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