapses, Republic of China created; warlords soon rule various parts of the country.

May 4: Students protest the Chinese government’s weakness in the Treaty of Versailles negotiations; the May Fourth Movement symbolizes the debate over China’s place in the world and the utility of its traditions in the new world order.

July 1: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is founded.

On the run from the KMT, their former allies against the warlords, the CCP embarks on the Long March. A fraction of those who started out the March finished it; Mao Zedong emerges as clear leader.

The CCP convenes the Yen’an Forum on Literature and Art. Quoth Mao: “We...need a cultural army [which] is indispensable in achieving unity...and winning victory over the enemy.”

Arts policy is still, arguably, thus defined.

“China has stood up!”Mao Zedong declares the founding of the People’s Republic of China; KMT flee to Taiwan.

(c) 2011 jonathan campbell, all rights reserved